Motivation of the Day

"Happiness is not a destination, it is a method of life."

~ Burton Hills

Motivation of the Day

"Optimism is the one quality more associated with success and happiness than any other."

~ Brian Tracy

Faking Yourself into Success

How about a little challenge for today? If you get down, depressed, angered or any other negative emotion today, pretend for 30 minutes that you are in an excellent mood. Fake it. Giggle, cut up, be energetic... just make yourself do it for 30 minutes. How do you feel after your time is up? Are you in a better mood than you were before faking it?

Many times we can convince ourselves to be happier than we previously were. If you act in a good mood for a period of time, you can actually change your own attitude. The same holds true for challenges, competitions and difficulties. Muhammad Ali believed that if you fake yourself into believing that you are the best, you will be the best. Our actions follow what our minds think. Changing your attitude to positive - whether it is in relation to work, school, kids, parenting, a disability, or just your general mood - will put you on the road to success.

Try it! I'm willing to bet you won't have to fake it very long before the positive attitude becomes a reality.

True Happiness

You're familiar with them... Those people who put others down to try to make themselves feel better. Ultimately, are they happy? Now think about a time that you have done something good for someone else, thereby making them happy. Did it make you happy? True happiness does not come from being the best at everything, having the most of everything, and winning at every game you play. True happiness is much deeper than that. The wife who sacrifices going to get a pedicure so she can go to that ballgame her husband wants her to attend with him ends up with a better feeling than what a pedicure can give simply by knowing she was able to make her husband happy. Likewise, the husband who stops to buy his wife some flowers on the way home from work when he really just wants to get home and get out of that suit receives a happier feeling when he sees how much it means to his wife.

Zig Ziglar often said, "You can have everything you want in life if you help enough other people get what they want." Try doing an intentional act today to make someone else happy. You'll be amazed at the benefits you receive as well.

Enthusiastically Optimistic

"My Bible assures me that my past is forgiven AND forgotten. That takes care of my past. Jesus Christ said, 'I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.' That takes care of the present. John 3:16 assures me I will have everlasting life. That takes care of my future. With my past forgiven, my present secure, and my future irrevocably guaranteed, why shouldn't I be enthusiastically optimistic?"  ~ Zig Ziglar in See You at the Top: 25th Anniversary Edition

Zig Ziglar is top-notch when it comes to motivational, inspirational and Christian living. How can you argue this statement? God put you on this earth. He is so loving and forgiving that, regardless of what your past holds, He will forgive you. You can truly let the past be in the past and move on with your life. He holds your life in His precious hands, so there is no reason to stress about your present. He wants you to be happy and live abundantly. If you believe in Him and put your whole faith in Him, he promises you everlasting life. As Ziglar says, why should you not be enthusiastically optimistic? Live your life, love your life, and conquer your life.