4 Signs You’re Not Happy With Life (And What You Can Do About It)

Life is hard. But are you making it harder?

Relationships that drain your energy. A job that feels like torture. Financial stress that weighs you down. Many of us get used to tolerating negativity – from television, negative people and our own habits.

It seems hard. But everyone faces problems in life. Adversity builds character and makes us feel capable. Without challenges, life loses its charm.

“We cannot change our past…we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude. ” – Charles R. Swindoll

So now that you’re ready to change, here are the four signs that show you’re not happy with life:

1. You Are In A Toxic Relationship

“The quality of your life is the quality of your relationships.” – Tony Robbins

The people you surround yourself with either help you grow or drag you down.

Toxic people come in all shapes and sizes. They put us down, complain all the time, and make our lives miserable. Being with them fills our mind with anger, resentment, and frustration. Still, it seems hard to let them go.

The Way Out:

We teach people how to treat us. So if they are toxic, stand up to them and tell them you won’t tolerate it. Better yet, remove them from your life.

Maybe you can’t remove them because they are an integral part of your family or workplace. If this is the case, distance yourself from them emotionally. Rise above the negativity, don’t try to beat them at their own game.

And be extra aware of your self-talk. When we absorb negativity, our self-talk can become toxic: “I am not worthy”.  Reinforce positive self-talk after every interaction with toxic people.

2. You Are Working A Job You Hate

“Your work is going to fill a large part of your life, and the only way to be truly satisfied is to do what you believe is great work. And the only way to do great work is to love what you do.” – Steve Jobs

If you’re spending 8-10 hours in a job you hate, half of your life is becoming miserable and the other half is spent getting over how miserable it is. Even if you are making good money, such work is torture to your spirit.

The Way Out:

If this is your situation, a temporary shift in perspective can help you find meaning in your job. First, figure out the impact you’re making with your work. Are you changing people’s lives for the better?

Second, find someone trustworthy to confide in. Sharing your feelings helps you feel supported. And finally, start looking for a job you actually want to do.

3. You Get Frustrated With Little Things

“Sometimes the little opportunities that fly at us each day can have the biggest impact.”
― Danny Wallace

When life isn’t going how we want, we tend to get irritated with little things. For example, suppose your friend couldn’t answer your call because they were busy. But you start to think that they don’t value your friendship.

The Way Out:

Instead of being negative, sit down with a trusted friend or family member and talk to them about your situation. Find the root cause of your frustration and work on it directly. Talk to a counselor if the situation seems too complex. Learn to say yes to opportunities and bring new positive energy into your life.

4. Your Daily Routine is Mind Numbing

“What you do every day is your life in miniature.” – Robin Sharma

If your daily routine drains your energy, it’s time to re-evaluate it. Find the activities that drain your energy. Then make positive changes to bring in happiness.

You may want to exercise, even just 10-15 minutes every day, will make a big difference. Add a gratitude ritual. Spend time with positive people. Chase goals that matter to you. Happiness is self-made.

Final Thoughts

If you aren’t happy with life, make a firm decision to change it.

In the words of Robert Downey Jr., a prominent Hollywood actor who struggled with substance abuse for many years,

“It’s really not that difficult to overcome these seemingly ghastly problems. What is hard is to decide.” – Robert Downey Jr.

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6 Irresistible Reasons Why Yoga is Good For You

The body is your temple. Keep it pure and clean for the soul to reside in.

Yoga is a great way to enhance your well being on every well. It helps you regulate your emotions, have a sharp mind, and become physically healthy. Yoga is known for healing many serious health ailments such as depression, heart disease, breast cancer, chronic back pain, and so on.

Here are the six reasons why yoga is good for you:

1. It Keeps You Calm And Anchored in the Present

Yoga activates the brain’s parasympathetic response which helps curb the fight or flight response. In hunter-gatherer times, our fight or flight mechanism was  necessary to fight life threatening situations. But today we live in a different world with  ever-so-endless demands and deadlines we have to meet, it can be a barrier to mental peace.

After all, not every demand and deadline is actual danger. But our primal brain treats it as such. Therefore, yoga can help our emotions flow and help us respond to situations with a balanced mind. It helps us enjoy the present moment to the fullest. Complete relaxation is the reason why yoga is good for you.

