5 QUICK GOOD THINGS ABOUT WINTER. Winter is coming, embrace yourselves.

Surely you must be already missing the heat, walking on the beach, drinking cold drinks and celebrating your hard-earned tan. Summer is all nice and good, but before you start suffering until the next time you dive in cristal clear waters, you have to learn to appreciate every season.

So, here are 5 things that you will find fascinating about winter:

1.   THE PERFECT EXCUSE:

This one is the most obvious, but at the same time the most rewarding: bad weather is the perfect excuse for staying indoors and sleep in.

2.    SWEET FANTASY:

I do not know about you, but winter for me is chocolate season: it syles perfectly with the weather and really gives me that christmasy feeling. Just perfect.

3.     OUTDOORS:

Going outside and feeling the fresh cold wind on your face. Priceless. Sure, provided you have warm clothes on, and are not freezing your boots off. 🙂

4.     INDOORS:

Or just staying indoors all day. In your pijamas. 😉

5.      FIRE:

Lying in front of the chimney and having a good read. Or just relaxing in front of the heater!

 

Paradise, right? Or am I just over fantasizing? Let me know in the comment section below 🙂

 

5 SHORTCUTS TO HAPPINESS. Happiness is a choice. Choose to be happy because you deserve it.

Life was created to be lived happily. But more often than not, we happen to think that we do not deserve to live a happy life and be happy. We should instead understand that happiness is a choice. It is not something that happens to us or something which we cannot control or have any influence on.

To reach happiness, we must first acknowledge the fact that our thoughts and actions have an enourmous power on how we feel: for this very reason we must modify our actions and schemes of thought that go against our well-being. Here are 5 quick and easy steps that will jumpstart your quest for happiness:

1.    PLEASURE:

Find pleasure wherever you go. It does not matter if circumstaces are good or bad: create your very own pleasures. Start and finish by catering to yourselves. Be agile receptors of all the delicious things this life can offer.

2.     PLAY:

Seek happiness with other people, get them involved. The smallest of gestures can suffice, a smile, a compliment, a kind gesture… Play!

3.     FORGET THE DRAMA:

Do not make a fuss out of everything that happens to you. Quit focusing on the negatives, the self-pitying and seeking people’s approval and understanding. Also quit giving too much to others, and give it to yourselves. Before anything, fill your own empty spaces. And while you do that, quit listening to bad news, even that of the media that have nothing to do with you. Nothing can stop the drama, if not trying to shut it down. Drama based on fear does not bring happiness about.

4.   FIND TRANQUILITY:

Sit and breathe the quietness in. It may seem strange at the beginning, but the more you do it the more you will be able to connect with yourselves. The more you will understand yourselves, the less needy you will feel, because tranquility can bring you the peace you seek, which is fundamental for reaching happiness.

5.   FORGET ABOUT THE OUTCOMES:

Believing that things ought to be done in a certain way or constantly waiting for the right moment to be happy, can steer you even more off from reaching your goal. You may feel that happiness is dictated by your current situation. You may think that for being happy you must have an end goal, the reaching of which will bring you happiness. But if you keep waiting for the right time, it will remain difficult to reach. Happiness is not the final destination, but the very journey that brings you towards it. Stress and disappointments are caused by expectations: reassest yours and determine if they are realistic or not. Ask yourselves why you keep holding onto them. This way it will be easier to let go and be happy.

 

TOP 5 SONGS TO GIVE YOU STRENGTH

It does not matter who you are or where you come from,  we have all experienced hard times in our lives. Music has always proven to be an extremely powerful outlet for all kinds of emotions, helping people from all walks of life get through, deal with or meditate on difficult situations and circumstances, or just lifting their spirits up and cheer up.

