Finding Joy

What have you always dreamed of doing? What makes you laugh? What's fun to do? What's missing from your life? What are you neglecting to do? The key to joy is to live life with purpose and humor.

Making Quiet Time for Yourself

You deserve to be happy and have the potential to do great things, but if you are dissatisfied with your life, nothing will change unless you make time for yourself to think, plan and work on improvements. Examine your typical day, making notes on how much time you spend on each activity. Find ways to eliminate anything that doesn't serve your best interests. Most often, you will find that things you do out of boredom that are simply bad habits are the biggest time wasters. Using your time wisely is the next step in your quest.

Making Your Dreams Come True

Are you doing the things you've always dreamed of doing? Or are you merely existing, stuck in an endless loop? If you are stuck, the answers will come from focusing on your heart instead of listening to the head's incessant chattering about everything but helpful things. Always make choices based on what rings true deep in your heart, not the ones that your head thinks are practical. If something seems like a good idea, but gives you a sense of dread inside, then don't do it. The best choices are divinely inspired and feel right in your heart.

Setting Goals

Set realistic short- and long-term goals so that you will accomplish more in less time. Before you begin, track everything you do each day so that you can decide where the new activities will fit into your schedule. Then make a "to do" list of things that you want to accomplish each day, week, and so on, along with a proposed time-frame for completing each item. Keep a log of activities completed and goals reached. Reviewing your progress each day will help keep you focused and motivated. Be sure to allot time for breaks so that you don't overdo it. Set aside time at the end of each day for reflection so that you can appreciate your accomplishments, and make notes about what you want to do next.

Practicing Positive Visualization

For the big picture, use your imagination to visualize that you've achieved all of your goals, such as happy relationships, peace of mind, excellent health, a meaningful life, and so on. Think about how that makes you feel. Positive visualization helps set the wheel of creation in motion.

Focus on Success, Keeping Your Ideas Private

Keep your plans for a better life to yourself. That will help you remain positive. If you need help, limit your discussions to bouncing ideas off others you trust, who have always been there for you. Anyone who is not supportive need not be involved in the processs. It's important that you remain positive, that you believe in yourself, and that you keep moving forward until you accomplish your goals.

Getting Results

If you aren't getting the results you expected in your projected timeframe, don't fret. Sometimes you may just need to make a few adjustments to your plan to help things move along. Be creative, be patient, but most of all be persistent and don't give up. When the timing is right, everything will fall into place easily, and you will reap the rewards of your work.