Brain-A-Thon and Winning the Game of Money

Your brain – that three-pound hunk of matter located between your ears – is the most sophisticated, complex, and miraculous piece of equipment ever known to humankind. It controls everything you see, say, feel, and do. With such a powerful tool at your disposal, isn’t it your responsibility to understand how it works and how to make it work optimally? 
  
Here are some fundamentals. 
  
First, it’s important to understand that you are nothing but energy. If you took a high-powered microscope and looked at the smallest, most fundamental pieces of matter – not atoms, protons, and electrons, but the minuscule neutrons, gluons, quarks, and mesons that these subatomic particles are made of – you would see nothing but little bits of electromagnetic vibrating waves of light. Those bits are what you’re made of, and your brain controls the vibration of every one of them. 
  
Second, it’s important to know that your brain can grow new brain cells (or neurons) in a process called neurogenesis. Not so long ago, scientists believed that people were hardwired or born with genetic predispositions and makeup. But now when someone says, “That’s just the way I am, this is the way I was born,” we know they’re only half right. While genetic predisposition accounts for about half of your internal programming, the other fifty percent comes from behaviors, perceptions, beliefs, and habits you may have learned as far back as childhood and conditioned into your brain. 
  
Here’s the good news: by understanding how your brain works, you can change your old conditioning and tap into your brain’s inherent genius to achieve your goals and dreams. 

If you would like a short, 2 minute video about how to retrain your brain and overcome the beliefs that are hindering your success, click here:

http://www.praxisnow.com/referral/?p=mchaileh&w=BrainathonLiveEvent

How Positive Writing Will Help You To Live a Happier Life

The power of positive thinking is not to be underestimated. The growth in wellness and happiness campaigns in the last decade have been astronomical. Scientists have gotten on board to study brain patterns in order to discover what makes us happy.

Yoga studios and wellness centers are booming businesses. Positivity is on the menu for a lot of people. Everyone wants to find out the secret to becoming a more positive and happy person.

Though there are many roads to happiness, a powerful tool in this quest has to do with writing. Positive thinking is great, but it’s actually quite hard to accomplish when you’re used to thinking negatively most of the time. Writing things down, on the other hand, is a much easier first step for most people. By keeping a journal with positive writing and affirmations, you’re forcing yourself to formulate concrete positive thoughts and ideas and put them on paper. This process helps you to actually incorporate those thoughts and ideas into your life.

Here are some positive writing exercises to help you become a happier person:

Make a list of the things that you’re grateful for. Being grateful for everything you’ve got, whether it’s just the shirt on your back or the will to fight another day, is an incredibly powerful attribute. In fact, gratitude is one of the most important characteristics of happy people. Those who are appreciative of life’s gifts tend to bear hardship with greater equanimity, experience less anxiety, have healthier relationships and overall happier lives. Whether it’s the presence of a dear friend in your life, your good health, or the fact that you have enough money to pay your bills that month.

Whatever you can notice that makes you feel grateful, that makes your life better, richer, more beautiful and happier, write it down. You may even write down that you’re grateful for certain challenges you’re facing because they’re teaching you valuable lessons about yourself and other people.

Write down positive things that happened during your day. This can be challenging especially when you’re going through a difficult time. But that’s precisely when you need it the most. There are times when it seems that the world is totally against you. Whether you’re dealing with illness, financial strain or the heartbreak of a failed relationship, it’s important not to get swallowed by these difficulties. If you practice writing down 3 positive things that happened each day, your ability to perceive and to appreciate the good things in your life increases.

It can be a cup of delicious coffee from a new cafe down the street, a beautiful sunset or someone complimenting your smile. Somewhere in your day there has been something positive. The very act of looking for it takes your focus off the negative and gets you more accustomed to looking at the bright side of things. People who cultivate this skill begin to see positivity more easily and have happier dispositions. As your list grows, you can look back over the positive things you’ve noticed and gain a deeper understanding of life’s richness, even in times of struggle.