2. It Strengthens Your Sense of Self

Yoga nourishes our relationship with ourselves. How? We get to know ourselves better on an intuitive level. It increases our self-confidence as the core message it instills in our mind is that, “I’m worth this nourishment, this me time”.

We become more connected to the source and it strengthens our faith in ourselves. Therefore, if you want to know yourself better and feel more comfortable in your own skin, yoga is a great tool for that. This increased self-confidence is another reason why yoga is good for you.

3. It Deepens Your Relationships

When you have a strong relationship with yourself, it naturally strengthens your relationship with others.

You become more receptive, compassionate, joyful, and radiate unconditional love. Since you live every moment, others recognize this quality and you draw positive people into your life.

4. It Helps You Embrace Your Shadow

To evolve to the highest level, we need to embrace our shadow and integrate it into our being. Our shadow is the part in ourselves that we don’t want to show to the world, to our social circle.

If you become more aware of your body, you’ll realize that you hold tension in certain areas of your body. This is your shadow energy and yoga helps balance this energy flow.

Yoga experts say that when you practice yoga poses to release such energy blocks, there’s often an emotional release afterwards. We should learn to embrace our darkness and this is why yoga is good for you.

5. It Helps You Sleep Better

Yoga not only helps you get healthy sleep, it also helps with insomnia. There are three yoga poses you can do before bed to get into a deep sleep.

Legs Up The Wall: Lie on the floor on your back and lift your legs up against the wall, keeping them straight. Hold this L-shaped pose for thirty seconds and focus on deep breathing.

Lying Butterfly: Lie on your back and join your feet at the bottom, your heels joined together and knees extending on the sides. If this strains your legs, put a pillow under each knee.

Corpse Pose: Lie on your back with your arms on the sides with palms facing the ceiling and legs straight. Take slow breaths and focus on each inhale and exhale.

6. It Builds Physical and Mental Strength

You might be surprised to know that yoga not only builds emotional and mental strength, but also physical strength. Many of the yoga postures require you to work with your body weight and strengthen your core. It’s a great way to add some variety to your workout routine.

So, hit the mat and see your health improving every day!

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Breathe Right To Control Negative Emotions and Bring Inner Peace

Why Emotions Matter

Emotions are the source of energy. When we are feeling good, we perform better at work and experience joy in relationships.

But when we feel negative emotions such as anxiety or fear, it’s hard to focus on the matter at hand. When you’re emotionally volatile and unable to control your own emotions, you cannot trust yourself to follow through on your own plans.

Without emotional control, it’s hard to act on your goals and be consistent. Therefore, it’s really important that we learn how to control our emotions instead of letting them control us.

The Link Between Breath and Emotions

Neuroscientists have come up with an interesting finding on how our breath is connected to our emotions. Every emotion has a corresponding breathing pattern. For example, when we feel joy, we breathe slowly and fully into our lungs. When we feel fear and anxiety, our breath becomes shallow and quick.

But here’s the best part. Just as feeling certain emotions can elicit a certain breathing pattern, breathing a certain way can also elicit the desired emotions. So if you feel deeply and fully for a few minutes, you’ll feel happier and emotionally stable.

This is an exceptional discovery! We can change how we feel simply by breathing a certain way. So if you have to go into an interview, just breathe deeply for a few minutes and you’ll feel relaxed during the interview.

Breathing is so powerful that army veterans who felt dead after coming back from Iraq felt alive again after participating in a week long workshop.

How Does it Work?

When we breathe deeply and fully, we activate the parasympathetic nervous system in our brain. The parasympathetic nervous system helps our body relax and rest. So when you’re breathing deeply, your brain knows that it’s time to rest and the fight or flight response we experience during anxiety no longer continues.

Alternate Nostril Breathing: Feel Calm in A Few Minutes

So how to take advantage of this magic finding to control negative emotions? Well, you can do it anytime, anywhere. The only thing you need is your breath. Although you can simply do deep breathing, but there’s a better technique you can try.

