balance

Live With a Sense of Adventure, Passion, and Excitement

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

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One way to live a happier life is to live with a sense of adventure, passion, and excitement. You can do this by exploring a wide range of interests and new experiences, ensuring you always have something to look forward to, and by allowing things to unfold however they might without any preconceived notions or expectations. Life can be such a thrill if you seek to live in this fashion at least on a periodic basis.

One thing I did recently in this regard was taking a road trip in a Mustang convertible that I rented. And I must admit there is something both free and exhilarating about saying “Let’s put the top down and cruise the open road… GO!”

experienced several wonderful places on this road trip: Savannah, Hilton Head, Georgetown SC, Myrtle Beach, Raleigh, Charleston, and Jacksonville FL. Charleston was probably my favorite out of all of these. I consider Charleston to be the king of charm! Of the 62 places I’ve traveled to and spent a significant amount of quality time in it ranks up at #3 – tied with Guadalajara Mexico, Buenos Aires Argentina, Boston/New England Areas, San Diego California, and Los Angeles California.

Taking a road trip like this in a convertible was something I’ve wanted to do for years now and I finally did it. This demonstrates three things that I frequently tell people for living a happier life: 1) Live with a sense of adventure, passion, and excitement, 2) Reward yourself all along the way towards your goals and dreams, and 3) Always have something to look forward to.
It’s amazing how wonderful it feels just to cruise the open road with the wind blowing all around you. It can greatly inspire you, make you feel alive, give you time for reflection and relaxation, and fill you with overpowering feelings of joy, excitement, and freedom.

So always find ways to incorporate a sense of adventure, passion, and excitement into your life. It can really ignite, reinvigorate, and electrify your life. You will feel like a new person filled with youth, fire, and vigor. So do this for yourself if you can.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness

Create Happiness and Abundance Through Appreciation

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

One way in which to create happiness and abundance is through appreciation; appreciation of who you are, appreciation of what you have, and appreciation of who you have in your life. The more you fill your life with appreciation the happier you will feel and the more rewarding your life will become. Three ways to achieve appreciation include thinking good, doing good, and being good.

Thinking good involves having positive thoughts towards yourself, towards others, and towards the earth/universe whether focusing on the past, present, or future.

Doing good involves making positive contributions towards others and towards your surroundings.

Being good involves having a positive disposition and a good hearted nature as well as a high level of integrity.

Filling your life with appreciation in these regards not only creates a happier you, but also creates happier surroundings and abundance throughout the days, months, and years of your life.

Consider this: Imagine that you loaned the use of your home to a house guest while you were away. When you return you find your home has been thoroughly cleaned, polished, and beautified to the extent that it is in far better condition than when you first left. In addition, you receive a card and gift thanking you for the use of your home. How wonderful would you feel and how likely would you be to help and do nice things for this person in the future? Well, the spiritual world operates in very much the same fashion whether your belief system involves God, the universe, or some other higher power or spiritual representation. The more you express genuine appreciation the more you will have in your life to be appreciative of; the spiritual world continually responding to your appreciation by blessing you with more to be appreciative of.

In my own life, I have experienced abundance through multiple channels. For example, I’ve earned an average of 37% per year in the stock market since 2010 which is a five year gain (on average) in each and every year. I have handily beat each of the stock market indices and most, if not all, fund managers and investment firms. Perhaps the success I’ve experienced to date has more to do with the universe blessing me in response towards my appreciation in my attempts to think good, do good, and be good for much of the time and less to do with my investment experience and expertise; a part time experience and expertise which pales in comparison with that of fund managers and investment companies who perform this kind of work on a regular full time basis and have done so for decades or longer. I’m not saying that what I’ve learned about financial management and investing, and the techniques and strategies I’ve developed, evolved, and employed over time, have not contributed to my success in these regards. I’m just saying that there might be something more to the picture. Thus, perhaps this appreciation concept is something worth pondering and carefully considering in your own life.