Write down a list of positive things about yourself. Maybe you’re a great writer, a fantastic cook, a loyal friend. Maybe you’re an athlete or a musician or you always pay your bills on time. Whatever it is about yourself that you like, write it down. Affirm your own beauty, talent, kindness or greatness. Part of becoming a happier person is learning to love and support yourself, rather than criticize. Your own inner voice can be much more harsh than any outside judgment. Learning to cultivate self-appreciation leads to a great deal more peace and happiness.

Write down nice things people have done or said to you. As important as it is to learn to cultivate your own self-esteem, it’s also nice when someone else recognizes how great you are. If other people have seen something wonderful inside you and complimented you for it, write it down. These affirmations let you know that you’re appreciated by others. Writing down these positive words or actions can be a balm on the soul during difficult days.

Write something nice to someone else. You can write a letter to someone you’ve had conflict with. It could be someone you’ve been holding a grudge against or someone who’s been holding a grudge against you. In either case, try writing them a letter, recognizing your part in the conflict and honoring them as a human being with their own set of suffering and problems. Letting go of negative feelings of hurt, resentment, hatred and anger makes room for positive feelings like love, acceptance, kindness and friendship.

You don’t have to actually become friends with that person, sometimes it’s best not to have contact with certain people anymore. But writing a letter to them helps you to get rid of negativity and open yourself to new positive relationships. It doesn’t matter whether or not you send it. What matters is how you feel after writing it.

Another way you can practice writing positively is to write encouraging words to another person. Whether it’s sharing a friend’s blog post on your Facebook page and telling everyone what a great writer they are or sending a cheering up email or text message to make their day better. These small steps of spreading positivity through written expression could mean the world to someone else and will make you feel good, too.

Learning to write down positive thoughts helps you to train your brain to think more positively. It’s like training a muscle: the more you exercise it, the stronger it becomes. The more you write down positive thoughts, the more you reinforce that there are positive things in your life and the happier you become.

By St.Aedy

http://www.dumblittleman.com/2015/04/positive-writing-will-help-live-happier-life.html

5 Crippling Lies About Forgiveness (and the Truths That Set You Free)

“Forgiveness has nothing to do with absolving a criminal of his crime. It has everything to do with relieving oneself of the burden of being a victim.” ~C.R. Strahan

It’s not fair, is it?

Getting hurt. All over again.

It wasn’t so bad forgiving them the first time. You rose to the occasion. You became the bigger person. You tried to move on.

You thought you had to. After all, they did ask nicely.

You just knew you’d be BFFs again and go right back to, “Let’s go for Jamba Juice!”

But it didn’t go down like that, did it?

No BFFs. No Jamba Juice. Not even a check-in text.

You put it all on the line and forgave them. Now they’ve let you down again, and you can’t help but think it was the biggest mistake you ever made. And on top of it all, you can’t stop wondering why it all happened to you.

I used to wonder that too.

When I was fourteen, my mom sent me away. She thought it would be nice if there were a nun in the family. And I was going to be it.

I had never been further than my Mamaw’s house. I had just shaved my legs for the first time and gotten my room back after the toddlers moved into the new add-on.

Now, I’d be sharing a room with three other postulants over 1,100 miles away—sleeping on used hospital beds. In silence. For six years.

My life, as I knew it, had ended.

I wasn’t allowed to spend holidays at home. I never got another birthday present. And for six years, all I wore was a homemade blue habit with a plastic collar I had to scrub with a toothbrush.

But then I got out. And my life ended all over again.

Where do you fit when you don’t fit anywhere? I didn’t know anyone. No one knew me. My little brothers and sisters were all teenagers by then. My dad had married the woman he’d had an affair with. And to top it all off, my mom wouldn’t let me come home.

I just wanted to move on. I thought forgiving everyone would make it okay. Forgive my family for giving me away. Forgive the nuns for going all American Horror Story on me. Forgive the Catholic church for expecting me to make up something to say in confession every week. Forgive my parakeet for dying while I was gone.

