Author: Denise Mistich
Have you given any thought to the amount of money Americans spend each year on self improvement? In the year 2005, $1.14 Billion was spent on self-improvement books alone. That’s not to mention the advice we seek from the internet, seminars, doctors, counselors, preachers and even psychics. Obviously, we have come to the conclusion that we need help, so why aren’t we getting any better?

We know that we need self improvement tips for over eating, smoking, alcoholism, abusive relationships, eating disorders, dysfunctional families, porn addictions…the list goes on forever. As a matter of fact, it seems the longer we stare at the list of issues, the more tips we need! We are focusing on a laundry list of issues, nitpicking ourselves to death and spending millions of dollars searching for self improvement tips on each separate issue. My advice is STOP!

Is that Really Good Advice? You bet it is. All of our issues come from deep within, so why not focus on the inner self and forget the laundry list? What you have deep within you depends 100% on what you feed into your mind. Your parents, teachers and peers fed your inner self when you were a child. Now, you feed your inner self through what you read, hear and see. This is called spiritual food and it may well be time for you to change your diet!

You are what you eat, both physically and spiritually. If you have heard negative, hurtful words all of your life, you have negative, hurtful thoughts. If you have been rejected and wounded, you are filled with painful, fearful thoughts. Eventually, this inner pain comes out. All of those ugly words will manifest in your life. Then, what do you do? You put the “stuff” that came out on your laundry list. You start trying to work your way down the list, knocking off bad habits and behaviors one by one.

Again, I advise you to stop! Instead, look deep within yourself and learn a little more about what is in there. More importantly, consider who put it there. Is your inner self built by blocks of loving words of wisdom, giving you a sturdy, stable foundation. Or is your inner self built on someone’s negative words of pain and anger, leaving you weak in the knees?

Change your spiritual diet. Feed yourself with God’s loving words of wisdom each and every day. Think about His words, meditate on them throughout the day. This WILL give you new, healthy thoughts. It will give you a new inner self. His words will manifest in your life and the issues on your laundry list will fall away one by one. That will eliminate our need to spend $1.14 billion on self improvement books each year! (Wow! Just imagine what we could do for world hunger with $1.14 billion!)

Author: Michael Lee

Each person has the power to find true happiness. It’s a way of how you see situations that happen in life.For example, you’re caught in traffic for hours. As soon as you get the chance to break free, another driver cuts in. A group of life coaches and psychologists explain that if you’re happy, you won’t get out of the car and scold the other driver, kick his car, and fret that your day is all messed up.

Instead, positive behaviors pump in so you breathe in and out for ten times; you try to understand that the other driver is in a real emergency; you sit back and let the other car cut through; and you just be grateful that you still have a room for stress relief and look forward to more inspiring things to happen in that day.

Ask most people how to find true happiness and what would make them happy, and they would tell you that a promotion, a new car, wining the lottery, or just getting married would give them true happiness.
They are blinded by their belief that real happiness is something that the world provides. In reality, true happiness depends on your outlook in life. It comes from within.

Every person asks how to find true happiness; but you must understand that happiness, like most things, does not happen overnight. The key is to be content with what you have and work out a plan to achieve the things you want. For this to happen, you must have a set of goals. The same goals will help you create out a vision and a meaning to live each day.

Instead of worrying too much, look at the better possibilities of each situation. Have confidence in your ability to handle life’s issues.

Never focus on how to be happy just by dreaming about it; for affirmations work better if your actions lead you to your goals. By then you will enjoy what you’re doing and understand how to find true happiness.