Now, one way that I express appreciation involves reducing waste through conservation and actively reusing or recycling items to the greatest extent possible. For example, I seek to minimize my use of paper, plastic, and power and actively collect recyclables as I come across them whether walking, running, or performing other day to day activities. Every time I do this, I express appreciation to the universe for all it has blessed me with in the beautiful, wonderful life that I get to enjoy each and every day. In this fashion, I am much like that appreciative house guest I mentioned earlier; creating a cleaner, more beautiful, and more sustainable planet over time in joyful appreciation of the happy life and surroundings that have been so generously loaned to me for all of my days by the most gracious of givers. And the universe continues to bless me for my appreciation.

So always remember: The more you express appreciation the more you will have in your life to be appreciative of. Not only will you feel happier just in realizing how much you presently have in your life to be thankful for and appreciative of, but you will create happier surroundings and be continually blessed in the days, months, and years to come. In addition, every time you express your appreciation you will notice more of what you have in your life to be appreciative of. And this will make you feel wonderful. So do this for yourself (and others). And do it often.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness

How to Live Increasingly Happier Over Time

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

A wonderful way to improve happiness involves periodically performing an inventory your life and taking actions to fill more of your life with the positive aspects and less with the negative aspects over time. Even if you focus solely on one side of the continuum – moving towards the positive or filling less of your life with the negative – you will experience greater happiness. But the combined effect will greatly accelerate your progress in these regards.

And just how might one go about doing this? Well, one thing you can do is consider multiple aspects – when conducting an inventory of your life – to include activities you engage in, the work you perform, your financial situation, the people in your life, the information and media content you tend to surround yourself with and expose yourself to, your living situation, the goals you are presently pursuing (and any new ones you are considering), that which consumes your life more than you would like, any new experiences you are considering, and any personal issues which repeatedly create substantial unhappiness or negativity for you such as recurring stress, depression, anxiety, guilt, anger, and temptations, addictions, and compulsions. When performing this inventory, list each of the items you come up with and score each of them using a scale such as the following:

+2: Highly Positive
+1: Moderately Positive
0: Neutral or Slightly Positive/Negative
-1: Moderately Negative
-2: Highly Negative

Once you do this you will have a pretty good idea of which aspects in your life tend to affect you in a positive way and which tend to do the opposite.  Becoming mindful of these aspects is helpful because awareness is the first step to change. Upon gaining this awareness, you would next ask yourself what steps you can take to move in a more positive direction.

Potential ways to address negative aspects generally fall into two primary categories: (1) those which involve creating distance or limiting participation (to include perhaps even removing oneself completely where possible or feasible), and (2) those which involve taking steps to work through or making significant changes. For those which fall into category 2 – which might include current life challenges, work, and recurring personal issues (stress, depression, anxiety, etc.) – you would consider actions to take to address these such as reading books on the topic(s), getting professional assistance, going to a support group or workshop, talking with others who have gone through similar experiences, and investigating/employing various other potential resources and sources of support.

Regarding the positive aspects of your life, you would simply take actions to move towards, or increase your participation in, these positive aspects. 

Start with addressing the highly negative and highly positive aspects first and then move on to addressing the moderately negative and moderately positive aspects. Within each of these categories, develop and execute plans for addressing these – perhaps starting with the easiest items first and then moving on to the more difficult ones to build confidence and momentum.

As you progress towards filling more of your life with the positive and less with the negative, you will begin to clear the “clutter” from your life and become increasingly happier. Once you’ve made significant progress in these regards start over and repeat these steps. Some people like to perform this process on an annual basis, perhaps the week leading to New Year’s or the week leading to their birthday, while others prefer to do this more frequently. Just do what works for you or those you are offering assistance to.

Every time you inventory your life and work towards improvement in these regards you will move in a positive direction, your life will get better, and you will feel increasingly happier. So don’t delay. Start today.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #relationships

How To Do What Truly Matters Today, Tomorrow, and Off into the Distant Future

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

I recently read an interesting book by James Altucher called “Choose Yourself to Wealth”. One of the things he recommends in this book is defining a life theme to live by which serves as a simple guide for how to live your life from one day to the next.

I like his life themes idea, but have expanded it such that it is broader and more encompassing. I embrace living from day to day in accordance with a life theme, on a more micro level as the author suggests, but also recommend doing this on a more macro level by ensuring that what you are doing or working towards, such as the tasks and activities you perform as well as the goals that you pursue in life, will allow you to experience more of your life theme in the future.