The more I told myself to stop being angry, the angrier I got. The more I tried to let it go, the more it haunted me at every turn.

After six years, I should have been an expert at forgiveness. But in reality, I was as clueless as a homeless kid trapped in a grown-up twilight zone.

In the end, forgiveness actually became my ultimate game-changer. But only after I saw through the lies people led me to believe.

Can You Trust Everything You Believe About Forgiveness?

There’s a whole lot of noise out there about forgiveness. And you know what noise does? It chats up your Inner Victim and distracts you. The louder the noise gets, the quicker you need to call in your Inner Skeptic. Because some of the noise is nothing but big, fat lies.

Lying to yourself while you forgive someone is worse than not forgiving them at all.

If you want to open your heart to freedom, you must open your eyes about forgiveness. Here are some crippling myths about forgiving that leave you victimized and the truths that will set you free.

LIE: When I forgive, I have to forget what happened and move on.

TRUTH: Remembering how you got hurt empowers you to forgive and create the life you deserve.

When I got home, I tried to forgive my mom for making me grow up isolated and alone. I thought I had to forget that I’d never been allowed to talk to a guy who wasn’t a relative.

The one awkward time I got asked to dance at a happy hour, I freaked out and started picking an imaginary bug out of my drink. Right then, I wanted nothing more than to crawl into that cup and float around with the ice cubes.

Acting like the convent never happened was like walking through a minefield with my eyes shut and a great big target on my back. When you forget, you don’t know how to navigate. When you can’t navigate, you fake it.

Faking it is not forgiveness. Faking it does not set you free and keep you safe.

That’s why it’s important to remember. Remembering what happened gives you a compass for where you want to be. It lets you go easy on yourself while you design how it’s going to be from now on.

Remembering how I was kept isolated told me that I didn’t deserve to be lonely any longer. Once I knew I could surround myself with loving relationships in my life, I was open to forgiving my mom.

Honoring your reality lets you build the life you deserve and empowers you to forgive.

LIE: Forgiveness wipes the slate clean and gives them another chance to hurt me.

TRUTH: Forgiveness doesn’t invite you to get hurt again. Forgiveness empowers you to teach others how to treat you differently.

Forgiving someone takes a lot of honesty. Honesty about yourself and how you deserve to be treated. And honesty about the one who hurt you and how they’re inclined to act around you.

You don’t cause the way someone else acts, but you can invite them to act differently with you. If they don’t want to play nice, you get to change the way you show up around them.

When my brother texted me that they all changed their minds about picking me up at the airport, I got frantic. It was Christmas. Mom’s house was an hour away. And all the rental cars were taken.

When you trust people to be exactly who they are, you can adjust your expectations of them accordingly.

I told my family that I wanted control over my travel arrangements and would get my own room and join them for dinner.

The long drive gave me time to think and see them honestly after they let me down. Right then, I decided that I wouldn’t rely on unreliable people any longer. Suddenly, I wasn’t expecting them to rescue me. And I was able to forgive them.

Forgiveness lets you see your offender honestly and puts you in charge of how you’re treated.

LIE: I have to forgive someone or they won’t heal and be forgiven.

TRUTH: When someone asks for forgiveness, they want their own peace back. And that’s not even something you can give them.

One of the biggest truths I learned is that forgiveness heals me. I can’t do someone else’s healing for them.

The only time my mother ever asked me to forgive her was late at night, in the privacy of her own living room, at the bottom of a bottle of Sandeman’s Port.

“Will you forgive me? For everything?”

“Sure. Yeah. Of course,” I’d say. But next year would only find her crying at the bottom of another bottle. I wanted her to be happy. But I couldn’t go there for her.

Setting people free to walk through their own darkness is the truest test of your own freedom.

LIE: I can’t forgive someone who doesn’t deserve to be forgiven.

TRUTH: Forgiveness doesn’t give others what they deserve. Forgiveness gives you the only chance of ever getting what you truly deserve—your freedom.

