Inspirational Messages Archives ~ Page 27 of 29 ~ Clare Josa

Is It Finally Time To Speak Your Truth?

What’s on your mind?

How often do you “bite your tongue” or “hold your peace”, hoping to keep everybody happy?

Do you ever walk away from a situation, wishing you had said more?

Do “just the right words” usually come to you 5 minutes after the conversation has ended?

The problem with all this is it doesn’t really keep anybody happy. Sure, it might have prevented a disagreement, but who says that would have needed to turn into a row? And how do you feel, when you walk away, knowing you didn’t get to make your point? Usually it leads at least to frustration. If it happens on a regular basis, it can lead to resentment, anger and even self-worth issues.

But what can you do about it? [Read more…] about Is It Finally Time To Speak Your Truth?

Whenever You Have A Choice…

Inspirational Messages

… choose happiness.

… and the catch?

You always have a choice.

That’s a message that some people don’t want to hear.

How often do we go around saying things like, “He made me so cross!” or “She just winds me up!”

When did we give these people power and control over our emotions?

There’s a little fact about how emotions work and it’s the opposite of what most of us believe.
Only you can choose whether or not you experience a particular emotion.
Sorry! No one else can choose for you.

Of course, they can provide some pretty strong stimuli to get you feeling worked up / hacked off / at the end of your tether, but ultimately the emotion you choose is just that – the emotion you choose.

So in every situation you experience, you have a choice: to go for the yucky, not feeling so happy emotion, or to opt for the happier one. Only you can decide.

Happiness is a sliding scale. It’s not about having the proverbial brown stuff hit the fan and responding with rapturous joy. It’s about climbing a few steps up the “feeling good ladder”, rather than sliding quickly down the “feeling worse snake”.

The great thing is there’s no right or wrong. It’s entirely up to you what you choose. And given that you’re old enough to be reading this website, you’ve also had enough life experience to know whether you prefer to feel happy or sad.

So my challenge to you, just for today, is:

Whatever happens to you today, make sure you choose whether or not to feel happy about it.

And when you choose happiness, just notice the difference that makes.

Which Book Holds The Key To Feeling Happier?

Inspirational Messages

We’ve been doing a straw poll, here on the How To Feel Happier sofa, to find out which book holds the key to helping us feel happier.

And the results have been interesting.

What's your favourite happiness book? — Which books make you feel happier?

They’re not all self-help books, which was a surprise. Some of them were novels and some of them were comedies.

But before we share our answers with you, we’d much rather hear what your favourite books are, when you want to feel inspired to be happier.

Which book do you reach for? And why does it do it for you?

And perhaps you’d like to join in with our virtual book club, as part of the Soul-Sized Living forum?
Membership is free – how about getting started today?
Join Soul-Sized Living

We can’t wait to hear your thoughts!

Want To Be Miserable? Compare Yourself To Others!

Inspirational Messages

Think about it: why do we compare ourselves with others?

Maybe it’s because it’s what we were taught to do at school, if we grew up with tests and class rankings?

Maybe it’s something we learned at home, by being compared with siblings?

Maybe it’s something we learned at work, with competition for the best jobs and pay rises?

Whatever the reason, comparing ourselves with others only leads to unhappiness because there are only two possible results:

You’ll feel superior – which means you’re saying the other person isn’t as good as you, which isn’t exactly a great basis for a relationsip. And it invites others to compare themselves to and criticise you.
You’ll feel inferior – and we all know what that does to our confidence and self-esteem… If you’re lucky, you might use the comparison as motivation to improve the person you are, but most of us would use it to beat ourselves up…

Comparing ourselves to others is something we all do, but it’s just the ego’s way of creating our identity from the things which are OUTSIDE of us. We can’t change any of those. And we don’t really know what’s going on for the other person at a deeper level.

All we see is the version of reality which is filtered by our ego. Sure, they might have a bigger house, car or pay cheque, but they might feel miserable and unfulfilled inside.

The soul creates its identity from the things which are INSIDE of us, which ultimately leads to a higher level of happiness. You are who you are. Accepting and loving yourself for who you are, right now, is a path to inner peace and happiness.

So my invitation to you today is…

…whenever you notice you’re comparing yourself to someone else, just stop, take a deep breath in and out, and send them love and gratitude, instead.

Just notice how quickly that makes you feel happier!

Want To Start A Happiness Epidemic?

Inspirational Messages

Why bother?
Why bother spreading happiness? Why put in the effort to inspire others to feel happy?

It’s simple, really. To give something away, you have to first believe you have it. So one of the best ways to feel happy is to help others feel happy.

It started with a smile…

It can start with a smile. You don’t even have to go the whole hog with a toothy grin. You can just smile with your eyes, if that feels more comfortable. Not sure how that works? Practise in front of the mirror. Make it real.

Aside: ever wondered why some celebrity photos just look “wrong”? It’s often because they’re smiling with their faces, but not their eyes, so we subconsciously spot the “fake smile”. It’s like we have a built-in “phoney smile radar”. There’s your random fact for the day!

Gandhi knew what he was talking about…

One of my all-time favourite quotes is from Gandhi. I see it so often on people’s profiles on Facebook that I know it’s one that rings true for many of us. Here it is:

Be the change that you wish to see in the world.

I apologise to the legend if I have misquoted him, but that’s the way I remember his words.

What does it mean?

If you want to see peace in the world, start with yourself. Rather than waiting for everyone else – the politicians, the corporations, the armies – to sort out peace, just be peace yourself and watch it spread.

So if you want the world to be a happy place, just be happy yourself. That will instantly start to affect those around you and will subtly lift your moods. If we all did this, well. You can work that one out, I’m sure!
<!– Read more on being the change you wish to see in the world. –>

Tell A Friend

If you know of any great happiness resources, tell a friend about them. You might know a great book, a great film or something else that has helped you feel happier. Share it with people.

Don’t do it in a way that leaves them feeling obliged and potentially embarassed, if they don’t feel the same way about it as you. That’ll just lead to them avoiding you…

Instead pass on the information out of love and let go of the outcome.

After all, it’s up to them to choose whether or not they want to feel happy. There’s nothing you could ever do to force or persuade them.

What are 3 things you could do to spread happiness today?

How about sharing them, via the comments box?

And if you’d like to connect with other happiness experimenters, how about ‘liking’ the Soul-Sized Living Facebook Page? And you could join in on the Soul-Sized Living forum. See you there! 🙂