life – Page 10 – Personal Growth Cafe

“Laughter is the best medicine” is a phrase that dates back to biblical times as an old Proverb and it’s still widely used today all over the world.

That’s because it’s true!

Let’s take a look at what happens inside your body, mind and spirit when you laugh.

Laughter’s Effect on Your Body

Endorphins are released throughout your body, stimulating muscles, nerves, organs and tissues when you laugh.

Studies show these endorphins give relief to chronic pain, help to relieve stress and promote functioning of the immune system.

Laughter literally helps heal your body.

Laughter and Your Mind

Happy thoughts lead to a more positive outlook on life.

When you’re hanging out with friends and having good conversation that produces smiles and laughter, your mind’s producing happy thoughts.

On the other hand, if you’re always around people who never smile and always find something to complain about, you’ll lean toward a more negative outlook on life.

Strengthening Your Inner Being

Laughing causes your inner being to be emotionally and physically strengthened.

When you laugh or even smile, your inner being is stimulated in an affirmative way, producing a more positive outlook on life.

This helps your body produce more self-healing endorphins, which actually helps your body remain healthy and running optimally!

Boosting Your Spirits

Laughter causes a lift in your spirits, helping you feel uplifted.

Laughter not only helps you personally, it’s also very contagious and infectious, which helps those around you feel less stress and anxious.

Don’t you just love it when you hear a baby or toddler laugh?

What happens to you? You can’t help but laugh too!

Laughter begins to develop in humans as early as 3 months of age and a baby’s laughter is one of the most contagious of all human sounds.

Laughter and Your Relationships

When two people share a funny story or a silly situation arises between two people, there’s a unique bonding that is created.

Something special is formed between the two that only they can relate with. It’s an inside joke that is special to those who’ve shared in the moment.

When two people spend a lot of time together in laughter, a stronger, more ever-lasting relationship develops.

In a marriage, studies show couples that laugh together stay together much longer, if not for life.

Think about a truly happy couple you know.

Sure, every family has their issues and marriage takes work, but chances are they spend a lot of time laughing together.

This doesn’t happen by accident either. It can be created and fostered!

When you choose to embrace laughter, you’ll be able to get through many more rough spots in life and come out a happier and healthier person.

Life can be tough, so why not choose to make it more joyous? You can if you choose to.

Always try to find joy in every situation and laugh as often as possible each and every day.

Also, by spending more time around positive people, who love life and love to laugh, you’ll be amazed at how you begin to feel on the inside and out!

How do you keep laughter a part of your daily life?

What do you do to spread joy with those you encounter daily?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

Also, as your gift for taking this to heart – and this is profoundly important… to us ALL – go to UnitingPlanetEarth.com/ignition/ and do the Uniting Planet Earth 7-Day Quick-Start Ignition Program… and Allow it to Transform Your Life.

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June 15, 2019March 23, 2018

Either you run the day or the day runs you. – Jim Rohn

June 14, 2019March 23, 2018

You cannot find peace by avoiding life. – Virginia Woolf

June 9, 2019March 23, 2018

Achieving Balance in Your Life

Finding balance in your life can be difficult to do, especially during these stressful days.

There’s family and work obligations, plus extra-curricular activities for your kids and unexpected situations.

It’s no wonder that you’re feeling out of balance and overwhelmed!

There are things you can do to achieve balance in your life.

Below are great starting points to get you on the road to a well-balanced life.

1. Start using a central calendar for every member of your family.

This calendar can be a shared calendar online using Google Calendar, or it can be a paper calendar stuck on the fridge.

Either way, have each family member write their activities on the calendar and be sure to include the time, location and mode of transportation.

This way nothing gets missed and you can plan your schedule accordingly.

If there are conflicting activities, this is a good time to teach your family about compromises and the give and take in relationships.

There are ways to work things out and a little lesson in selflessness never hurt anyone.

2. Take a look at your daily routine. Are there activities you can cut out to make your life more balanced?

In this society of rush-rush, convenience, and got-to-have-it-all or do-it-all, you may be feeling overwhelmed by all the extracurricular activities you’re involved in.