Freedom means you let go of hurting and decide to take the good stuff for a change.

Letting yourself feel better takes a lot of trust. Trust that there’s enough good stuff out there for you. Trust that even if the bad guy gets some, there’s still always plenty for you.

My early phone chats with Mom always ended badly. She’d start in with, “Remember when you guys used to—” And I’d cut in that, “No, Mom. I don’t remember. I never lived in that house. I was in a convent.” As soon as she’d come back with, “Well, I hope you don’t think that was my idea!” the F-bombs would hit the fan.

I thought I never could forgive her if she wouldn’t admit all that happened to me. Truth is, I don’t think she’ll ever understand all that happened to me. And eventually, it didn’t matter. I stopped waiting for her to deserve it and just gave myself the good stuff anyway.

Forgiveness isn’t about balancing the scales of justice. Forgiveness is about attaining your own freedom along the way.

LIE: I can’t forgive until I know the reason this happened to me.

TRUTH: You may never know the reason anything happened. But you can create your own reason for everything that happens now.

What happened to you wasn’t fair. But why is a question you could be chasing to your grave.

Why torture yourself with making sense of what didn’t make sense? You already suffered through what actually happened to you. Why keep feeding the story with endless possibilities of terrible endings?

I wasted a lot of time wondering why. I wanted it all to somehow make sense. If it wasn’t my fault, it had to be somebody’s. Because what’s more pointless than thinking that I sacrificed my entire youth for absolutely no reason at all?

Finally, I gave myself my own reason. I needed a reason to live now.

If I was going to live, I was going to love living.

The day I gave myself a reason to live was the day I stopped looking for the reason my youth had died.

That was the day that I became free.

Freeing yourself from the burden of why sets you free from an eternal blame game with no end in sight.

How to Break Free Once and for All

Can I get real with you for a second?

We’ve all got an inner victim. Our own personal champion of lies and no way out. And it needs us to believe it.

Here’s the thing—lies get bigger when you believe them. But so does the truth.

Stop pointing fingers at the lies you’ve been led to believe.

You are not a victim. You are strong. And free. And powerful in your truth.

There’s not a thing standing in your way.

Set yourself free already! Take the good stuff for a change.

Man with arms raised image via Shutterstock

Anne Bechard

http://tinybuddha.com/blog/5-crippling-lies-about-forgiveness-and-the-truths-that-set-you-free/

5 Mini Meditations You Can Do In 1 Minute

As a meditation teacher, I've heard every excuse under the sun as to why people can’t meditate. “I don’t have time!” or, “I just can’t sit still,” to name a few.

It's reasons like these that inspired me to teach mini-meditations that only take one minute. In order to meditate regularly, you don’t always have to commit to a practice that feels like it's taking over your life. If you focus on your breath for just 60 seconds, you have successfully implemented meditation into your day.

Creating "mindful minutes" can compliment a daily meditation practice that you might already have, or as a standalone practice. I have many students who prefer to accumulate these mindful minutes throughout their day, instead of sitting for extended periods of time. It's amazing how quickly they can start to add up!

Our attention is often scattered amidst myriad responsibilities like work, family and friends. But these mindful moments can offer reprieve, helping to combat stress and bring a greater sense of calm into our day, one minute at a time.

I suggest practicing these mini-meditations throughout the day when you are:

• First waking up in the morning
• Waiting at a traffic light
• Standing in line at the grocery store
• In the carpool line waiting to pick up your kids
• Before you sit down to eat a meal
• In the shower
• At work before or after a stressful meeting
• Before you get into bed
• Or anytime you feel that you need to re-group or have a moment of downtime

While you begin to solidify these new habits of bringing more mindfulness into your day, you sometimes may need a little reminder. Post a sticky note next to your computer that says “breathe” and whenever you look at it, use one of the following five techniques. Once you get used to these exercises, they eventually become a more natural part of your everyday routine.