For example, my life theme might be to live happy and free. As such, I would remind myself of this theme throughout my days to move more towards living in this fashion on a micro level. However, I would also check to ensure that much of what I was doing and working towards was geared towards living happier and freer off into the future. For instance, I might learn how to invest money or work towards creating a more rewarding career to realize even more of the happiness and freedom I was envisioning via my life theme.

Here’s a list of potential life themes which might be worth considering:
* living happy
* living a balanced life
* being more loving and appreciative
* living stress free
* being creative
* being healthy
* being social
* being more loving
* doing what you love
* being highly successful
* being family oriented
* nurturing friend and/or family relationships
* some combination of the above

Simply use whatever life theme strongly resonates with you at the time and feel free to periodically change it up. For example, you might strongly desire success at one point in your life and want to support a life theme of “being highly successful”. Later in life you might get to the point where you have experienced a good deal of success and are satisfied with the success you have achieved to date. At that point in time you might decide to replace the “success oriented” life theme with something else which strongly resonates with you at the time such as “living a balanced life” or “nurturing friend and family relationships”. You would then proceed with supporting this new life theme. By periodically revisiting and revising your life themes you will continually support your strongest desires over time.

If you live in accordance with your life themes you will do what’s truly important to you whether performing your regular day to day activities or working towards your future. If you do not live in accordance with these then you will begin to lose sight of them. For example, a workaholic might regret not spending more time with family if he or she values family time much more than work or success. By defining and supporting a life theme of “being family oriented” the person might remember and take steps towards not working so much and taking time out during the day to connect with family members and performing activities which are kind, nurturing, and thoughtful towards them on a more regular basis.

By creating and living in accordance with your life themes you will always do what’s important to you no matter what you’re doing. It’s a simple way to ensure that you: 1) define what’s important to you at the time, and 2) live in accordance with this. So give this a try.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness

Create Healthy Boundaries By Treating Assistance to Others as Partnerships

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

One thing that many people struggle with is creating and maintaining healthy boundaries when providing assistance to others. Something that I frequently tell people in this regard is to treat these kinds of situations as partnerships where both you and the parties you are providing assistance to jointly participate and contribute towards resolving the issues, improving the situations at hand, and/or creating better lives overall. That is, there is both the part that YOU will contribute and there is the part which the OTHER PARTIES will contribute. The second part is frequently overlooked by the good hearted givers of the world, but is the key to success for truly making things better.

If you find in your life that you’ve repeatedly offered assistance to someone where the situation does not seem to improve or perhaps even gets worse then take a good hard look at the approach being taken. Until those receiving the assistance are ready, willing, and committed towards taking steps to help themselves there’s really not much that you can do. It’s just wasted energy on your part. Simply step aside, wish them well, and wait until the troubled persons are ready, willing, and committed to do their part. This goes for people experiencing financial difficulties, relationship or family issues, employment issues, addiction related issues, and other life issues.

Now, that being stated, the troubled individuals themselves do not necessarily need to know what to specifically do in order to make their situations better. Oftentimes they don’t. But they do have to be ready, willing, and committed towards working with you (and others) to: (1) identify potential options and resources, (2) investigate the options/resources and select those which potentially offer good solutions, and (3) develop and execute plans for making progress.

This does not mean that success will be experienced the first time through. It does mean that the troubled individuals must do their part, and that if the initial options/resources selected or the executed plans do not work, then they must be ready, willing, and committed towards identifying, investigating, and selecting other options/resources and developing and executing new plans. That is, it is likely this will need to be an iterative process in order to find a good solution. And so long as the troubled persons are contributing and participating in finding a solution there’s no reason to not consider helping them. However, should these individuals stop their efforts then you might consider stopping yours. Because, at that point, there won’t be much you will able to do to help ~ the partnership no longer existing. Simply step aside until those times when they are ready, willing, and committed to do their part. You’ll save yourself a lot of time, energy, and frustration if you operate in this fashion. Furthermore, you will communicate a strong message to those individuals that there are no handouts. That until they are ready, willing, and committed to helping themselves you will not be coming to their rescue.

In my own life, I know someone who has struggled with a drug addiction problem for several years now. Anytime that he’s caught up in the turbulence and chaos of the addiction issue I step aside and wish him well. However, during those periods of time when he’s actively seeking help and is committed to working towards solutions then I step right back in to lend a helping hand.