As you look at each activity, ask yourself:

Is this activity necessary for my well being?

Can I live without being involved in this activity?

Is this improving my life or is this overwhelming me?

Is this helping others or is it purely for self-gratification?

Is this going to help me achieve my career, family, and personal goals?

The answers to these questions will help you clean up your schedule and continue to enjoy the things that are really important to you and your family.

3. Establish a daily routine.

Routines help us stay on task and get things done without procrastination.

Without a daily routine, you tend to wander aimlessly, instead of engaging in tasks that take you down the right path toward your goals.

If you work from home, it’s easy to wander away from your daily routine because you can set your own schedule, so it’s especially important to have a routine and work diligently at sticking to it.

Whether you work out of the home or you’re a stay at home mom or dad, a daily schedule is vital.

Following an agenda will help you achieve your daily, monthly, and yearly goals.

4. Set goals for yourself, your family and your career.

Without goals, you have nothing to work for and you’ll feel lost without purpose.

Talk about making things feel out of balance! Some worthwhile goals to reach for might be:

Losing weight
Starting your own business
A new house
A new car
Establishing a budget and sticking to it
A pay raise
A promotion
Learning a new skill or trade
Writing a book

Those are just a few ideas to get you started thinking about all the possibilities available to help you achieve more balance in your life.

Balance in life is something that requires constant attention and resilience.

Don’t let the busyness of life get in the way of living your life to the fullest.

You can accomplish it when you work at it.

Keep trying and you’ll be amazed at the stability that comes your way.

How often do you spend time for yourself, your friends and family?

What activities do you do to strengthen the relationships you have?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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June 7, 2019March 23, 2018

I contribute to the lives of others each day.

June 6, 2019March 23, 2018

Coping with Stressful Changes in Your Life

Life is constantly changing around us, in us, through us, and about us.

It’s inevitable that there are going to be changes throughout life.

Some will be good, some bad, and some indifferent.

Some you like, some you hate, and some just don’t matter.

Obviously the changes you like are easy to deal with and you might even look forward to it!

What about the changes in life that aren’t so peachy? How do you handle those?

Let’s explore some of these common changes and the best ways to cope with them.

1. Job Loss

Job loss is on the forefront of almost every American’s mind right now as the economy declines more and more each day.

This type of change can be very stressful, if you allow it to be.

However, by looking at the situation differently, job loss doesn’t have to be stressful.

When you’re faced with job loss, try to think of it as a new opportunity to try something new or something you’ve always wanted to do.

Some ideas are:

Take some evening classes to learn a new skill or trade.

Make arts, crafts, or jewelry and sell it online or at craft fairs.

Teach others what you know through tutoring or consulting.

Start an online business.

The point is to take a step out of your comfort zone and see the many opportunities that lie before you.

Stepping out of your comfort zone isn’t easy though, is it?

It does take effort and courage.

When you’re stuck in your comfort zone, well, you’re just that – stuck.

Who wants to be stuck?

I don’t and I would venture to say that neither do you!

To get unstuck, take a step out of your comfort zone and look at other possibilities, instead of stressing over the changes that lie ahead.

2. Moving

How about moving or transferring to another area?

That can be a pretty big change that could cause a lot of stress.

The best way to cope with this situation is to look at it as a time to refresh and renew.

I know this can be difficult sometimes, especially when you love the area you live in now.

And, of course, you’ll miss all your friends, family, and familiar sites.

Moving away from people you love can be very stressful and difficult, but it doesn’t have to be!

You can look at the big move as an opportunity to stretch your horizons and meet new people.

Your friends and family will still be there, and you’ll still be able to keep in touch with them on a regular basis.

But you’ll also grow roots in other places, and you just might build even stronger friendships and relationships than you’ve ever imagined!

Focus on the New Opportunities

There are always positive ways to look at things and when you train your minds to look at change as opportunity, instead of stressing out about it, you’ll be happier and healthier.

