This is almost trivially simple, but it got me thinking. Honestly, how hard can we possibly make it for ourselves to be happy or find happiness these days? We stress out over the biggest and smallest things, and it seems like it’s getting harder and harder to find solace or peace in these modern, go-go-go times. 

Last night I was part of a Holiday Bazaar / Ladies Night at a local country club – representing Applied Happiness and the Hypnosis I do. It was fantastic. I met wonderful people, and made some really great connections with people that wanted nothing more than to just connect and be happy with it. I even ran into an old friend and got the chance to catch up a little.  It made me really happy to be connect and doing what I love. I also learned that a fair amount of the guests were stressed out and looking for things that elevate their happiness. 

So the “short n’ sweet” of it is to follow the credo in the image above. For the next seven days, give it your best shot to appreciate more, accept more, love more, feel more, smile more, listen more, and do more.  In fact, doing more is paramount to the evolution of us as a species. With that, I’m adding one more quick exercise to this.

Learn something new over the next seven days. Learn something completely different.  Then teach it to someone else. You’ll be blown away by how good it makes you feel to learn something new and teach it to another. I promise.

Learn it (watch it) –> Do it –> Teach it

Follow that pattern and let me know how it goes for you!

Share your comments below.  What simple thing makes you happy?

Technorati Tags: appreciation, awareness, being bold, gratitude, happiness, inspiration, lessons, motivation, personal power, positive thinking, positivity, reflection, wisdom

The challenge has been set forth over at www.blakehammerton.com – my personal site for Applied Happiness Coaching (and hypnosis). The challenge is to be an everyday hero for 5 days (Wednesday through Sunday) and report back.  I invite you all to stand up for the common man, and practice acts of selflessness, kindness, courage and integrity.

This video blew my mind earlier this week, and it prompted the Everyday Hero Challenge.  I’m going to consider this a trial-run of the challenge. If it gets good reviews in the comments and on facebook, I’ll make it a regular event with prizes and awards.

So head over here and read about the challenge. Then leave your examples, thoughts, and heroic stories in the comments there!

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you!

Blake

Technorati Tags: appreciation, attitude, awareness, being bold, coaching, goals, gratitude, inspiration, lessons, personal power, reflection, success, teaching, wisdom

Easily one of the greatest viral videos of 2010, and perfect for Applied Happiness friends. So many people follow the societal agreement that being alone is a negative thing. This video lends another side of the argument, and I love it. You can experience so many things alone hat connect you with the world – because as long as you’re alive, you’re never alone.

Peace, Love, and a million successes to you all!

Blake

Technorati Tags: attitude, awareness, clearing, faith, goals, happiness, lessons, love, perception, personal power, reflection, video

A lot has happened in the last month (I deeply apologize for my absence, by the way). One recurring theme for me has been the struggle I see other people having with the almost universal truths of life. They’re hard, but they certainly don’t mean the end of the world as we know it! I’ve worked with clients and companies in the last 30 days that really just needed to be sat down and told “how it is” for their own good. After doing so, I discovered that it was invigorating for us both. Without further delay, I want to present 10 hard truths in life.

1. You Cannot Fight Reality / Nature - It is none of your business how trees grow, how the sun rises and sets, or which way the wind blows – we’d feel pretty silly arguing with nature, right?  Yet we feel completely justified telling people (both those we know, and those we don’t know) what they should and shouldn’t do with their lives.  The reality is that people and nature are going to carry on with or without your input.  What purpose does it serve to spin your wheels trying to change everyone and everything around you?  Hell, I’m exhausted just thinking about it!
   
2. Someone Will Always Have More – That’s right, somebody will always have more, be more, or do more than you.  Get over it.  There are 7 billion people on the planet.  It was more than bound to happen.  The silver lining to this hard truth is that your desires are unique in what they will bring you.  For example, someone else may have more money, but you have more time to spend doing what you enjoy.  Maybe that wealthy socialite you envy hates what he does for a living, or is stretched so thin for time, he envies you!
   
3. You Are Going to Fail – No kidding, it happens.  Life is about experience and the lessons that come out of each one.  You’re going to totally bomb certain activities and skills once or twice.  Some things you may excel in, while others you might struggle or fail miserably.  Understand the key point to remember through all of this: you failed, but you are not a failure. Humans are mistake machines!  Hooray for being human!
   
4. Some People Will Love You… Some People Will Not - You cannot please everyone.  If you would, please read that again.  Did you reread it?  No?  That displeases me.  So what!  If you set out to please everyone you come in contact with, you’re going to find your life is much, much harder than you could ever have imagined.  Expectations are frivolously high at times, and there truly isn’t anything you can do to satisfy everyone all the time.  If someone doesn’t love you, it doesn’t mean you’re a terrible person or unlovable; it means that person doesn’t love you.  That 1 of 7,000,000,000 people on Earth doesn’t love you.  That’s billion, my friend.  You’re still loved.
   
