Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny.
-Gandhi
Are you moving towards the destiny you desire?
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Over the last few weeks, I’ve had the pleasure of interviewing people about living simply, traveling, breaking through barriers, and living their Dream Life. Every Monday, you’ll find a new interview posted. If you missed it, last week I interviewed Jenny Leonard of the Where Is Jenny.com.
Today I’m excited to have Jen Landis the creator of Pincurl Girls. When I found her through The Right-Brainers in Business Video Summit I immediately loved Jen’s work. Formerly an advertising director and successful businesswoman Jen found herself struggling with insecurity while working on a Master’s degree in art. By allowing her inner child to come out and play, though, Jen has been able to not only regain her self-confidence, but create an inspirational line of products. From bracelets to customized wall art to t-shirts Jen’s work is boosting self-confidence and happiness for women and girls alike. Inspiration, creativity and awesomeness abound.
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Can you describe your current Dream Life?
It is so amazing to me that when I stop to pause and look at my life, I see I am totally living my dreams. It feels good to slow down enough to see that, I try to list everything I am grateful for each night before I go to bed, it makes me feel so fulfilled and excited. But, looking for the positive parts in my life does take time and practice. It can be easy for us artists and entrepreneurs to be so focused on the next big project or idea that we forget to enjoy all the goals or dreams we already created.
Yeah, it is really easy to get consumed by the next big thing and forget to live in the moment. It’s amazing the power a gratitude practice can bring to your life.
What has been the biggest barrier on your journey to living your Dream Life? How did you break through it?
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We all know that expressing gratitude makes us feel better, but did you know a deeper practice of gratitude can actually change your happiness set point? Thanks to genetics we all have a pre-programmed happiness set point. Dr. Robert A. Emmons, the author of Thanks!, explains that “about half of the variances in one’s momentary feelings of well being is determined by the great genetic lottery that occurs at conception.” The other half is determined by circumstances and intentional activities.
In essence your happiness set point is the level of happiness you return to after dramatic events. As you can imagine a generally joyous event, such as marriage, does indeed increase a persons happiness. The interesting part, though, is that people eventually return to their previous happiness level.
Historically this set point was generally thought to be fixed, and immune to influence or control. New research has revealed that this biologically programmed set point is more of a range than a fixed point. So even though genetics may influence our general range of happiness, we have the power to live at the highest, happiest point of that range. It’s important to take a moment here to define happiness, because it is much more than outward displays like smiling or laughing. The authors of Happiness: Unlocking the Mysteries of Psychological Wealth explain that in the scientific world happiness is referred to as “subjective well-being,” meaning that it is based on how people perceive and feel about their own lives.
Let’s recap before we move on.
If you’re anything like me, you want to live at the top of that range. This is where the practice of gratitude comes into play.
Not only does the practice of gratitude increase our happiness levels, but it protects us from destructive emotions of greed, resentment and bitterness, allows us to cope more effectively with stress, and helps us recover more quickly from illness. You can start reaping the benefits today by starting your own gratitude practice and here’s how:
Use Visual Reminders
I like to print positive affirmations onto pretty stationary and then place them around the house. Some people work the visual reminders into their decor with a wall hanging that says “give thanks,” while others will jot down a new positive quote daily on their whiteboard. Whichever works for you, it does help to have a physical reminder to practice and feel gratitude. As the book thanks! points out, “two of the primary obstacles to being grateful are (1) forgetfulness and (2) a lack of mind awareness.”
Change Your Language
As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “We are what we think about all day long.” Negative thoughts will bring us down and decrease our happiness level. As Dr. Emmons explains, “gratitude self-talk that draws our attention to the positive contributions that others made to our lives will simultaneously favorably impact our emotional well-being while strengthening our social bonds.”
Gratitude Journal
Research has shown that one of the best ways to cultivate gratitude – and therefore all it’s benefits – is to establish a daily practice in which you remind yourself of the gifts, benefits, things you enjoy and any other positivity in your life. And one of the best ways to do this is by keeping a daily gratitude journal. The entries do not need to be long. Even a sentence each day will improve your happiness.
The power is in your hands. How happy will you be?
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Photo by Needoptic
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