Now, there are some individuals who are not willing to offer assistance in these kinds of situations due to a common word in the addiction and recovery arena called “enabling”. However, I would argue that there is a world of difference between enabling someone to continue living an unhealthy lifestyle and enabling someone to help himself. And, no matter how bad things get for my friend, so long as he is ready, willing, and committed to doing his part in helping himself, he’ll always be able to count on me to do mine. For, although I am not willing to help him continue living an unhealthy life, anytime that he is ready, willing, and committed to get help, I’ll be right there to help him pick up the pieces and to make things better.

I encourage you to take a similar approach when helping others in your life. Always remember to create and maintain healthy boundaries by treating the assistance that you provide to others as partnerships. Partnerships involving the part that YOU will perform as well as the part that the OTHER PARTIES will perform. This is the only way in which to truly help others. Anything less can be ineffective and even detrimental in nature. I hope this article will help some of you out there who experience similar struggles.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #relationships

WHICH LIFE WILL YOU CHOOSE?

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Which life will you choose? A life full of beauty, love, warmth, joy, inspiration, and hope? Or a life filled with pain, loneliness, pessimism, negativity, emptiness, and despair? The choice is always yours. Remembering this is the key to the level of happiness – or unhappiness for that matter – that you will experience throughout the days, weeks, months, and years of your life. It is also the key for how much happiness – or unhappiness for that matter – that you will create within the lives of others who surround you. So, which life will you choose to experience and create? This is probably the most important question you can ask yourself.

Most people who know me well know I am a spiritual person. Now, what do I mean by that? Well, for me, one thing this means is that the spirits of all living and breathing beings never die – they live on after their bodies pass. Another thing it means for me is that connections and communications between individual beings – living or dead, near or far – can continue as if they were within our immediate presence. This offers such warmth, inspiration, and comfort because no matter where I am I never feel distant, disconnected, or alone. I can always summon and experience the joyful presence of others I have loved and appreciated in my life – past or present, living or dead. Sometimes, I will do things and invite them along to experience them with me. Sometimes, I will visit places we enjoyed in the past and beforehand tell them I am going and invite them to join me there. In either case, I feel their joyful presence and it fills me with happiness and makes me smile. I will frequently mentally converse with them and experience their joy at still being a part of my life and my joy at still being a part of theirs.

This is an activity you can perform with all of those that you love and appreciate: people and pets alike. For example, one of my best friends moved clear across the country a couple of years ago with his two dogs who I also adored. Sometimes, I like to go to the areas where he used to live. But before I go, I will generally invite him and his dogs – in spirit – to join me there. I always have such a wonderful, pleasant experience whenever I do this. And who knows? Perhaps, me doing this gave my friend and his dogs happy thoughts in those moments or happy dreams if they were sleeping at the time. For, so much more is possible in the spiritual world than in the physical world.

As another example, my mother died back in 2014, but I still invite her to participate in my life and feel her presence around me. For one thing, she always enjoyed trying new foods and desserts. So, anytime I’m trying something new I invite her to enjoy it with me. And she always does it with such joy! Bringing me great happiness in the process.

So, just because those that you love and appreciate are no longer in your life – either because they have moved away or have passed on – this does not mean you cannot continue to experience the warmth and the joy and the inspiration of their presence. Connect and communicate with them spiritually. Do it now. Do it tomorrow. And do it anytime you desire to experience the warmth, joy, and inspiration of their presence. You are not alone. You never have been. The spiritual world is always there for you.

Now, of course, there are naysayers who do not or will not embrace – and in fact reject – what I have proposed above. However, I would ask you to consider this: Imagine someone who lived his or her life experiencing the love, warmth, and joy of living in this fashion. Now, imagine someone else who lived life rejecting all of these notions and believing that life was a painful, lonely, dismal, and spiritless place. If both of these individuals died tomorrow, who do you suppose lived the happier life? The way you choose to live your life is always your choice. Always remember that. Because we truly do not know how the spiritual world works or what happens after we pass. Although, there have been accounts of near death experiences where beauty and reunions with loved ones of the past have been repeatedly described in detail.

