Creating Everlasting Happiness

Today's topic is Everlasting Happiness: 

Starting to create a new habit is a way of rewiring your brain, rewiring your brain to make this habit as a second nature. We have been rewired since childhood to do so many things that today, we don't even think or know that we are doing things, it just automatically happens for us as our second nature. 

I realised this when we moved to Canada, we never spoke about weather back home in India. We noticed here every conversation starts with weather. Our brain quickly learnt that this is the way to strike a conversation. Funny enough, we got into that habit and we do the same thing all the time and the worse part was I did that with my friends in India in my last visit. They just looked at me very strangely and did not know what to answer. I said, it is really nice out today, what is the temperature like, and they went , hmmm aaaa , hmmm around 30 degrees Celsius  may be....lol cause people back home are never concerned about what is the temperature, as it is beautiful everyday :)

Making my point here, humans mimic very easily and our brains can be rewired easily if we repeat a task several times, it just becomes second nature. Keeping this in mind, we are calling upon this 30 day challenge to pick up a task/habit that you really want to and lets re-wire our brains to make it our habit forever.

Shawn Achor mentioned very nicely in his video where he says how one can re-wire their brain to have everlasting happiness.

To have everlasting happiness, we need to do these 5 things for next 21 days and our brains will be re-wired to feel positive everyday.

1. 3 Gratitudes : Write down 3 new things everyday that you are grateful for 
2. Journalling: Journalling about one positive event in past 24 hours, helps you to re-live that moment
3. Exercise : Tells brain that behavoir matters
4. Meditate: Allows brain to focus
5. Random acts of kindness: Write one positive email to someone in your social support network.

To help you all to start re-wiring your brain, we have these 30 day challenges that we want everyone to pick up from January 1st, 2013 and start submitting here on this blog. This will really help us to make a proclamation that : yes , I am going to take charge of my life and make a difference in my life and we all here will be each other's support structure and will help you all to reach your goal.

Feel free to drop comments below and we can start discussing about it to make you all ready to take up the challenge starting January 1st, 2013.

Notes: Inspired from Ted Video by Shawn Achor , check out this video for more information

http://www.ted.com/talks/shawn_achor_the_happy_secret_to_better_work.html

30 day Challenge:

Starting with a 30 day Challenge:

Here we will dropping an old habit and picking up a new one that we really really like to do. If we do not have a habit to drop, that is fine, we can start with building a new habit. Building a habit that can change our lives forever.

• Something that will make us really happy. 
• Something that can make us free.
• Something that will bring smile to our face.
• Something that will make a difference in other people's lives.
• Something that will bring more focus in our life

To help us go through this 30 day challenge, here are some examples that we can pick from , if we cannot come up with something.

1. Start a "Gratitude" journal: Write 3 new things you are thankful for, everyday for next 30 days                                                          
2. Exercise or walk for 30 min everyday for 30 days        
3. Meditate for 30 min everyday for 30 days                   
4. Do a good deed a day, random acts of kindness                     Do something good for someone everyday. Like help your neighbor clean the driveway, give your seat to someone in need on the bus, help your collegue , etc                    
5. Get up at 5am everyday for 30 days                    
6. Learn to cook a new recipe everyday for 30 days                         
7. Dedicate an hour a day for what you are passionate about for 30 days                                            
8. Get rid of one thing a day for 30 days:                            Cleaning up clutter , cleans up our mind                                                                      
9. Give up watching TV for 30 days          
10. Write to someone you know , a letter of appreciation           Write an email or a hand written letter or call someone you know, someone you love and tell them how much you appreciate them. Tell them their good qualities and highlight their importance in your life.

Note: Ideas inspired from book "Power of Habit" , "Secret" , "Ted videos" and some websites.

Power Of Habit

Power Of Habit:

Today I have decided to take charge of my life. Not live my life cause "I have to"

Why we should do things that you really don't want to , why follow a routine that you don't like to , why live someone else life . Whats the point of being someone else or living a life of stress , when you can live your life stress free.

In today's world we all add up stress to our lives. We do it to ourselves. There are no circumstances that will force you to do things that you really don't want to.

If we become prey of something or someone , it is because we attracted it some or the other way. I believe in "Law of Attraction" and I totally know that it works for me . So, if it works for me , then I am sure it works for you too. 

Lets all come together today and come out of these restrictive life and live life with Freedom. That is the real freedom in life. Freedom is not only for a nation or for people who are physically trapped, freedom can be at every individual level, if we really want it. Freedom of doing what you really want to do, freedom of having fun at  your work, freedom of having fun in a relationship, freedom of having fun in every situation you are in .

We choose to be free or to be trap, it is our decision, not anyone else. 

Let me elaborate: You can be free in a jail too, you can free in trapped place too. Its your mindset how you want to be and how you want to take situations as. We have to live our lives with all the zeal, enthusiasm , love and courage and see ourselves being free of anything and everything we want.

If you get a chance watch this movie called "Life is Beautiful" , the must watch movie before you die :)

So, starting today's journey, lets start with very basic basic ideas of freeing yourself. Create a new habit or break out of an old habit. This will bring freedom from a habit that you wanted to come out of and will help you replace with that with a new habit that you want to bring in your lives.

1. Pick a habit, of which you want to set yourself free. 
2. Create a new habit to replace the old one
3. Write it down in this blog and submit it.
4. Start implementing it and continue it for straight 30 days.

1. Picking a habit: Pick a very simple habit, some examples are below:

• Give up drinking soda /coffee / tea etc
• Giving up getting  up late
• Giving up complaining

2. Creating a new habit to replace with the one you just gave up

We need to replace the void, otherwise it will be difficult to handle those situation when your old habit will try to creep in. If you have a replacement habit, you will be focused on another thing rather than thinking of how hard it can be to quit an old habit.

Examples of new habits:

• Replace your coffee with hot water everyday
• Get up 5:00 am in the morning  everyday
• Start complimenting people everyday 

3. Write it down and submit it 

Writing it down makes it real for yourself and declaring it with friends and family, opens a possibility of   a challenge and/or support , which would motivate to do what you want to do. People in your environment will be there to support you, as they know what you are trying to achieve and it will become a combine effort to make your habit a big success.

4. Start implementing it and continue it for 30 days.

Now the real challenge starts. We want to implement this new habit for 30 days straight  The day we break this habit, it will go back to day Zero and you start all over again, until you finish your 30 days. After 30 days, this will become a part of your daily routine and you will not need tons of effort to do this new habit that you picked up. 

This way I am going to take charge of my life and do really what I want to do :)