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Jay Whitenoreply@blogger.com2008-07-17T07:37:33.411-05:007 How-to-be-happy Lessons That Kids Can Teach Us</h3><content type="html"><div id="write">Written on 7/17/2008 by Evelyn Lim, a writer of self help articles on <a href="http://www.attractionmindmap.com/">Attracting Abundance</a>.</h7></div> <img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223630435750637330" style="FLOAT: right; MARGIN: 0pt 0pt 0px 10px" alt="" src="http://bp1.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SH4QNJDV7xI/AAAAAAAAB8o/seFClHfak98/s400/br.jpg" border="0" />You do not have to look very far to learn how to be happy. In fact, there are no expensive workshops or courses to take, or books that you need to read. You do not even need to sit in meditation to gain great insights. Well, if you are seeking for happiness, then notice who around you seems to be happy all day? That’s right – kids! Laughter is a natural thing with kids. If you spend some time playing with them, it is easy to get infected with their happy smiles. While there are moments that kids get upset, you find that you can learn a thing or two from them about forgetting their anger just as quickly. It is also possible that you start to remember a time when you used to be a kid and how life seemed so easy and without worries. If anything, here are 7 ways that you can learn from kids on how to happy: <ol><li>Living in the present Kids have a wonderful way of living one moment at a time. Their feelings are often based on events as they happen. They are mostly joyful. At times, they may feel negative and this usually happens in a fight over toys or games. However, as soon as they get distracted with something new, they no longer hold on to their negative emotions. Instead, they are happy once again. As adults, we tend to remain angry or upset even way after the event. We are experts in accumulating anger in an internal storehouse. Our minds get stuck a lot in the past. We do not live in the present moment as it is now. It is hard to be happy when we have no present moment awareness.</li> <li>Single Focus While Doing Things When a child is playing a tag, he is playing tag. He is not playing tag and thinking about the picture he will draw later and the block castle he will build tomorrow morning. He is single focused. As adults, we get stressed because we pile on many things into a single moment. We overwhelm ourselves with our “to do” list. Unfortunately, in trying to multi-task, our mind gets detracted from being present in each task. We end up rushing through time. There is no space for slowing down, let alone breathe. At the very worst, with so many things to do, we end up not accomplishing much. So, if you find it hard to cope, slow down a little. Be single focused in the things that needs to be done first. After you finish, then move on to the next down your list. You find life more of a breeze, when you can reduce the number of things you need to do at any one point in time.</li> <li>Use of Imagination Kids are always using their imagination, whether they are playing a game or drawing a picture. They love pretend play and are intrigued by stories about magic, dreams and what seems humanly impossible. If you think about it, imagination is the seed of the feeling of joy. When you indulge in your dreams, endorphins are released, giving you a nice warm sensation. It is funny that how as adults we have forgotten about using our imagination. School has trained us to be more left-brained and analytical. We also become more rigid in the way we do things and our expectations. Then, when events do not happen according to plan, we become very unhappy. We are less open to new possibilities, because we have lost our sense of imagination. </li> <li>The future is limitless To many kids, everything in life is possible. The sky is the limit and they have their whole lives ahead of them. There is no reason for them to feel as if time is working against them. Well, you can adopt the very same attitude and not be held hostage by time considerations. It is never too late. If there is something you have been waiting to do with your life, then go for it. The last you want would be a life of regret. Joy escapes you when you allow life to become stale.</li> <li>Always Joyful Children are always happy because they find joy in little things. They get excited when they see a butterfly, jump over a puddle or get to go to McDonalds. They do not over analyze situations and do not assume the worst in people or situations. They keep things simple. To remind yourself about being joyful, keep a gratitude journal. List down the many blessings that you currently enjoy in your life. Additionally, on a regular basis, do something small that makes you happy like reading one chapter of a book you like or taking a walk in the park. </li> <li>Inherent Goodness and Trust in Others Children have an inherent goodness about them. They do not intend to hurt anyone and they do not naturally think that anyone would want to hurt them. With no such ill intent or worries, it is easy to be just happy all day! Imagine what the world would be like if everyone could play and work nicely together. Adults should learn from kids to put aside their differences and care for each other. Love creates happiness.</li> <li>Absolute Faith In Getting Their Wishes Fulfilled It is amazing how kids can have so much faith that their wishes will be granted. Ever get badgered by your kids until you "cave" in to give them what they want? Believe me; it is not easy to stay firm when you are up against their cheeky smiles. Another example I can think of is about the wishes of my kids to see the world. They talk about their travel plans all the time. There was never a shred of doubt that their wishes will be granted one day. Do we hold as much faith in our own dreams? Probably not. We are too encumbered by unnecessary worries. We limit ourselves by our beliefs. If things are not working in our favor, we may even choose to give up half way and ditch our dreams.