I have made my choice. Which life will you choose? A life full of beauty, love, warmth, joy, inspiration, and hope? Or a life filled with pain, loneliness, pessimism, negativity, emptiness, and despair? Because it truly does not matter. Things will happen the way they do no matter how you choose to live your life. It does not matter. Or perhaps, more importantly, it does.

I hope this article will inspire some of you to live a happier life. I do not care which specific path or journey you choose so long as it does not create negativity towards yourself or towards others. Just choose a happy one. Not only for the benefit of yourself, but for the benefit of those who surround you.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness #relationships

Happiness Is Easy: A Simple Guide For Creating Greater Joy, Inspiration, and Positivity In Life

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

This article presents a wonderful way in which to create greater joy, inspiration, and positivity in life by regularly performing assessments, reflecting on these, and making adjustments accordingly such that you begin to fill more of your time with that which promotes a sense of joy, inspiration, and positivity in your life and less with that which does not. This includes the tasks, chores, and work that you perform, the people that you spend your time with, and the activities that you engage in. By mindfully evaluating and reflecting upon these areas of your life, on a regular basis, you will be able to readily determine which of these aspects promote a sense of joy, inspiration, and positivity in your life and which do not. For those aspects that do you will want to mindfully and intentionally fill more of your time with these. For those aspects which do not you will want to either find creative ways in which to make these aspects more positive in nature or seek to remove yourself from or minimize your participation in these.

Concerning ways in which to modify aspects such that they become more positive in nature, one example might be related to work. For example, if the work that you regularly perform tends to be somewhat boring in nature then you might seek ways in which to make the work more interesting. One way to do this might be to seek to gain knowledge or develop skills which might serve to benefit you both at work and outside of work or provide transferrable knowledge and skills to other types of work that you might have greater interest in. Concerning aspects which you cannot modify or moderate in some fashion then you might seek to distance yourself from or minimize your participation in these. For example, if select individuals that you regularly spend your time with tend to create drama and negativity in your life, then you might want to mindfully and intentionally create distance, or remove yourself completely, at least until that point in time where you can be in the presence of these individuals and remain unaffected. Frequently, people will continue to maintain relationships with others even when they are negative, hurtful, unhealthy, or detrimental in nature. Don’t do this to yourself. It can sap your energy and fill you with negative thoughts and feelings. A better way to proceed is to mindfully evaluate your relationships, from time to time, and participate more in those that tend to be positive in nature and less in those which are not. This goes for all types of relationships to include romantic partners, friendships, family members, co-workers, and acquaintances.

Each of these are examples of ways in which to progress towards living a happier life: filling more of your life with the positive and removing or distancing yourself from that which tends to be negative in nature. By mindfully, intentionally, and incrementally progressing towards the positive and away from the negative you will develop a greater sense of joy, inspiration, and positivity in your life. And this will feel wonderful. And this will energize and motivate you. And this will benefit not only yourself, but also others who surround you. How much joy, inspiration, and positivity can you stand? Well, you will soon find out as soon as you begin to live your life in this fashion. Yes, happiness is easy. You just have to mindfully, intentionally, and incrementally take the steps to get you there. Make it your lifelong goal to regularly fill more of your time doing that which brings you happiness and less doing that which does not. Remain ever mindful of this over the days, weeks, months, and years of your life. In doing so, you will create and experience a wonderful life filled with all of the joy, inspiration, and positivity you can possibly imagine. You can start creating this life today. So, do this for yourself if you can. And if you need any help with this you know who to ask.

This article describes one way in which to create greater joy, inspiration, and positivity in life by putting more time and energy towards the positive aspects and less time and energy towards the negative aspects. I hope that some of you will find this article to be informative, helpful, and inspirational. To date I’ve written several articles related to creating and living a happier life. Click on “Personal Improvement, Development, and Growth Related Posts” on the sidebar to the right or below (depending upon which device you are using) if you would like to read some of these other articles for helpful tips on how to create greater peace, happiness, and progress in life if you think they might be helpful to you or to others in your life.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness

For those that do not know, I perform life coaching and training services in two primary areas: 1) Personal and Professional Improvement, Development, and Growth, and 2) Financial Planning, Management, and Investing. As such, I generally alternate the articles that I write via my blogs between these two topic areas. This particular article is associated with the first area that I life coach in. So if you don’t have much interest in personal and professional improvement, development, and growth, rest assured that soon I will write an article which will be in the area that you might have greater interest in; the financial planning, management, and investing area. You can also follow me on Twitter if you like at: Joseph M Brennan Jr @ BrighterDaysLC

Please contact me if you, or someone else in your life, could use some assistance with either of the two primary areas that I actively perform life coaching in. You can learn more about each of these areas by clicking on the menu, footer, and sidebar items.