The technique is Alternate Nostril Breathing. Here’s exactly how it’s done:

1. Sit with your back straight with a gentle smile on your face. Make yourself comfortable.
2. Put your left hand gently on your left knee.
3. Now take the right hand, curl the little and ring finger into the palm. Now you’ll use the thumb to close the right nostril and breathe through the left. And you’ll use the index and middle fingers together to close the left nostril and breathe through the right.
4. Use your thumb to close the right nostril and breathe through the left. Take a deep breath.
5. After the inhale, close your left nostril with your index and middle fingers together, and hold the breath or a moment.
6. Now keeping the fingers on the left nostril, release the thumb on the right nostril and exhale. After exhale, pause for a moment.
7. Now in the same position, inhale through the right nostril.
8. Now close both nostrils at the top of the inhale and hold for a moment.
9. Release the index and middle fingers on your left nostril and exhale slowly. Pause for a moment after the exhale.
10. Repeat steps 4 to 9 while concentrating your mind on the breath.

Why is it so effective?

When we are feeling negative emotions, it is hard to talk yourself out of feeling them. Because your emotions are negative, your thoughts are negative too. In this vicious cycle, the breath functions as an anchor and dissolves all intense emotions such as anxiety and fear.

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How to Relieve Stress And Anxiety – 7 Ways by Deepak Chopra

Stress is such a deadly word these days.

People get stressed due to various reasons – aggressive deadlines at work, a demanding spouse, taking care of children and so on.

But how do they deal with stress? After a long day at work, most people go out with friends and have some drinks.

The introvert, however, watches a documentary about how black holes created our universe and reads staggering accounts of Hitler pioneering an entire nation despite his barbaric policies.

Many people numb stress with alcohol, cigarettes, and sex. But before you feel guilty about your own coping mechanism, let’s learn how to relieve stress and anxiety and unlock the key to joy and tranquility.

1. Eat healthy

Think of your body as a highly sophisticated vehicle that is meant to get you through life. Will you ever put low-grade gas in your car? Then, why would you do the same with your body?

Have some respect for your body and only eat nourishing foods. In return, it will reward you with long reservoirs of energy and light beaming out of your eyes. Deepak says you can also have chocolate too as it releases dopamine and serotonin, which make you happy.

How to relieve stress and anxiety: Eat nourishing, green foods and avoid processed, junk foods.

2. Sleep well

A healthy sleep is essential to functioning well during the day. Sleep restores your brain by repairing and reorganizing our memory and learning.

The best way to sleep is to make your room completely dark, and switch off your TV or computer a couple hours before, as they interfere with secretion of sleep hormones.

How to relieve stress and anxiety: Be active during the day for a healthy sleep at night.

3. Just Breathe

This is extremely simple yet highly effective. All you have to do is sit back and breathe deeply. Inhale deeply for four counts, hold it in for a moment, and then exhale for six counts.

This exercise, also known as box breathing, is very helpful for diffusing stress and feeling centered in your body.

How to relieve stress and anxiety: Breathe deeply.

Balance Inspirational Video:

4. Pause to Express Gratitude

When we get stressed, we get stuck in negative emotions and thought patterns. The way out is to focus your attention on the good.

Think about a few things that you’re really grateful for. This may include your family, pets, freedom, music, coffee and creativity. Anything works as long as it matters to you. Being grateful will expand your heart and fuel you with energy.

As Tony Robbins says, you can’t be grateful and fearful at the same time. Gratitude is a powerful antidote to fear, anxiety, and stress.

How to relieve stress and anxiety: Thank the universe for all you’ve got.

5. Have A Relaxation Routine

Stress-management is not rocket science. What you feed your mind dictates the quality of your life. So if you’re always listening to some depressing news on television or fighting with your family every day, stress is going to come naturally.

Therefore, it’s essential to have a relaxation routine that can help you wind down and be mellow.

Some good ways to wind down are –

• Watching comedy shows
• Massage
• Running
• Walking
• Yoga
• A relaxing bath
• Reading your favorite book
• Listening to your favorite music

How to relieve stress and anxiety: Make time to relax every day.

6. Spend Quality Time With Your Loved Ones

Psychologists say that social support is one of the biggest comforts for people in life. Everyone wants to feel the part of a bigger whole.