Here are five mini-meditations you can do in one minute:

1. Match your inhales and exhales.

Take a comfortable breath in and count how long it takes you to do so. Most people reach a count of 3, 4 or 5. Keep in mind that the number isn’t important, so long as it is comfortable for you. Whatever number you reached on your inhale, match that number on your exhale. Repeat for one minute, setting a timer so you can focus on the exercise.

2. Count your breaths.

As you inhale, silently think 1, exhale 2, inhale 3, exhale 4 … all the way to 10. Repeat three times.

3. Do a short body scan.

Rest your attention on different parts of your body, starting with the top of your head and moving toward your toes. As you notice each one, focus your attention there and consciously relax that part of you. In a minute you should be able to do your scalp, eyes, cheeks, mouth, jaw, neck, shoulders, chest, arms, belly and legs.

4. Try the "Sweet 16" breath.

Inhale for a silent count of 4, hold for 4, exhale for 4, hold the exhale for 4. Repeat three times.

5. Practice belly breathing.

Take a nice long inhale and pretend you are blowing up a balloon in your stomach as you do so. Really feel your belly expanding as you breathe. You can even place one hand on your belly so as to feel the sensation of your belly expanding. Hold for a moment and slowly exhale all the air out of your balloon. Repeat for one minute, setting a timer if you need to.

As you can see, any minute can be made mindful one. As you exhale, think about releasing what is no longer serving you. Take the opportunity to exhale out any stress and anxiety you may feel. On the inhales, decide if you are bringing that same negativity back into your body, or if you are making a choice to invite peace, calm and joy into your day instead.

With each new breath comes another opportunity to choose, so I encourage you to make the most of it.

Photo Credit: Stocksy

BY ALI KATZ 

http://www.mindbodygreen.com/0-18510/5-mini-meditations-you-can-do-in-1-minute.html

Angels Everywhere

Four days before I gave birth to my baby girl, I went to see a healer. Her exquisitely decorated house boasted not only antique furniture, but also a number of angel statues. Everywhere I looked there was a handmade angel sculpture. I thought it was a lovely hobby until I lay on her treatment couch. Usually fidgety and impatient with body work, all my thoughts evaporated. It seemed as if I was covered by a blanket of stillness, and even the air in the room was somehow thinner and cleaner. I left the treatment room and forgot all about the angels. Until I got home and checked my e-mails. Coincidentally, there was a Non-Personal Awareness (NPA) (http://www.joelyoungnpa.com/) community call that evening, themed... angels.

Now, generally, I do not believe in angels. I have friends and teachers who do see, talk and seek guidance from them. I totally respect them and trust that it’s their experience, but it’s not mine. The only Archangel I was ever drawn to is named Raphael and when I try to imagine this patron of healing, all I can see is my friend’s partner’s face who has the same name. But I was intrigued by the coincidence. As I sat in the spare bedroom contemplating whether to join the call, I remembered a senior midwife present at my son’s birth two years ago whom my husband and I called an Angel-woman. Every time she walked into the room, we felt safe and supported. It’s as if she brought in light with herself. She wasn’t particularly beautiful. Nor did she say anything unusually heartful. But something in her presence was so luminous that we found ourselves in tears just by her close proximity. Without any further ado, I picked up the phone and joined the NPA call.

The way NPA works is deceptively simple. On the community call, we pair up, one person ‘spews’, i.e. speaks out everything that comes to mind in relation to a particular issue, in this case, relationship to angels, and then the partner who listens points out words or expressions which had a lot of energy. Then the person who spoke first runs those words through a simple sequence of six lines. Sometimes nothing happens. Other times there is an avalanche of emotions and memories. Either is fine and usually there is a powerful release anyway. That evening, I talked to my partner about the visit to the healer and how there were angels everywhere. She picked up the phrase and I NPA-ed ‘angels everywhere’. Nothing happened outwardly. I got off the call and forgot all about it.