Joseph M. Brennan Jr.
CEO/Life Coach – Brighter Days Life Coaching
“Your Brighter Days Life Coach for Life”

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Creating A Life Full Of Passion, Purpose, Fun, And Fulfillment

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

This article describes one way in which to create a life full of passion, purpose, fun, and fulfillment: Beginning with the end in mind. That’s right. Imagine that you are at the end of your life looking back. What life would you have wanted to live? What person would you have wanted to become? What influences would you have wanted to have? What contributions would you have wanted to make? What experiences would you have wanted to have? What relationships would you have wanted to share? What world would you have wanted to create and leave behind? Yes. The important life questions become much more apparent when you begin with the end in mind. Reflecting on your life in this fashion can influence you to initiate the changes needed, starting from where you are today, in order to realize some of these other aspects over time. You may not be able to do them all, but by balancing your greatest desires with the amount of time and effort it might potentially take to achieve each of these a sense of priority can become more apparent.

Some people prefer to contribute in the more micro sense via their personal relationships, families, friends, and local communities. Some people prefer to contribute in the more macro sense via humanity, nature, and the world. Some people prefer to contribute in a combined sense by doing a little of each. For example, in the micro sense, you might strongly desire having a family and nurturing the growth of your children. If this is the case, then you might contribute more to the current relationship that you have if it’s going well or, if you are single, then you might perform activities which are more social in nature, date more regularly, and/or create opportunities for performing the interests that you have in more social environments to create greater opportunities to meet that special someone. In the macro sense, you might decide to work towards a career which directly supports the macro aspects that you greatly desire to support, start performing volunteer work, and/or support various causes. In the combined sense, you might decide to perform a little of each of these aspects and/or focus on becoming the person you most desire to become in support of your most desired micro and/or macro life contributions. For each of these cases keep in mind, however, that your desires can change over time so it’s helpful to repeat your “end of life” evaluation from time to time and to make adjustments accordingly. For example, someone might strongly desire to contribute to the growth and development of his or her children during one stage of life, but once the children have gotten older or left home, strongly desire to contribute in other ways.

By reflecting on these “end of life contribution” desires and creating a life in accordance with these you will avoid the emptiness you might feel later in life should you ask yourself the haunting question: “What did I do with my life?” I’ve thought about such questions often in my life. Questions which have influenced me to: (1) write and publish poetry earlier in my life, (2) develop the books, training seminars, and articles that I currently develop as well as the life coaching services that I regularly perform, and (3) live ever mindfully out of kindness and respect for all living and breathing beings both in the world of today and in the world of tomorrow. Some of my “end of life” desires include offering inspiration, hope, joy, optimism, comfort, and confidence to others such that they live happier lives. Hopefully, the work that I am presently performing offer these aspects to you and to others in your life. Writing is probably my most preferred form of communication, because written works have frequently continued to offer such contributions long after a life has ended. So many books that I have read from departed authors have still influenced me today.

You can create and experience a wonderful life filled with all of the passion, purpose, fun, and fulfillment you can possibly imagine by putting more of your energy towards creating a life which reflects your greatest desires and less energy towards those aspects which do not. So try doing this for yourself if you can. And if you need any assistance with this you know who to ask.

