Monday, February 10, 2014

How do you keep taking action towards happiness ...

Hi friends,
It's February already - I don't know about you but I blinked and January has gone. Must be a sign of how busy I have been last month. I gave a talk in Hamilton recently about bouncing back from difficult times.  I was sharing some of the stories from my book From Heartbreak to Happiness.  I was very touched when several people came and shared their own stories of difficult times and thanked me for my honesty.    Two of my intentions for the year also got closer - opening new happiness clubs - Hamilton is now high on the list and giving more talks about my book.

Did you set yourself great intentions for 2014?  What are they?  Are they about giving something up or starting something new?  Is it to give up smoking, lose weight, get fitter, get rid of your debt?  Or how about - be more sociable, learn something new, feel less stressed, enjoy life more, write a book, make new friends, worry less or even be happier?  If you did set goals, new year resolutions or positive intentions how are they coming along for you?

I know how easy it is to let go of good intentions and fall back into old habits. Habits by their very nature are something that we have been doing for a while without even thinking about them.   And making changes - mean you need to do something different.  Not just think about it but really do it.  How can you make change easier? Here are my 3 tips that even the smartest of people can forget ...
  1. Make the reason for change a big one!  What will keep you motivated to achieve a result?  My mum gave up smoking lots of times - until she finally found her BIG REASON. My daughter asked her to give up because she didn't want her grannie to die. As my daughter had recently lost her big brother you can imagine the impact this had on my mum. She now really wanted to stop to help my daughter feel better.  That was six years ago now - well done Mum on taking action we are all very proud of you.
  2. Have a vision of what you want to achieve.  I love big goals -  I get motivated by setting myself missions that will make a difference.  Making Scotland happier and creating a self publishing community helping 100s of writers create and sell books are mine. I know what I want to achieve, I think about them, talk about them and get excited about makinga difference. Have you done that?
  3. Baby steps all the way.  I know that I can't make Scotland happier tomorrow - I can help you to find the ways that can make your life happier.  I can spread the word about actions that you can take, connect with others who have a shared vision, and send out newsletters like this.  They are baby steps, but all connected towards my vision. Take your own baby steps and connect with others who can support and encourage you, especially if your enthusiasm starts to go.

If like many people,  you may have let your intentions slip are you going to kick yourself for not doing what you planned and give up on those intentions or recognise that there are 11 months left of 2014 so loads of time to do things?  I'd love to hear how you keep focused on your intentions. 

This month the Happiness Club is all about taking action.  We will be exploring the actions that happy people take regularly and creating ways to add more of these into your own lives. Without action things stay the same.  I encourage you all to use a bit of magic to ensure you can create actions for yourself that you will want to continue.

The magic happens when you can see the furture as you want it to be.  Imagine how it will feel, what you will see and who will support you, if you are near Glasgow come and join the Happiness Club - we will happily share the magic with you. If not find some other like minded souls to encourage you. Together we can all make positive changes.

Happiness Club offers great content, good company and a fun night out all for only £10. RSVP your place now.
Glasgow is next Wed 12th Feb at 7.30pm RSVP here.

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Love this blog, am just getting to it! Back to reading...