</li></ol>In conclusion, to be happy, reconnect with the inner child in you. Be around kids if it helps. If you do not have any, check out your local playground. Better yet, volunteer some time at a Children’s Orphanage. Bring out the imaginative, joyful, and trusting qualities in you. By becoming more child-like, you are well on your way to becoming less of a stress bag. -Evelyn <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=3e658df7a0b135dfd363627957bdb9b5" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=3e658df7a0b135dfd363627957bdb9b5" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=DfnfhF"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=DfnfhF" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=DB85Hj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=DB85Hj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=J2Yv4j"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=J2Yv4j" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=XxAXhj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=XxAXhj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=Dbj7cj"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=Dbj7cj" border="0"></img></a> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?a=I9oT9J"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/DumbLittleMan?i=I9oT9J" border="0"></img></a> </div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DumbLittleMan/~4/338023626" height="1" width="1"/></content><author><name>Jay White</name><email>noreply@blogger.com</email></author></entry><entry><updated>2008-07-16T12:34:41.641-05:00</updated><title type="text">Grow Up, Green Up: How to Fight the Impulse Purchase</h3><content type="html"><div id="write"><h7 class="write">Written on 7/16/2008 by Sara Ost <a href="http://ecosalon.com/">ecosalon.com</a> with additional reporting by Mike Sowden.</h7></div> <a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/pumpkinjuice/229764922/"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_dH0q9hvpVHg/SH4vUeTLNlI/AAAAAAAAB8w/tTFFHtNmRm4/s400/checks.jpg" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5223664646573733458" border="0" /></a>When people ask about “going green”, they’re often pleasantly surprised at how easy it is: just stop buying so much stuff. Sure, basic necessities can easily be “greened up”: think fair trade coffee and cloth napkins and efficient light bulbs. Clothes, cars and furniture all come in eco-versions these days. But the friendliest thing you can do for the planet (and your wallet) is to learn to fight the senseless impulse purchase once and for all. We’re talking about the singing fish on the wall. Buying less crap: a rational proposition. Unfortunately for economics professors, human beings are not rational. (Hence the disturbing number of shoes in my closet.) If all it took to save cash and help the planet were a little logical insight, we wouldn’t be in the embarrassing predicament of far too many bagel slicers. Which is why the typical advice for resisting junk you don’t need never really helps. When we were researching tips to bring you for fighting the urge to buy on impulse, we kept finding the same old advice over and over again and to be honest, none of it felt very inspiring. Consider: <ul><li>The old “define what you really need before you shop” trick. (Typically: avoid wants, consider what you need to avoid starvation/homelessness/death. Well, thanks, Sherlock.) </li> <li>The reminder to go the store with a specific goal. (This apparently assures you will never, ever get distracted.) </li> <li>The suggestion to go home and wait a day before returning to buy. (Now this is not even eco-friendly. Think of the gas!) </li> <li>Something about the moral perils of instant gratification. (I don’t remember because the post was really long.) </li> <li>A recommendation for self-manipulation (hiding the credit card) or self-punishment (if I use the card again I must run the Lyon Street stairs 10 times) and other frankly ridiculous ways to stop trusting yourself to be a capable adult. </li> <li>The trusty maxims: appreciate the simple things, treasure what you have, remember giving is better than receiving, and so on. </li> <li>Another recurrent pearl: do not shop when you are angry, worried, tired, sad, lonely, hungry…or otherwise displaying signs that you are in fact a human being. </li> <li>The “secret weapon”: comparison shop rather than buy the item when you first see it. (Because online discounts do not encourage rationalizing that you can actually afford the <strike>shoes</strike> item now.) </li> <li>We finished off our quest with a big dollop of pseudo-psychology(think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow%27s_hierarchy_of_needs">Maslow</a>, <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Affluenza">affluenza</a> and spirituality quotes from Madonna). The problem, we learned, is that you’re just not loving yourself enough! </li></ul>Right. It’s called impulse purchase for a reason. Will we really change by reading a few clichéd tips? Perhaps winning the battle of the impulse purchase requires a big splash in the face to wake us up and teach us how we’ve been socially engineered. That’s right - engineered. Just when we were ready to call it quits, we stumbled onto a film that is the equivalent of a tidal wave to the noggin. Watch <a href="http://youtube.com/results?search_query=the+century+of+self&search_type=&aq=f">The Century of Self</a>. There is no possible