This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

POSITIVITY

What can be better than waking up and saying, "Today is a beautiful day!"

Not much, except perhaps waking up and saying, "Today is a beautiful day and I am going to keep it that way."

It's not always easy to keep our spirits up.  You get to work and there's a grumpy coworker, and the boss wants to see you in his office  like yesterday about the latest crisis and the cursed computer just won't boot up - just on the day when your IT helper calls in sick - and ...

Stop.  The world can get to you, that's for certain.  But only if you let it.  I know, I probably sound like that Kit Kat commercial from a few years ago (or is it still playing?) where everything goes into blissful slow motion when biting into the chocolate bar.  Yes, in fact that's what I mean.  Not the chocolate part, but the break part.  Take a moment in the washroom if you must to pull yourself together, gather your composure, determine that you will remain positive (even if everyone around you are pulling what's left of their hair our), smile and return to reality fully armed to ride the waves of life like an expert surfer.

Surf's up!

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This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

Cock-a-doodle-doo.

This is your wakeup call.  Each day that passes marks another day that you either made your life what you want it to be...or you did not.

It's not too late.  Today is a brand new day.  So is tomorrow.  So is the next day.  Make each day what you want your life to be, and that is what your life will be in the end.

What do you want your life to be?  Cock-a-doodle-doo.

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This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

Batteries not included.

Yes, that's a great description of your life. You have to create your own energy, your own momentum, your own drive. You have to power your own dreams. You have to take your plans into your hands and make them happen. Don't wait around for someone to lift you up on his shoulders and take you to your castle, because it won't happen. You have to supply your own batteries.

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This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

Sadfklfgfmfffflkvvvvoiue3=fop;dc

Did you understand that?  Probably not unless you come from the remote island of sadf5yhbcd. 

The problem is that it takes so much more time to sit here and type out coherent sentences that succinctly express the ideas, concepts, counsel and suggestions in my head.  Not to mention the time it takes to proofread and to revisit bits and pieces interrupted by "Daddy, can you tie this around the....oh no my sister needs you.  Come quick!"  (Yes, you might have noticed an occasional error creeps into this newsletter when proofreading time gets late at night or interruptions throw me off-course.)

That's no reason to stop trying.  If we don't take the time to communicate coherently, how will our message be understood?  And if our message is not understood, the wrong result will ensue.  For instance, if you interpret my opening sentence today as a Dolphin war cry, you might go out and needlessly build dolphin traps in front of your home.  And that is NOT the reaction I am hoping for.

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This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

Sometimes it feels like there just isn't enough time.  I am sure you know what I mean.  But, of course, that's not true.  There is exactly the right amount of time, not a minute more nor a minute less.

However, our expectations of time are often unrealistic.  Given 24 hours in a day, we often try to cram 26 hours (or more!) of activities.  Don't blame time; we simply don't plan well.

What we need most is to schedule time to enjoy time, time when we are not rushed, time when we can slow down...even if time won't slow down with us..

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This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

Beware the vacuums...the human vacuums, that is.

There are people around us who are always taking.  They suck up our time and our energy, and they never give anything back.  They are vacuums.  Don't mix them up with people who are simply high energy and high interaction, taking much and giving much.

The vacuums can leave us with very little once they've sucked it all up.  If one of your close friends is a vacuum, watch out...you might already know what I mean.  You have to set some ground rules, most importantly to firmly say "no" when you don't want to go along with one of his or her plans.  That does not mean saying "no" all the time, unless you want to, just setting some limits and some boundaries.

Take control.  Switch off the vacuum.

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This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

"Rain, rain, go away.
Come again another day."

Everyone complains about the rain except the farmers...unless just too much falls.

But without the rain, there can be no plants.

And without the rain, there can be no animals.

And without the rain, we would have no well.

And without the well to drink from and the plants and animal to eat, there would be no people.  Before complaining about something, we should always think about the benefits it might be bringing.

So...let it pour!

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This week, we post a new personal growth tip or inspiration drawn from a recent Daily Dose of Happiness mailing.

In the world of instant gratification, we are constantly being reminded of all the things we don't have that we absolutely cannot do without.  Nobody bothers addressing that it might be more than an evolutionary accident that we have survived for millennia without these things.  Nor that we should not be coveting the things we don't have, when we spend so little time feeling grateful for the things we do.

The more time I spend talking, reading and thinking about happiness, the more I am convinced that gratitude is the biggest secret to happiness.  And that the lack of gratitude is the single biggest barrier we as a civilization face on our path to happiness.

Further reading is my article at:
http://www.thehappyguy.com/happiness-secret.html , which is drawn from an anthology I contributed to (It's actually a fantastic book that's like the greatest hits of self-improvement).

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