Until four days later when I was labouring in a birthing pool in my dining room. The curtains were drawn and soothing sounds of piano music filled the room with calm and tranquillity. The midwives from the homebirth team of Birmingham Women’s Hospital were angels holding tender space for my body do its thing. My husband massaged my back, and my doula cooled my face with a wet flannel and whispered words of encouragement. The room was filled with so much love that at times it felt overwhelming. As I rode each wave of contraction and rested in euphoria in between, I had a sense of the whole room being like a womb held by angels.

Now, while the first part of the labour went well, I did not manage to push the baby out and requested a transfer to the Women’s hospital. Again, angels were waiting there too. The doctor I was blessed to meet did everything within her power to make the experience positive for me, even though in the end it had to be a complex C-section.

My post-natal care was a mixed bag. I received amazing care. I was also neglected at times to the point that I developed pressure sores in the High Dependency Unit (of all the places!). But angels were still there. Otherwise, what were the chances of the midwife who spotted those sores to be a specialist in tissue damage? She was so indignant that she sent official e-mails and arranged for a photographer to take photos of the sores to document the damage.


My daughter is two months old today and I am reflecting on my experience of sensing angels everywhere. Does it make me believe in angels? Well, I certainly believe in the process of surrender to life and its mysterious ways. Whilst I do not see or converse with angels, I am deeply grateful for the way these forces show up in my life. Birthing my baby girl was a beautiful reminder of that. But above all, I believe in human goodness. We do not need to look far to see angels everywhere.


Image courtesy of artur84 at FreeDigitalPhotos.net.

Dr Gulara Vincent is a writer of memoir and short stories, blogger, as well as a university law lecturer. She lives in Birmingham, England, with her husband and two young children. You can visit her writer’s blog at http://gularavincent.com/blog

How To Hear Your Intuition Over Your Ego

The most common question I get in my workshops and lectures is, “How can I know the difference between my ego and my intuition?” My immediate response to is that we all have powerful intuition working through us at all times. {Tweet it} Our intuition is a kind, loving inner voice that guides us towards positive actions and peaceful outcomes. Often inspiration shows up as a strong knowing, a.k.a. a gut feeling. Sometimes intuitive guidance comes through as a powerful sense of inspiration or even a tingly sensation.

We all have this groovy inner guidance system but many of us disconnect from it. Watch this video for guidance on how to know the difference between the fear of your ego and the love of your inner guidance system. 

If you want to deepen your connection to your intuition a great resource is my book, Add More ~ing To Your Life, A Hip Guide to Happiness.

• Gabrielle Bernstein's blog
• http://www.owningpink.com/blogs/owning-pink/how-to-hear-your-intuition-over-your-ego

28 Eye-opening Reasons Friendships Solidify Your Happiness

Think about your life for a second.

There are many contributing factors that mold your emotions. Whether they are for the better or for the worse, you fight and struggle endlessly to find sure ways to make your life happier.

And as much as you work on this, you feel that there are many tedious areas in your life that just shoot those aspirations away.

Anywhere from a job that you desire to leave, a rocky relationship that you’re on the fence about, or even bills that keep sinking you under, you find that there is a stampede of issues with a best interest to derail your path to happiness. But unless you spend your energy in the right places, you’re never going to build a foundation of bona fide happiness.

Just for a quick second, in any point of your life, think back to when you experienced nothing but pure bliss, laughter, excitement and genuine happiness. There’s a common denominator to be found.

And what if I told you that your key to happiness was right under your nose? It is. And it’s the power of friendship that is a powerful tool in your lifelong quest.

Harness the power of friendship and you create your opportunity to tap into your happiness levels, the way your life was intended to be.

Below are significant reasons why you should look this way and see why it works.

1. Friendships Reinvigorate the Act of Goodwill

It’s no surprise that our intent to make our friends happy is our gift of kindness to them. But kindness may have a longer, even more profound effect on your happiness. Studies suggest a kind of “positive feedback loop” between kindness and happiness is increased with these jovial acts. Happiness is indeed contagious.