So if you are experiencing bad times or just need a pick-me-up, here are 5 songs to help you cope and move on:

      1. “Move Along” – The All-American Rejects 

Talks about:

• carrying on even when you are tired
• not giving up

 

    2. “Fight song”- Rachel Platten

Talks about:

• Fighting for and taking ownership of your life
• Believing in yourself even when no one else does

 

       3. “Never too late” – Three Days Grace

Talks about:

• turning things around
• it is never too late to change

 

        4. “Let it be” – The Beatles

Talks about:

• times of trouble and spirituality
• words of wisdom
• letting things flow

 

         5. “Human” – Christina Perri

Talks about:

• being vulnerable
• falling apart

 

Gained any strength yet? 🙂 I hope you did. Keep on fighting, living, loving and carrying on as the daily warrior that you are.

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What do you think? What are you top 5 go-to songs to regain momentum? Do let me know in the comment section below 🙂

 

 

 

TOP 5 INSPIRATIONAL QUOTES TO STAY MOTIVATED

Lack of motivation is one of the main sources of stress and one of the most insidious hurdles we have to face when it comes to reaching our goals. It hinders our productivity from the very bottom, turning the simplest of tasks into a complete nightmare. Beacuse of this, I have chosen 5 quotes that will keep you motivated!

1.  “Don’t watch the clock; see what it does. Keep going.” – Sam Levenson

 

2. “When you feel like quitting: think about why you started” – Author Unkown

 

3. “The pessimist sees difficulty in every opportunity. The optimist sees the opportunity in every difficulty.” – Winston Churchill

 

4.  “Believe you can and you’re halfway there.” – Theodore Roosevelt

 

5. “It always seems impossible until it’s done.” – Nelson Mandela

 

That is it. These are just five of the many worth the share, so do comment if you have any other that resonates with you and that you would like to see added to the list 🙂

 

CHANGE

We change constantly, and it is a beautiful, beautiful thing. But too often we are taught to fear it.

We declare things such as “don’t change me” or, “you either love me or hate me”, defining ourselves in black and white and giving our own self definitions and limitations. We put up walls and push back on the fear of losing ourselves. We are mistaken: we are never losing ourselves, and that change in perspective can help us deal better with an aspect of our lives that really and ultimately serves us well.

We should be constantly growing, shifting into better versions of ourselves. “If you knew better, you would do better” is a quote I have read quite some time ago and I believe it to be so true: we owe it to ourselves to let go of the things and ideas that keep us stuck and give permission to do so.

But change does not necessarily mean losing our traditions or moral compass. On the contrary, it is the natural flow of life and only by changing our attitudes towards it can we let ourselves evolve. In reality, change is there even in the most static times of our lives, when there seem to be no big events happening or big accomplishments to celebrate, even by just a change in our thoughts or knowledge. We just need to recognize and accept it as an inevitable part of this process called life.

 

TO BE OR NOT TO BE SELFISH?

Short answer: be selfish. Why, you might ask? Is not life better when shared and when you give yourself to others? If you put it that way, then yes the short answer would be to be selfless. But bear with me.

Since our childhood, we are educated to believe that you can only be happy when you say Yes to others: children are brought up to donate, to always smile, be kind and be the best form of human possible in the world. But the reality of the matter is that by always saying Yes you might make things smoother for a while, whereas in the long run you are solely and ultimately saying No to your needs, hopes and dreams.

I am by no means saying that you should then go ahead and neglect every request, challenge everyone else’s plans and just be overall rude. There was a time when I was extremely selfish and focused only on my well being as a survival tactic; broken farewells, sleepless nights and utter regrets in a steep falling spiral towards self destruction. A few steps down the road, and I am still selfish, just in a different, more healthy way.

To be selfless, you need to be selfish. There’s a difference between the simple availability to donate, and being able to listen, be altrustic, and give to your own accord. Sometimes even arguing is healthier if that ends up in a better understanding of both parties’ needs. In fact, being always available 24/7 will just increase your frustration and with time it will turn into a feeling of suffocation, the kind that feels as though you were running out of air. Building healthy relationships and finding your own path are not possible if you ignore yourself to please others, so please do listen to your guts and just go with the flow.

This is just my two cents on this topic, but I am sure I have left many interesting points out. But do go on and have some selfish, indulging, treat yourself time.