This article describes one way in which create a life of passion, purpose, fun, and fulfillment, by starting with the end in mind, such that you put more energy towards creating a life which reflects your greatest desires and less energy towards those aspects which do not. I hope that some of you will find this article to be helpful. To date I’ve written several articles related to creating and living a happier life. Click on “Personal Improvement, Development, and Growth Related Posts” on the sidebar to the right or below (depending upon which device you are using) if you would like to read some of these other articles for helpful tips on how to create greater peace, happiness, and progress in life if you think they might be helpful to you or to others in your life.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness

For those that do not know, I perform life coaching and training services in two primary areas: 1) Personal and Professional Improvement, Development, and Growth, and 2) Financial Planning, Management, and Investing. As such, I generally alternate the articles that I write via my blogs between these two topic areas. This particular article is associated with the first area that I life coach in. So if you don’t have much interest in personal and professional improvement, development, and growth, rest assured that soon I will write an article which will be in the area that you might have greater interest in; the financial planning, management, and investing area. You can also follow me on Twitter if you like at: Joseph M Brennan Jr @ BrighterDaysLC

Please contact me if you, or someone else in your life, could use some assistance with either of the two primary areas that I actively perform life coaching in. You can learn more about each of these areas by clicking on the menu, footer, and sidebar items.

 

Joseph M. Brennan Jr.
CEO/Life Coach – Brighter Days Life Coaching
“Your Brighter Days Life Coach for Life”

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Make a Bad Day Better
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Balance the Heart and Mind in Relationship Situations

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Selena Gomez once had a catchy song called “The Heart Wants What It Wants” and while I believe that, melodically speaking, it is one of her better songs, lyrically speaking, I would encourage you to think twice before living in this fashion. Too many people solely “listen to their hearts” when they are in negative relationship situations and wonder why they feel so miserable for so much of their lives. It’s okay to listen to your heart so long as you balance this out, from time to time, with thought, logic, and reason. In other words, feel free to follow your heart to some degree but keep your eyes open and put some thought into, and reflect upon, your personal relationship situation from time to time in addition to this.

A good thing to do in this regard is getting yourself into a quiet place and mindfully evaluating your personal relationship situation every once in a while to determine whether it is moving in a more positive direction or in a more negative direction. If the former, then feel free to crank up the volume of your heart and follow it intently – at least until that period of time when you decide to mindfully re-evaluate your relationship situation – because in situations where your personal relationship is strongly positive, it probably makes more sense to turn down the volume on thought, logic, and reason to ensure you do not over think the situation and create issues which are non-existent in nature while turning up the volume on a heart filled with love and desire. If the latter, then it would probably be best to turn down the volume of your heart and turn up the volume on thought, logic, and reason – at least until that period of time when things significantly improve (if ever).In some cases, you might be able to mindfully take actions to improve the relationship situation, while in others the relationship might continue moving in a negative direction due to aspects beyond your control.

In situations where your personal relationship becomes strongly negative, it probably makes sense to listen intently to what your mind and other indicators are telling you and turn down the volume on a heart which might otherwise convince you to remain in a negative – or perhaps even a detrimental – personal relationship situation for a lengthy period of time. Don’t do this to yourself.

Each of these situations essentially involves the same process: getting yourself into a quiet place, taking some time to mindfully evaluate your personal relationship situation, and taking actions which are consistent with the results of this evaluation – perhaps, turning up the volume of the heart and turning down the volume of thought, logic, and reason when things are strongly positive, doing the opposite when things are strongly negative, and doing something in between when things are neither strongly positive nor strongly negative. You can create and experience a wonderful life filled with all of the love and happiness you can possibly imagine by putting your energy into personal relationships which are positive in nature and distancing yourself from those that are negative in nature. So try doing this for yourself if you can.

Selena Gomez’s heart might “want what it wants” but living in this fashion can create a life full of misery unless you happen to be in a personal relationship which is positive in nature. So, evaluate your relationship from time to time. And if you need any assistance with this you know who to ask.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness

This article describes one way in which to balance the heart’s desires with thought, logic, and reason such that you put more energy towards personal relationship situations which are more positive in nature while distancing yourself from those that are more negative in nature. I hope that some of you who are experiencing similar kinds of challenges will find this article to be helpful. To date I’ve written several articles related to creating and living a happier life. Click on “Personal Improvement, Development, and Growth Related Posts” on the sidebar to the right or below (depending upon which device you are using) if you would like to read some of these other articles for helpful tips on how to create greater peace, happiness, and progress in life if you think they might be helpful to you or to others in your life.

