By Terry Carter, Rapid Transformation Coach and owner of WorldWellnessToday.com
Are you happy today?
This is the simple, yet significant question we can post on social media to show our friends we truly care. With the pandemic still affecting our daily lives, the majority of answers to that question may not be affirmative. And that is normal. It starts people talking about their feelings, frustrations, most which have been keeping bottled up for some time.
We all need to express our emotions. That is a healthy step we often bypass for the sake of being busy or because we ignore our emotions. However, suppressed emotions, particularly stressors, can create immediate and chronic physical conditions in the body. In children they are called Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE), and, according to author Donna Jackson Nakazawa’s research, children can stop growing emotionally when faced with a trauma.
Because our conscious mind is the home of thoughts focused on logic, deadlines and stressors, anxious thoughts are common. By turning our attention to relaxing, recreation and healing — as well as meditation, prayer and sleep — the subconscious mind is more active. It only operates in the present tense, so worries about the past or future are diminished in the subconscious mind.
Here are 10 Simple Steps To Boost Happiness In Your Life:
- Love Yourself First
This is best learned through daily repetition because the mind learns through repetition. Learning to love yourself for who you are today is the first key to finding a loving relationship. This means accepting yourself — including your flaws — as you are and includes you without the accessories, favorite clothes, car, home, shoes, etc. Know yourself, know where you need more work and do that work consistently. Once you love yourself, then and only then are you able to love someone else fully.
- Learn to Love Unconditionally
Unconditional love means not only loving yourself with your flaws, but to accept others as unique people equal to you. Loving without a checklist is important once you get beyond comparing yourself to others and holding them to a standard that cannot be reached. Unconditional love is simple: Accept all, reject none.
- Forgive Others
Based on the rule that “Whatever you focus on, you get more of,” forgiveness is crucial to freeing your mind from what holds you back in life. To truly enjoy life, we must all let go of what hurts the most to embrace what inspires and loves us back. - Stop Judging Yourself and Others
Judgement is connected to these Steps as it is a journey toward happiness. And when you reach a point where someone’s opinion about you or your life is not painful, then you have taken a significant step forward ridding yourself of self-induced pain. Avoiding the desire to judge others is the second major step and frees you to live with pure joy, doing whatever makes you smile because no one can limit your freedom. - Don’t Make Assumptions
Your mind doesn’t care if what you say is good or bad, true or false, right or wrong; it simply acts on what you say to it. Assumptions and fears are nearly always inaccurate; fears happen only about 4-5 percent of the time. Open communication is a prime method for finding what makes joy possible in any relationship. - Live To Your Highest Standards
High standards refer to being honest, acting with integrity and respect. Living this way may sound taxing, but it actually frees you from struggle in your own mind. - Always Do Your Best
Simply do your best each day, knowing it may not be better than yesterday but it is the best now. When you consistently perform at your best, it becomes a habit in about 3-4 weeks, and those around you see that. Your relationships with them will improve as a side effect due to integrity and consistency. - Be Unselfish
Helping others is a simple way to bring others to a new level. You will be amazed at how many people you can help each day by simply offering, and they may be shocked by your kind gesture. This kindness returns to you with an empowering energy that will boost your mood. - Develop a DMO of Magnificent Powers
A Daily Method of Operation (DMO) is a specific, customized game plan that you have devised, with or without the help of a coach. It works to get you results and helps you feel minimal stress and maximum joy each day, each week and each month. - Go The Second Mile
Draw upon your subconscious mind daily before you fall asleep. Remember this rule of the mind: Imagination is more powerful than knowledge. That means anything you can imagine — including a joyful moment or happy smile or victories you want in the future — is available through the direction you focus your words, thoughts and habits.
- Bonus Tip: Follow the lead of young children. They are born happy and the center of attention.
- Terry Carter is a Rapid Transformational Therapist and Hypnotherapist in Katy, Texas. He can be reached at WorldWellnessToday.com, by email at UDTherapy@gmail.com, by phone at 281.541.4983. He also hosts free Facebook Live events several times weekly on mindset, wellness and winning in life.