2. Friendships are Center Stage for Judgement

Judgement seems harsh. But judgement from a friend is valuable. Perception and compassion are two different values. And when the latter comes from a friend, it’s indispensable value helps you work on bettering your life and paving your road to happiness.

3. Friends Offer Encouragement

There’s something to be said about about the comfort that you receive from a friend’s word of encouragement. Nothing injects a jolt of inspiration more than that from a friend. Furthermore, research proves that people derive more happiness from encouragement from a friend, than that from a stranger.

4. Friendships Keep You Humble

Friends who care about you have a perspective and an angle on your behavior that no one else can completely see. This critique keeps you humble because it comes from a reliable source and one who knows you truly. The open-hearted flowing nature of happiness demands humility. When manifested properly, the two qualities of humility and happiness will be recognized not only as not mutually exclusive, but rather as quintessentially complementary.

5. Friends Share the Same Goals and Desires

Sharing goals, ambitions, and desires helps strengthen the alignment of your relationship. This alignment is critical for creating a contentful harmonious reaction and allowing you both to reach your dreams.

6. Friendships Take Joy in Laughter

“Laughter is poison to fear”—George R.R. Martin

Laughter dissolves distressing emotions. You can’t feel anxious, angry, or sad when you’re laughing. Whether is it from an inside joke or a past experience, friends know how to fixate on triggering your enjoyment.

7. Friendships Help You Increase Your Sense of Belonging

A way to build your own sense of belonging is to work on acceptance of others. Learning to accept others and their views is the blueprint for friendship. The ideas that are not the same as yours require that you to have an open mind to the idea that there is value in everyone’s thinking. An open mind leads to an open heart.

8. Friendships Verify the Benefits of Fighting

It is human to fight. And not all fighting is negative. Fighting through discussion not physicality provides a way for you to reconnect with your friend. It encourages intimacy, comfort, and compromise, all qualities of a healthy sustainable attitude. Sharing your differences and still accepting the person creates peace and acceptance in your life.

9. Friends Help you Wash Away Your Worries

“Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.” —Corrie ten Boom

The new perspective that friends provide you with, frees up an immense amount of time and energy that you would have dedicated otherwise towards your worries. Worry is the destroyer of happiness.

10. Friendships Protect Your Motivation

Surround yourself around good friends who better themselves. Those who radiate in negative energy will not benefit you as those who are good spirited. Those same positive friends can help cheer you on through life’s journey. Their prosperity in joy will only rub off on you.

11. Friendships Add an Additional Layer of Support

The mark of true friendship is mutual aid, regard, and concern for the other. And you’ll be happy to know that a friend is a great support system when you’re in need, good friends offer this without the expectation of gain or anything in return.

12. Friendships Can Be Leveraged

Friends are your crutch in your gloomiest moments and cheerleaders in your finest. Their accessibility is worth its weight in gold. Knowing you have this resource reaffirms a friends value in strengthening your walk towards contentment.

13. Friendships Diminish the Feeling of Loneliness

Friendships help you understand who you are and gives you the feeling of being a part of something larger than yourself. Friends with strong social connections have less stress-related health problems and lower risk of mental illness, which lends itself as another reason it helps ward off depressions and negative energy.

14. Transparency Follows Friendships

Communication transparency is clearing out your mind of old angers and resentments that may have been bottled up inside. Cultivating a friendship with a heart clear of undigested emotions ensures contentment. A friendship is communication, a friendship allows favorable feelings for you and for your friend.

15. Friendships Value The Ability to Vent

When you experience a negative feeling and emotion, such as anger or fear, you may deem it necessary to express such feelings, so as not to experience them alone.

Expressing these feelings to a friend by talking with them in a calm and rational manner can be very helpful and can actually greatly contribute to assisting in letting go of such feelings and easing the mind of bad thoughts.

16. Friendships Free Your Stress Hormones

Stress hates company. Research finds that friendships might serve as buffers against the adjustment difficulties that result from negative experiences. The research also noted that during unpleasant experiences, those who were around their friends didn’t produce as much cortisol (a stress hormone) as those who weren’t around a friend during a stressful time.