For those that do not know, I perform life coaching and training services in two primary areas: 1) Personal and Professional Improvement, Development, and Growth, and 2) Financial Planning, Management, and Investing. As such, I generally alternate the articles that I write via my blogs between these two topic areas. This particular article is associated with the first area that I life coach in. So if you don’t have much interest in personal and professional improvement, development, and growth, rest assured that soon I will write an article which will be in the area that you might have greater interest in; the financial planning, management, and investing area. You can also follow me on Twitter if you like at: Joseph M Brennan Jr @ BrighterDaysLC

Please contact me if you, or someone else in your life, could use some assistance with either of the two primary areas that I actively perform life coaching in. You can learn more about each of these areas by clicking on the menu, footer, and sidebar items.

Joseph M. Brennan Jr.
CEO/Life Coach – Brighter Days Life Coaching
“Your Brighter Days Life Coach for Life”

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Make a Bad Day Better
Make a Good Day Better
Create a Brighter Life

 

Achieve Greater Peace and Happiness Through Improved Self Esteem

Posted on by Joseph M. Brennan Jr.

Self esteem is one of the more significant factors which contribute to the levels of happiness – or unhappiness for that matter – that people experience throughout their entire lives. So, anything we do to improve in this regard can be helpful for not only ourselves but also others who surround us.

One of the primary reasons people suffer from low self-esteem is because they treat themselves unkindly. The first step for improving in this regard involves becoming more mindfully aware of when you are treating yourself unkindly instead of mindlessly continuing to engage in these activities. Often, self-esteem issues result from mindlessly and repeatedly treating ourselves unkindly via thoughts, words, and actions. So, a good way to challenge this tendency is becoming more mindfully aware of when we are treating ourselves unkindly – at least for part of the time (step 1 of the process).

You might tell yourself something like, “There it is… I did it again…”, when catching yourself and remind yourself something like, “I’m not doing this to myself anymore… I am now treating myself more kindly”, and then release the original negative thought. Every time you are successful in doing this, you will break the negative cycle. Every time you break the negative cycle, you will improve the way you feel. Eventually, you will get to the point that, in addition to performing step 1 of this process, you will reconsider the original self-directed negative thought and transform it into something more positive (step 2 of the process).

Often, people with low self-esteem use negative labels and generalizations against themselves such as “stupid”, “failure”, “loser”, etc. So, someone might innocently forget where he placed his keys and tell himself something like, “I’m so stupid”, but after performing step 1 of this process become aware that, in that moment, he is treating himself unkindly and then gently release the negative thought. Ideally, he would then perform step 2 of the process and reconsider the thought, “I am so stupid” , and upon further reflection realize, “Wait a minute, I’m not stupid. I just misplaced my keys. Sometimes, I get a little sidetracked but that doesn’t mean I’m stupid.” Transforming the original self-directed negative thought into something more positive.

I have frequently met people who seemingly, jokingly use negative words against themselves such as “stupid” or “loser”. When I encounter such situations, I often gently try to guide them away from the use of such words with the realization that the self-directed negative words expressed verbally are probably a very small subset of all of such self-directed negative words they routinely engaged in internally. Even if these words are used – on some occasions – truly in a joking manner, often people begin to believe the things they tell themselves over time. Especially, if they happen in a repetitive fashion. So, I always try to help people gain this awareness so they at least have the opportunity to break the negative cycle if they choose to.

Every time you become more mindfully aware and break the negative cycle, you will feel better about yourself. And this MINDFUL AWARENESS => BREAK THE NEGATIVE CYCLE process can continue from hour-to-hour to week-to-week to month-to-month. If you keep going through this process, you will eventually get to the point where you will treat yourself kindly – instead of unkindly – for much of the time. And this will allow you to love yourself more. And this will make you feel wonderful. And this will create greater joy both within yourself and within your surroundings. How much joy can you stand? You will soon find out once you begin to improve your self-esteem. So, do this for yourself if you can.

This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/ 

#selfimprovement #selfhelp #selfdevelopment #intention #fulfillment #success #inspiration #happiness

 

Joseph M. Brennan Jr.
CEO/Life Coach – Brighter Days Life Coaching
“Your Brighter Days Life Coach for Life”

6-27-2013BrennanPhotos-Main1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Make a Bad Day Better
Make a Good Day Better
Create a Brighter Life