Here are a couple of other common life changes that tend to be stressful, but can be seen as an exciting, new opportunity:

3. Unexpected Pregnancy – An unexpected pregnancy obviously can cause stress financially, emotionally, physically and mentally.

However, it’s a wonderful opportunity!

An opportunity to love a child and to give life.

A new opportunity to make some lifestyle changes or to give life to someone who can’t have children of their own through adoption, and so much more!

4. Children Growing Up – A child going off to college or moving away from home is a huge change that many find difficult to deal with.

Once again, look at the opportunities available not only to you, but for your son or daughter as well.

Maybe you’ll be able to downsize your home, saving you hundreds of dollars each month.

Or perhaps your bond with your partner and friends will grow and strengthen during this time.

Not to mention the growth and experience your child is going to gain as they grow and mature out in the world on their own.

How you choose to handle a situation will determine how much stress you’re going to allow on yourself.

You can either look at it as a new opportunity or a dreadful scenario. The choice is yours.

But the sooner you begin to look at life changes as new opportunities, the sooner you’ll enjoy a less-stressed life!

What recent change in your life has caused you stress?

How are you coping with this challenge?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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June 5, 2019March 23, 2018

Discovering Happiness in Your Life

Happiness is a choice. It’s true.

You can choose to let life’s circumstances get you down or you can choose to be happy no matter what challenges life brings.

Happiness is already within each of us and we are born to be naturally happy!

For example, have you ever noticed how infectious a baby’s giggle is?

So why is it that, as we get older, we forget where to find happiness within ourselves and, instead, allow outside forces to determine our happiness?

You can determine your own happiness by following these simple strategies:

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

Cliché, I know, however it’s so true.

You don’t have to let life’s troubles and problems get you down.

Yes, there will always be troubles because no one is perfect, but you can choose your reaction to situations.

Look at the positive side of things and work hard to see the good in people and circumstances.

Find something you love to do and do it.

Do you have a lifelong dream or desire?

If so, start working toward it. Taking baby steps towards a dream or goal will help you feel like you’re accomplishing something.

You’ll find drive and determination to reach that goal when it’s something you love to do.

Do you have a gift or talent you’re not using?

One reason so many people are unhappy is that they’re not doing what they’re called to do with their God-given talents.

Each and every one of us has a purpose in life.

You have natural gifts and talents to help you achieve your purpose, so use your gifts effectively!

When you’re feeling down, don’t wallow in your sorrows alone; do something about it.

Call a friend who you know is positive and cheerful.

Talk about your feelings and listen to their advice.

So often, people allow themselves to go deeper and deeper into self-pity or depression because they think it has to be that way.

The truth is, you don’t have to be sad and you shouldn’t be.

You can decide to be happy. You just have to make up your minds to do so.

Think about all the things you have to be thankful for.

Often you get so caught up in what’s wrong with your life that you forget to look at what’s right and good.

Take a step back and reflect on your life.

How far have you come from, say, six months ago?

Do you have children or family to be thankful for?

Yes, they may not be everything we’d like them to be, but imagine life without them.

Now, be thankful that you have them in your life.

Do you have a job?

Maybe it’s not your dream job, but in today’s economy, those of us who have a job should be thankful for it.

When you’re feeling down, journal your thoughts and feelings.

Often you’ll find that just getting your feelings down on paper will allow you to work through them, helping you to feel better about yourself and your beautiful life!

If you’ve been prone to look at life negatively, then you’ll have to put more effort into seeing and choosing happiness.

But don’t let that stop you from being happy!

You, too, can learn to be happy.

Practice the steps above and train your mind to focus intensely on the positives.

When you feel a negative thought coming on, or your mind gravitates toward the negative, learn to recognize it, stop it in its tracks, and then start thinking happier thoughts.

Starting from this moment onward, make the conscious choice to be happy!

How can choosing to be happy help you become a better person?

How can you bring happiness in your life today?

Talk about that in the Personal Growth Cafe Community!

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