You ultimately become what you repeatedly do.
If your habits aren’t helping you, they’re
hurting you. Here are a few examples of the
latter that will steal your happiness if you let
them:
1. Focusing on everyone’s story except
your own.
Don’t be so satisfied with the success stories of
others and how things have gone for them that
you forget to write your own. Unfold your own
tale and bring it to life. You have everything
you need to become what you are capable of
becoming. Incredible change happens when
you decide to take control. This means
consuming less and creating more. It means
refusing to let others do your thinking, talking,
and deciding for you. It means learning to
respect and use your own ideas and instincts
to write your passage.
If you want your life story to soar to new
heights, you’ve got to clear a path, reduce the
time-sinks and burdens weighing you down,
and pick up the things that give you wings.
Keep your best wishes and your biggest goals
close to your heart and dedicate time to them
every day. If you truly care about what you do
and you work diligently at it, there’s almost
nothing you can’t accomplish.
2. Waiting for the perfect moment.
Don’t buy into the myth of the perfect
moment. Moments aren’t perfect; they’re what
you make them. So many people wait around
for the stars to align to do what they’re here
to do. The perfect moment, the perfect
opportunity, the perfect state of being, etc.
Wake up! These states of perfection are myths.
They do not exist.
Your ability to grow to your highest potential
is directly related to your willingness to act in
the face of imperfection. You will come to
succeed not byfinding a perfect moment, but
by learning to see and use life’s imperfections
perfectly.
3. Working for nothing more than a
paycheck.
Work without interest is imprisonment. Even if
you aren’t super-passionate about your work,
you’ve got to at least be interested in it. When
you design a lifestyle in which your work is
something you suffer through daily strictly to
pay your bills, you end up spending your entire
life wishing you had someone else’s.
Think about it. This is your life; your work will
fill a large percentage of it. It’s not all about
the money; it’s about you. Ignore the
propaganda, especially from people who say,
“Don’t let your work define you.” Reverse this
message and mediate on it: “I will do work that
defines me.” When the essence of who you are
defines at least some slice of the work you do
for a living, that work generates fulfillment.
Bottom line: Interest in your work puts quality
in your output and happiness in your mind.
Don’t settle for a paycheck. Shuffle around
until you find work that interests you.
4. Harboring feelings of hate.
As Martin Luther King Jr. so profoundly said,
“Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light
can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only
love can do that.” Truth be told, when we
harbor feelings of hate, it eventually gets the
best of us. It takes control of us. We forget
why we hate, what we hate, and whom we hate
– we simply hate for the sake of hating. And
then, naturally, we begin to hate ourselves too.
Everything and everyone you hate rents
permanent space in both your head and heart.
So if you want to eliminate something or
someone from your mind, don’t hate. Instead,
disconnect yourself, move on, and don’t look
back.
5. Holding tight to worries and fears.
Someday when you look back over your life
you’ll realize that nearly all of your worries
and anxious fears never came to fruition – they
were completely unfounded. So why not wake
up and realize this right now. When you look
back over the last few years, how many
opportunities for joy did you destroy with
needless worry and negativity? Although there’s
nothing you can do about these lost joys,
there’s plenty you can do about the ones that
are still to come.
You will find that it’s necessary to let some
things go simply for the reason that they’re
heavy on your heart and soul. Let go of them.
Don’t clamp shackles to your own ankles. It’s
incredibly easy to enjoy more of your life right
now, no matter what the situation. It’s just a
matter of letting go of the layers of nonsense
that are weighing you down.
Let go of your worries and fears, of your rage
and jealousy, of your need to always be right
and control others. Let go of your
pretentiousness and your need to have
everything your way. Underneath all these
layers of nonsense there is a happy, productive
person. When you start peeling them off and
simply appreciating everything for what it is,
life can be wonderfully fulfilling.
6. Dwelling on difficulties.
A bad day is just a bad day. Choose not to
make it anything more. Times of adversity will
inevitably affect the conditions in which you
live and work; yet you don’t have to let it
affect who you are and where you’re headed.
Take note of the setbacks and adjust to them,
but don’t expand on them by making them a
bigger part of your life.
Every day brings new lessons and new
possibilities. There is always a way to take the
next step forward on the path you’ve chosen.
Events may be terrible and inescapable at
times, but you always have choice – if not
when, then how, you may endure and proceed
onward.
7. Constantly seeking fleeting
contentment.
There are two variations of contentment in life
– fleeting and enduring. The fleeting type is
derived from instants of material comfort,
while the enduring type is attained through the
gradual growth of your mind. At a glimpse it
might be difficult to decipher one from the
other, but as time rolls on it becomes vividly
obvious that the latter is far superior.
Enduring contentment sustains itself through
life’s ups and downs, because through them
your mind remains confident and at peace. On
the other hand, when life’s fleeting changes
have the ability to ruffle your mind into a
frenzy, even the most elaborate physical
comforts won’t make you any happier for very
long.
8. Trying to make a big difference all at
once.
If you want to make a difference in the world,
start with the world around you. Making a big
difference all at once is usually impossible, and
the process of trying is extremely stressful.
However, instantly making a difference in a
few lives is entirely possible and usually fairly
easy. You just have to focus on one person at a
time and start with the one closest to you.
Work to make a bunch of small splashes, and
let the ripples spread naturally. If you want to
change a person’s mind or mood, sometimes
you have to change the minds or moods of the
people around them first. For instance, if you
make one person smile, their smile just might
make others smile too. In this subtle way, you
can touch the masses with your thoughtfulness
without stressing yourself out.
9. Holding on to someone who hurts you.
Sometimes you have to walk away from
people, not because you don’t care, but
because they don’t. When someone hurts you
time and time again, accept the fact that they
don’t care about you. It’s a tough pill to
swallow, but it’s necessary medicine. Do NOT
strive to impress them any further. Waste not
another second of your time trying to prove
something to them. Nothing needs to be
proven. Do not act with any thought of them
ever again.
10. Over-amplifying the importance of
physical attractiveness.
Infatuating yourself with someone simply for
what they look like on the outside is like
choosing your favorite food based on color
instead of taste. It makes no sense. It’s innate,
invisible, unquantifiable characteristics that
create lasting attraction.
Just as some people enjoy the smell of mint,
while others prefer the scent of cinnamon,
there is an undeniable, magnetic draw that
attracts you to the qualities of certain people,
places, and things. Sometimes it’s even the
scars your soul shares with them that reels
you in and creates the very hinges that hold
you together in the long run.

Great piece

Beautiful
Thanks a bunch

Long and educative, good job.