The starting point for a dream life

Ryan, man i like your posts. i totally agree with you 100 %. However, i get the feeling that you are a veteran when it comes to controlling your emotions and thoughts. i, on the other hand, still struggle with certain thoughts. Especially thoughts that are vital for my happiness, and for my goals. To me, i tend to worry about the most important things in my life. My health, as a example, i never worry about it, and as a result, i never get sick. But when it comes to important things, im always thinking "What if this happens..... What if something is wrong....?" and therefore im always worried. What advice do you have, because like your post says, Happiness is the first step in acheiving your goals.

A favorite song of mine talks about "Have what you want but want what you have."

I think you can want more for yourself, but also focus on happiness in the now. Well, I know you can; I do. I want more out of my business and my life, but I'm really content now.

I had a funny little example of this in my personal life. I have really wanted a particular electric guitar for a long time, a Stratocaster. What I had was an electric guitar someone had given me that needed a lot of work. One weekend I spent two weekends working on it and finally it only needed strings. When I went to the store for strings there was a scratch-and-dent (low-end) Strat for $50, that had just been brought out to put on sale. It wasn't the best Strat ever made, but it was more than $50 would have bought me any other time, so for a weekend's work and $50 I ended up with two good guitars, because I didn't throw the first one out.

(The first guitar sounds really good now that I fixed it up by the way).

Decide to be happy, and then work on being happpier, or as I see it, continuing to be happy and grow.

Can you share some ideas? Do you have a daily routine to condition yourself?

Being happy is truly the rightful first step but ironically many people claim to be happy when they are not.

What i call happiness is inner peace which is quite relatively scarce especially among the very upwardly mobile people.

You can be an overall happy person, yet have times of unhappiness. The key is to realize "you'll have that."

Being happy doesn't mean that every minute of every day, you're jumping for joy. It does mean that you're full of gratitude for whatever has come your way. You know it's all part of a bigger picture that's still unfolding.

For a few years now, I've kept a gratitude journal. It was a friend's suggestion when I was going through some difficult times. At first, I thought it was a dumb idea, but now, I recommend it to everyone.

In the evenings, I write a list of what I'm grateful for that day. Sometimes, it's as small as, "Haven't run out of toothpaste yet." Other times, it's much bigger. Eventually, I also started listing the things I wanted to have or do in my life, while imagining that I was already "there."

Now, years later, when I read back through my journal, I'm still filled with delight when I read about the little and big things that have come my way...including people and situations. I also see how I've changed over the years with regard to what I want, and what's important to me.

Some people think they can't have happiness until all their ducks are lined up. "When all the bills are paid," or "When the kids are grown." Those people will never be happy, because there will always be more ducks to line up.

Seriously...A gratitude journal is a great way to start "practicing" happiness. Soon, happiness will be like second nature!

You made a vital point: The role of perception in our capacity for joy or sadness. I agree, what others consider a tragedy, might be seen by another as ''one of those things''.

Being happy is powerful, no doubt, there is a lightness that comes with it. It's
energy that can be focused on our aspirations.

Thanks