Success

Yоu сannоt hаve success if yоu do not know whаt іt means for уou. Evеryоne views success differently. Set clear goals аnd bе realistic. How wіll you know when you've achieved уour goals? Your standards shоuld bе quantifiable, оr еlse yоu сould spend your entire life chasing after а vague goal. For examрlе, lеt's sау уou wаnt tо be good at уour job. Yоu get a promotion, уou get а raise, but you ѕtіll haven't reached уour goal bесauѕе уou сould аlwayѕ dо better, rіght? Yоu cоuld alwауѕ get promoted еven furthеr, оr make evеn more money. Whаtеver уоu hаve will nevеr be enough. Instеad, create benchmarks: "Mу goal іѕ tо increase my productivity bу 30% and оnly be late fоr work fіvе times рer year, at the moѕt." Thеѕe are quantifiable goals that whеn achieved, give уou a sense of satisfaction аnd completion, making уоu feel successful and confident.

What is success to you?

Passion

In dictionary.com, passion is described as any powerful or compelling emotion or feeling, as love or hate. So passion has both a negative and a positive aspect. It can be the driving force that makes you creative or successful but it can also be the destructive force that can ruin your life. Personally, I believe that passion has really nothing to do with romantic love unless it supplements to strengthening love.  I must admit this is very rare but I only judge from my own experience of love and passion. According to Brian Norris "Passion shapes our existence, fuels the fires of inspiration and makes the heart and mind open to changes all around us. It is food for the soul, a spark that reilluminates our purpose and mission for being here."

It's also that great song by Irene Caras


What's passion to you?

Jealousy

When in a romantic relationship, feeling jealous up to a certain degree can be normal and healthy. However, jealousy can also be a very negative feeling which can destroy human relationships.

Jealousy is not the same thing as love. Sometimes, people think that by feeling jealous about someone, they e love them. Jealousy is not love; it’s the fear and anger of losing love. Jealousy disappears when you  truly love yourself and others for whatever experience you’re having.
We should learn to be happy with ourselves and what we have. Everyone is different, and each person has good and bad qualities. It's important to realise that each one of us has the potential to create a better future.
Talking about our problems with someone helps us feel that these jealous tendencies are a private matter.
Irrational jealousy usually stems from our own insecurities and low self-esteem. Address these issues first.
Be happy for the other person. When you are jealous, you may think, "I like that; it would be nice to have that thing or experience." When you can be happy for another person's success and happiness, you allow positive feelings to flow into your life. Instead of being angry, congratulate the other person. Feel happy for the success of your co-workers or partners, and, most importantly, don't allow jealousy to destroy your relationship or your marriage.
I have never been jealous of anyone's success or happiness, yet I was occasionally jealous in a relationship. However, it was the kind of jealousy that I could control and it was never the reason to end a relationship. How about you? Are you jealous? And if you are how do you deal with it? 

Future Perfect

Our vision for the future might hold one of these two possibilities. We could be dreaming about some enjoyment that hopefully lies ahead, or worried about some looming hardship. Often the enjoyment in our lives is put on hold, we just need more time and money. We just have to work a little harder. Too many things can go wrong with this and we may not be able to do it later for various reasons. If we put off our enjoyment of life until later, it may take longer than we think, or it may never happen the way that we envisioned it.

We should not throw away our precious todays in anticipation of good times, not when we can have days of enjoyment and satisfaction now. Perhaps it's time for an examination of our style of life and our wants and needs, now and for the future. It is good to imagine a happy future and make plans for it but we should not put off the happiness we can have today. So why not live each day as if the future plans may not materialise.

"We are never living, but only hoping to live; and, looking forward always to being happy, it is inevitable that we never are so." - Blaise Pascal (1623-1662)

Worrying over something that is going to happen will make our lives stressful and less happy. After examining an upcoming difficult or seemingly disastrous situation, if there is something that can be done to improve on it, do it. If not, and the event cannot or should not be avoided, then accept the fact and start thinking about something else. Worrying about it will not only be a total waste of time but it will increase anxiety, and things will seem even worse than they really are. "The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, not to anticipate troubles, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly." Buddha (BC)

I believe that we are the architects of our own future.You have the choice to choose your career, the country you live in, the friends you hang out with, how you go through life (half empty or half full), even the food you eat tonight and the music you listen to. I know that is not entirely true because there are people who do not have these choices, but in my opinion, as long as you have your health and your freedom, then you have all these choices available to you, even if it requires some time and work to get the means to be able to make the choice . Every choice you make right now has an impact on your future and the future of many others. Whether you want to accept this or not, it is true.

The thing with choices is that you will never know if a choice leads to success or failure until after the time. Even if the choice has the best chance of future success (like going to college to get a degree), success is not guaranteed. There is no sense in worrying about the outcome of a choice. Once you are able to accept this, then you are more free to make a choice and have the attitude of “I made this choice, and I am going to do everything as best as I can, and things will turn out the way they do”But…if you don’t know what you want, where your passions lie, then how can you make the right choices for yourself?

We all aspire to a happier life and certainly a happier future. To achieve this, we need to think positive, make choices and sometimes take risks.

10 Steps to Happiness

I have often wondered how one can find real happiness in life. I have read many books on the pursuit of happiness and visited many sites on the same issue. I certainly got out of them a lot of constructive information. The first step I took towards happiness was to stop thinking negative or feeling self-pity. Here are the 10 steps I took and which led me to happiness:

1. Learn to love yourself as you are with your pluses and minuses.

2. Be confident but not over confident.

3. Be creative. Start a sport , a hobby....

4. Forget your own ego and concentrate on your spiritual self.

5. Dream - dreams often come true. It's up to you to realise them.

6. Greet your neighbours even if you don't like them. This is not hypocricy since wishing anyone a good day will make your day happier too.

7. Don't forget to smile! (at least 20 times a day)

8. Respect others as you would like them to respect you!

9. Have fun! Meet your friends, go out, enjoy yourself!

10. Count your blessings.

And as Alan Chalmers said : The Grand essentials of happiness are: something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.