5. Nobody Can Change Your Life Like You Can – As a coach and inspirational speaker, I completely advocate the application of tools and resources available from the self-help and healing industries, but I cannot stress enough that not even the greatest resource will help you if you don’t step up and take action. A great example is the Lottery.  People in debt win the lottery, change their lives immediately, only to end up in exactly the same debt a few years later.  Why?  They let the resources make surface changes, but the core was still the same.  When you set out to change your life, your success rate is exponentially higher than if you decide that (fill in the blank) can/will change your life.
   
6. Nobody Thinks About You as Often as You Do – Or as harshly.  We are our biggest, most unforgiving critics. We’re also blessed with such a detailed memory – bringing up regrets and mistakes we feel we made from years ago.  When you hesitate before taking action because you worry what others might think, remember it won’t make a lick of difference to them by the following week – maybe even the following day!  We all make up stories about how we think other people see us.  As an experiment, write down some names and how you think they view you on one sheet of paper.  On a second sheet, write those same names, but ask them how they see you.  Compare those answers and see just how judgmental you are to yourself.
   
7. None of This Will Matter Tomorrow – Have you woken up the morning after a rough, emotional night and felt completely different about it?  Have you ever felt (maybe even a little) like the world was crashing down around you one night, and the next day you felt more grounded and in control?  The gossip, drama, relationship quarrels, and heated emotions you feel today won’t matter tomorrow.  See point #8 for more…
   
8. Your Life Really is One-Day-at-a-Time – This is a hard truth because we all seem to plan, plan, plan for the future and worry, worry, worry about the past. You cannot do anything about the opportunity you feel you missed 10 years ago. Let it go. Likewise, planning obsessively for the future is equally as paralyzing.  You have today to make choices and experience those triumphs, mistakes, successes, and failures. You can reflect on the past to extract a lesson or two, but regretting and worrying is a heinous waste of your time and human potential. If you plan to have one amazing day at a time, you’ll get much more out of life.
9. Yes, Sometimes it Really is You – This one is hard to take for some people.  Let’s be honest here, some of us keep getting into situations and relationships where bad or unpleasant things happen, and we blame everything and everyone else.  Please take a seat for this next sentence. “It’s not me, it’s you – Let’s not be friends.”  The truth is, patterns don’t lie.  If you have a history of attracting these men/women/animals/dead-end jobs/bad-luck, it’s your history and your problem.  Before jumping into the blame-game, take a look at your pattern.  I’ll bet if you change something you’re doing, feeling, or attracting, you’ll change everything else. Please see #5 for instructions.
   
10. By God, You’ve Actually Got to Do The Work – If you want things to happen, you have to take some action.  Nobody wants you to succeed like you do, and nobody is going to care if you don’t make it happen.  Life will go on, the seasons will change, and the world will keep going without you.  Wishing, hoping, intending, or praying for great things is a nice emotional action but won’t get you what you want.  Again, we turn to the Lottery example.  You can lay awake and dream about winning the lotto, praying every night for it, and hoping you’re the next multimillionaire, but if you never buy a ticket you don’t stand a chance.

I know these truths can be a little harsh, but you’re not doing yourself any favors by ignoring them. I present these out of love.  I love the truth that we can have, do, or be anything our heart desires. I also love that some of you will take great action steps in your life.  I love to hear about them!  If you have other truths of life from your own opinion or experience, please feel free to post them in the comments below!

Peace, Love, and a Million successes to you!

Blake

Technorati Tags: attitude, awareness, being bold, judgment, lessons, perception, personal power, reflection, truths, wisdom

Three Days Left

The “Declare & Conquer” workshop is only three days away!  This Thursday night we’ll be at the Palatine Community Center revealing the secrets to overcoming obstacles and reaching what you truly desire in your life. This two-hour class is designed to help you define what you really want, discover what’s stopping you from getting it, and equip you with the tools and resources to make it happen.  Have you ever felt a little “stuck” and wondered how you were going to get moving again?  Has what you wanted been just out of reach? This is exactly what the workshop is designed to help change.  We’re going to introduce the tools of the extraordinary – the secrets of the movers and shakers in the world.  This is such a powerful class that we can’t believe we’re practically giving it away at $30 a person! Oh, and speaking of giving things away, we have gifts for every attendee, and a chance to win more stuff the day of the class!  Head over to our EVENTS page, and REGISTER!

Not in Palatine?

Fear not, friends.  We’re going to turn this into a downloadable course, and offer many of our subsequent classes as webinars in the future.  However, this is the last workshop for this year! In order to get the hands-on learning, interactive atmosphere, and the free gifts, you have to register and get to Palatine.  If you have any questions, please feel free to email Blake directly. We hope to see you all there!

Declare & Conquer Workshop – Thursday, October 28th 7-9pm
Palatine Community Center
250 E Wood Street
Palatine, IL 60067

With Excitement,
The Applied Happiness Team

P.S. If you add a friend when you register, we’ll take $5 off each registration!!  So tell your friends, spread the word, Like us on Facebook – get the message out there!