way you can watch this film and remain unchanged. When it comes to reining in the impulse purchase, aren’t you sick of all the shallow tricks? We all have a brain; it’s just in need of a shake up. Maybe the reason the above tricks rarely effect lasting change is because they are working in the wrong direction. It’s not that tips aren’t useful (obviously Dumb Little Man is loaded with thousands of great tips). It’s that change has to happen on the inside first. If tips have ever worked for you, it’s because you had already changed internally and just needed some helpful tools to move in the right direction. But for most people, especially those drowning in credit card debt and slaves to the constant striving for the latest glossy widget, real change is going to take more than a few cute maxims and hidden credit cards. Tinkering is not going to cut it. We need to start with the shake up - we need the “aha” moment that rattles the core and makes us confront ourselves. (At that point, bring on the tips.) Otherwise…dude, you’re gettin’ a bagel slicer. P.S. We recommend that you bookmark this post. After you’ve watched the film, come back and check out this short film called <a href="http://www.storyofstuff.com/">The Story of Stuff</a>, just for the green of it. -Sara <img alt="" style="border: 0; height:1px; width:1px;" border="0" src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?i=61b217da5b05cb01da7ec75dd14448a2" height="1" width="1"/> <img src="http://www.pheedo.com/feeds/tracker.php?i=61b217da5b05cb01da7ec75dd14448a2" style="display: none;" border="0" height="1" width="1" alt=""/> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?a=TTgdfg"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~a/DumbLittleMan?i=TTgdfg" border="0"></img></a><div class="feedflare"> <a href="http://www.pheedo.com/click.phdo?x=66b2c05330304248a29f2f3cb0c4f3b6&u=%%UNIQUEID%%"><img src="http://www.pheedo.com/img.phdo?x=66b2c05330304248a29f2f3cb0c4f3b6&u=%%UNIQUEID%%" border="0"/></a> </td></tr> <td> <a href="/dmoz/"> Top</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Arts/"> Arts</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Business/"> Business</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Computers/"> Computers</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Games/"> Games</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Health/"> Health</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/Kids_and_Teens/"> Kids</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/News/"> News</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Recreation/"> Recreation</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Reference/"> Reference</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Regional/"> Regional</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Science/"> Science</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Shopping/"> Shopping</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Society/"> Society</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/Sports/"> Sports</a> | <a href="http://www.brujula.net/dmoz/World/"> World</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/dmoz/World/"> Languages</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/news/"> News</a> | <a href="http://www.ba.net/news/"> Blogs</a> <HR NOSHADE> <center> <!!--#exec cmd="/cgi-bin/banner"--> <table><td> <script type="text/javascript"> GA_googleFillSlot("news-banner-bottom"); </script> <td> <a href="http://www.ba.net/about/"> <img src="http://ba.net/gifs/adbrite-your-ad-here-banner.gif" style="background-color:#CCCCCC;border:none;padding:0;margin:0;" alt="Your Ad Here" width="11" height="60" border="0" align=right></a> </table> <form method="POST" action="http://www.brujula.net/cgi-bin/buscar"> <input name="text" size="45"> <input type="submit" value="Search"> <input type="hidden" name="buscador" value="categorias-en"> </form> BA.net Brujula.Net © 2008 <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/acerca/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">advertising</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">english</a> <A HREF="http://www.brujula.net/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">español</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/italia/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">italiano</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/germany/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">germany</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/japan/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">japan</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/france/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">france</a> <A HREF="http://www.ba.net/world/" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">more</a> <A HREF="javascript:window.external.AddFavorite(window.location.href,document.title)" STYLE="text-decoration:none;font-size:xx-small">bookmark</A> </center> </td> </TABLE> </TD> <TD valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="23" height="1"></TD> <TD bgcolor="#333366" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="3" height="1"></TD> </TR> <TR bgcolor="#ffffff"> <TD colspan="2" bgcolor="#FFCC66" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="24" border="0"></TD> <TD colspan="3" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="24" border="0"></TD> <TD rowspan="2" colspan="2" bgcolor="#333366" valign="middle"> <CENTER> > </CENTER> </TD> </TR> <TR> <TD colspan="5" bgcolor="#333366" valign="top"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="3"></TD> </TR> <TR bgcolor="#666699"> <TD colspan="8"><IMG src="http://www.brujula.net/gifs/sep3horiz.gif" width="1" height="10"></TD> </TR> </TABLE> </BODY></HTML>