17. Friends Trigger Your Fondest Memories

The past will have many memories of happy and sad times, and most of those times spent with friends. Take what you can from the sad and turn it to something to learn from… the happy ones… bring them with you to the present since they are memories that will compliment your happiness in the future.

18. A Friend Provides Validation

Solid friendships help fill the void in validation. Relationships help people feel that they’re worthy, that they are capable, and lastly, that they can set goals and accomplish them. Which adds control and composure in your life.

19. A Friend’s Happiness is Contagious

Misery may not love company —but happiness does. It is essential for you to stay connected and engaged with other people, specifically, your friends. Countless studies have shown maintaining rich, meaningful relationships and social interaction is a key benfit towards mental health, which inturn helps fight chronic depression.

 20. Friendships Help Elevate Your Mood

In addition to squashing your stress, your social relationships may also have a positive influence on your overall mood. Research has found that making new friends can lift your spirits through the release of oxytocin (feel good chemicals) in the body.

21. Friends Compliment Your Success

When strong bonds are developed, your achievements become their achievements.

This form of organic well-being is a trait most friends acquire over time. Having that emotional backing is a positive step towards being happy and peaceful.

22. A Friendship Allows You To Make Things Work

A truly genuine act of compromise would find that a friend of yours is not expecting anything in return out of the gesture. The relationship that bounces compromise from one another will find a much more fulfilling existence and friendships that ultimately helps crystallizes into fulfillment.

23. Friends Criticize For the Better You

True friends have no hesitation about being honest with you. They know you well and are able to tell it like it is. They have your best interests at heart. Which fundamentally, is to make you happy at the end.

24. Friendships Add a Fresh Perspective

We are all individuals, with different experiences and opinions, but having a best friend to share their opinions with you can help you learn new things about your life. The things they share with you can open your eyes to new ideas and ways to think about the world around you. By bringing a fresh perspective to a problem, things have a better chance of changing in your life.

25. The Journey of Friendship is a Life Lesson

When a close friend does something you disagree with, there’s an increase in likelihood that you’ll confront them and discuss the issue, as oppose to a stranger, which you have no incentive of going the extra mile to talk in order to find a solution. Getting through these difficult moments with a close friend prepares you for other times in life where you will need to face a similar difficult situations. An optimistic person only knows how to find solutions in life’s darkest moments.

26. Loyalty and Friendship Go Hand in Hand

Loyalty is something money cannot buy. Loyalty means never having to worry about someone spilling your secrets or talking about you behind your back. Great friendships are built on this very foundation, which is synonymous to faithfulness, devotion, and trueheartedness. All qualities that supplement well-being.

27. A Friend Teaches Personal Growth

You and your friends interact within closely held boundaries and reveal emotions, discuss strengths and weakness and life’s unique moments. Time is the building block of friendship. Going through a life with friends helps you shape strong qualities about you that get you to  your goal to a happy life.

28. The Everlasting Feeling of Friendship Makes You Happy

Milestones in your life add a sense of gratification, but can also wear off shortly after it materializes, which is also known as adaptation. But building friendships are quite the opposite and seem to be an exception to that rule. Your friends continually give you new reasons to be happy over time. This sprouts beautifully through the resiliency of time. And help you blossom in life.

“A single soul dwelling in two bodies.”

—Aristotle

The beauty of it all isn’t just what you’ll acquire or what your friend will gain, it’s a more subtle shift in the overall picture.

The intimacy and exchange of each other’s feelings and ideas helps you become understanding. Knowing that life is for the betterment of yourself but more so for those around you.

And with that key understanding, it creates a soft circle of positive and contagious happiness for all those involved around your life.

No man is an island. We are all just extensions of this beautiful happy world.

Share this post with a friend that means the world to you :)

Jesse

http://www.finerminds.com/love-relationships/28-eye-opening-reasons-why-friendships-solidify-your-happiness/