Technorati Tags: awareness, clearing doubt, coaching, facebook, goals, inspiration, lessons, motivation, personal power, reflection, success, teaching, workshop

I write over at Rent a Smart Guy as well, and this is an article that another contributor, Brian Mattocks, wrote over there that I think goes well with the most recent post here. Definitely head over there and read what we can do for you!

Wisdom is a business worth billions of dollars a year. Many companies, individuals, and social organizations claim to understand it enough to teach it – but few of them bother building the business case for wisdom. Why? Fundamentally, it is because the very notion of wisdom is difficult to understand. What is it, really?

Wisdom in a Nutshell

When I was young, upon coming to a door that was stuck closed, I would attempt brute force to open it. After a few minutes of thrashing and pulling and sweat inducing effort I would give up on that method. Then I would analyze the door and see if I could understand where and how it was stuck. Only after trying to understand the problem could I then devise an approach to open it. Thirty seconds of looking at the problem and 2 seconds of finesse resulted in an open door.

Wisdom is a form of knowledge – but processed in a special way. Wisdom is the applied understanding that comes from knowledge. When looking for wisdom in an employee, they call it experience, insight, expertise, savvy, or know-how.

The definition provided above explains the key problem with businesses and institutions that focus on providing wisdom. Such businesses like self-help publications and seminars; and social constructs like religious institutions; can’t directly teach wisdom. They can only teach around it, because wisdom emerges from the experience of an individual.

The benefit of wisdom is in the outcomes it creates. Wisdom cultivates enduring, positive outcome generating environments. Beyond the single result – when applied, wisdom lays the foundation for more results, or paves the way for more wisdom. An added benefit of wisdom is that it often provides business value along more traditional dimensions like: quality, speed, or cost.

A wisdom based approach to problem solving, for example, looks for “everybody wins” scenarios. A wisdom based approach to patient care is comprehensive. A wisdom based approach to sales focuses on relationships. Each of these approaches build better outcomes than “me first”, “symptom management”, “close the sale” approaches.

There are a few ways to acquire wisdom in a more direct fashion. First, cultivate relationships with those who provide honest and meaningful feedback on your behavior. Second, put yourself in situations that you have not experienced before. Third, cultivate mindfulness. While these aren’t the only ways, they are the clearest path to acquiring wisdom.

However you may acquire it, it is clear that wisdom is a good investment.

Brian Mattocks – Rent a Smart Guy – www.rentasmartguy.com

Technorati Tags: business, coaching, employee relations, investment, lessons, teaching, wisdom

Free Coaching Session!

With 2010 coming to the half-way point in the next couple of weeks, are you happy with where your year has taken you?  Are there things you’d love to change, improve, increase, or achieve?  Maybe you would only like a little clarity about where you are and where you feel you’re headed on this crazy winding road.  Have you had a day where you left your office for some lunch and thought, “what am I doing?” or “is this really all there is?” or even “man, it would be so incredible if I could only (fill-in the blank)”?

Coaching is such a powerful place to turn to when you’re looking for some insight and fulfillment in your life.  Maybe you’ve looked into getting a coach, but you doubted your ability to afford it…

GREAT NEWS!

We’re giving away 30 minute coaching sessions!  No, really, we are!  F-R-E-E !

Not only are we giving away the first 30 minute session, we’ve discounted our fees to help get you closer to your dream without taking away your savings!  Head to the contact page and send us a message to set-up a free coaching call (or face-to-face meeting), and take us for a test drive!  If you feel like you could benefit from having your own incredible coach, we are offering 30 minute sessions for $25 each for the first 90 days!  Imagine as much as 12 complete weeks of personalized attention, focus, and support to help you discover your best self and show you how to create S-M-A-R-T action plans to get you moving forward.

FOR PEANUTS!

For those of you thinking, “C’mon, there’s no such thing as a free lunch,” truly, there’s no risk. No contracts, no gimmicks, no strings, nothing. The time is yours,and the decision after your session is yours. No hard sell. No fine print. NONE.

Head over to the assessment page and see what you, personally, come up with. They’re free too. If you find some area of your life you might like to improve, we would be more than happy to give you the free session to touch on it. Call 847-754-9615 or send a message our way to set-up your FREE session today! 

As a bonus for signing up for your free session, we’ll send you the Applied Happiness Inspired Action Workbook at no charge! This 30 page workbook will help you get a head start on what motivates you, and what might be holding you back from getting what you want.  This is $10 value, absolutely free.

Don’t wait! This offer only runs through August!

Call or write us today, and discover what a coach can add to your life!

Audentes Fortuna Iuvat – Fortune Favors the Bold.

- The Applied Happiness Team

Technorati Tags: appreciation, attitude, awareness, being bold, clearing, coaching, gratitude, happiness, lessons, love, personal power, positive thinking, success, teaching, wisdom