Life is About Being Happy

You gotta love this quote…. Enjoy.

Tips for Being a Happy Mom and Creating Good Juju at Home

Rene Syler, who runs the website GoodEnoughMother.com had these great tips for being a happy mom – which for us means Good Juju for everyone!

Recharge Your Battery
Find something, a hobby or interest that is uniquely your own, and do it regularly. If it’s meeting girlfriends for coffee or wine, if it’s needlepoint, if it’s travel – take the time to indulge yourself in that. You’ll come back refreshed and ready to handle the challenges of motherhood.

Shun Guilt
Once you have found your happiness and recharged your battery, do not feel guilty for doing so. What you need to understand is that by taking care of yourself, you are taking care of your family – creating Good Juju.

Say ‘No’ to Competitive Parenting
Too many times we use others – friends, neighbors, moms in playgroups – as a yardstick for good parenting. You need to be internally driven and parent for the people who matter: those living under your own roof.

Sometimes Good Enough is Perfect
Put out of your mind any hope of attaining perfection. It doesn’t exist in parenting (or life) and you’ll make yourself crazy chasing it. Instead, understand that good enough is just perfect. Sometimes eating pizza out of the box in front of the TV with your kids at your side and your feet on the table, is better than fine. Your kids will learn a lot from a mom who cuts herself some slack, makes mistakes, apologizes and then moves on.

Choosing To Be Happy: 7 Steps

Happiness is a choice.  When you are happy you create Good Juju.  Here are 7 steps that can  help you become a healthier person.

1.  Don’t worry.  Choose happy – make the conscious choice to be happy – choose attitudes and behaviors that will lead to your happiness

2.  Cultivate gratitude – perform a daily gratitude exercise – think about what makes you happy

3.  Foster forgiveness – holding grudges can affect both your mental and physical health – learn to let go of negativity

4.  Counteract negative thoughts and feelings – practice meditation, rhythmic breathing, yoga, or relaxation techniques to decrease anxiety and promote serenity.

5.  Remember, money cannot buy happiness - regardless of what we achieve monetarily, happiness comes from elsewhere

6.  Foster friendships - create friendships with people who care about you

7.  Engage in meaningful activities – get involved in activities that challenge your abilities – to get more out of life, you need to put more into it

7 Steps to Becoming a Happier Person compliments of Tom Veleo, WebMD.

Three Simple Rules in Life

If you want Good Juju, consider following these three simple rules in life.

Paying it Forward 42 Times!

In an earlier post, I mentioned I was inspired by a woman who paid it forward 45 times on her birthday (one good deed for each year she had lived).  Well, today, it is my birthday and I plan on paying it forward 42 times.  I am flying to Las Vegas so I figure this should be easy.  Between the airport, cab rides, hotels and busy casinos, I expect to encounter many ways to make people happy and spread Good Juju!

10 Reasons to Smile

Smiling is a great way to spread Good Juju.  When you smile, you not only feel better, but it’s contagious to those around you.  Here are 10 reasons why you should smile:

1.  Smiling makes us more attractive.  Let’s face it, if you walk around with a frown, you push people away. Smile and others are drawn to you.

2.  Smiling changes your mood.  If you are feeling down, try to smile.  Chances are, you’ll start feeling better.

3.  Smiling is contagious.  Ever notice how when others are smiling, they lighten up the room?  Smile a lot and you will draw happy people.

4.  Smiling relieves stress.  If you smile, you look less tired and overwhelmed.  If you are stressed, force yourself to smile.  It should help reduce your stress and make you feel better.

5.  Smiling boosts the immune system.  When you smile, your immune system improves – probably because you are more relaxed.

6.  Smiling lowers blood pressure.  When you smile, there is a measurable reduction in your blood pressure.  If you have a monitor at home, check it out.  Sit for a few minutes, take a reading.  Then, smile for a minute and take another reading.  Compare the difference.

7.  Smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers and serotonin.  Studies show that smiling releases endorphins, natural pain killers and serotonin.  All of these help us feel better.

8.  Smiling lifts the face and makes you look younger.  When we smile, we use muscles to smile, which lift the face and makes us appear more youthful.

9.  Smiling makes you seem successful.  When you smile, you appear more confident and as a result are more likely to get promoted or approached for opportunities.  Put a smile on your face and watch how people will react to you differently.

10.  Smiling helps you stay positive.  Try this:  Think of something negative without losing the smile.  It’s hard.  When we smile, we send the rest of our body the message that life is good.  Stay away from depression, stress and worrying by smiling.

*10 reasons to smile from Mark Stibich, PH.D

Change Is Good

One of my favorite quotes is “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.  In life, you have a choice. You can complain about the people and the circumstances that surround you.  Or, you can be proactive and challenge yourself to be positive and make a difference in the lives of others and your community.  If you do this, you’ll be creating Good Juju which will benefit not only yourself, but those around you.

Practice Forgiveness

Today, I was thinking about the importance of forgiveness. Have you ever heard the saying,  ”Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.”  This is true. If we can learn to let go of our negative feelings toward others and forgive them, then our future can be that much brighter.  When you hold a grudge toward someone, you are creating bad juju (or negative energy). If you can let go of those negative feelings and replace them with love, you will create Good Juju. Be aware of the energy you emit to others. Juju is powerful stuff. Strive to be happy and spread positivity to others.

Be Happy….It’s Good Juju

We were visiting one of our favorite website’s the other day, www.happiness-project.com, and came across valuable piece of advice.

“One of the best ways to make yourself happy is to make other people happy; One of the best ways to make other people happy is to be happy yourself.”

Today… create some good juju by being happy!

Random Acts of Kindness: Take the Challenge

Yesterday, our blog topic was “pay it forward.”  We received a comment from another blogger who celebrated her birthday by performing 45 random acts of kindness in one day.  How’s that for creating good juju?  Her name is Merry and she has now inspired me to do the same.  My  birthday is coming up in a couple of weeks.  I am going to attempt to perform 42 good deeds (yes, I am turning 42). I think Merry’s idea is amazing.  So, if anyone else has a birthday coming up, see if you can also rise to the challenge.

Check out Merry’s random acts of kindness by clicking on the link below:

http://www.beingmerry.com.