When you talk and laugh with your loved ones, it opens your heart and nurtures your spirit. It strengthens your mind and prepares you to take on life with full confidence. When you know that your friends and family have got your back, it makes you happy and resilient.

But always choose your circle carefully. Don’t spend your time with people who drain your energy. Become aware of the people who lift your energy and make you feel alive. Give them your time and loyalty.

How to relieve stress and anxiety: Talk and laugh with your family and friends.

7. Ground Yourself Every day

You can ground yourself to feel stable and centered within yourself. Grounding doesn’t mean avoiding the electric shock. What we refer to here is called spiritual grounding.

Although there are many ways to ground yourself, Chopra recommends walking barefoot on the natural surfaces of earth. The earth has a healing energy within itself and when you touch your feet on its surface, you can access it.

How to relieve stress and anxiety: Walk barefoot on grass or natural earth surface.

Don’t let stress rule your life. It can become depression and suck the energy out of you. But it’s upto you to control it.

Remember, you are the creator.

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20 Mystical Khalil Gibran Quotes That Reveal The Beauty of Life

Khalil Gibran, the author of The Prophet, was a Lebanese writer, poet, painter, and philosopher. His works are published in both Arabic and English and depict his profound wisdom in mystical and religious matters.

He is one of the world’s bestselling poets and his book The Prophet was so well received that since its publication in 1923, it never went out of print. Many great people in history including The Beatles, John F. Kennedy, and Indira Gandhi have said that Khalil Gibran’s philosophy had a huge influence on their thinking.

Here are the 20 mystical Khalil Gibran quotes to show you the beauty of life.

1. Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars. – Khalil Gibran

The strongest people in this world are born from suffering and vulnerability. Think of Jim Carrey. In childhood, his family suffered from poverty and depressive circumstances. That pushed him to become someone who could entertain the entire world!

2. Ever has it been that love knows not its own depth until the hour of separation. – Khalil Gibran Quotes

It is in human nature to take for granted what is readily available. Only when we lose certain people, do we realize how important they were in our lives.

3. Faith is a knowledge within the heart, beyond the reach of proof. – Khalil Gibran

When we have faith in something, we don’t need a reason to prove it. Our intuition and heart know that our belief is right.

4. God made Truth with many doors to welcome every believer who knocks on them. – Khalil Gibran

There are many places you can find truth in. You can learn it from making mistakes, from people who’ve already been where you want to go, and sometimes in books also.

5. I have learnt silence from the talkative, toleration from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strange, I am ungrateful to these teachers. – Khalil Gibran

The greatest teacher in life is failure. We learn to love from haters, to respect others from arrogant people, to work hard from lazy and stagnant people, and so on. Yet, we tend to see failures as something invaluable.

6. In the sweetness of friendship; let there be laughter and the sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed. – Khalil Gibran Quotes

Cherish every little moment in your relationship and savor every laughter you share with the other person.

7. If you cannot work with love but only with distaste, it is better that you should leave your work. – Khalil Gibran

When you hate what you do, you can’t work hard at it and go the extra mile. So it’s better to pick something you are naturally drawn to.

8. If you love somebody, let them go, for if they return, they were always yours. And if they don’t, they never were. – Khalil Gibran

Don’t chase anyone. Those who really value you will stay and others will leave.

9. In battling evil, excess is good; for he who is moderate in announcing the truth is presenting half-truth. He conceals the other half out of fear of the people’s wrath. – Khalil Gibran

Don’t be modest when you’re exposing something immoral. The greatest change comes when you choose courage over fear.

10. The deeper sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. – Khalil Gibran Quotes

The more you have been beaten down by your experiences in life, the more joyful you can become from the little pleasures in life.

11. The lights of stars that were extinguished ages ago still reaches us. So it is with great men who died centuries ago, but still reach us with the radiations of their personalities. – Khalil Gibran

Let’s not forget that our forefathers are responsible for our evolution to a certain extent. For example, because someone built the internet, now we use it as a service. Our evolution is happening because of the work the earlier generations did in their lifetime.

12. When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight. – Khalil Gibran Quotes

We laugh, because our wounds disappear for a while. We cry, because our joy disappears for a while.

13. Beauty is not in the face, beauty is a light in the heart.

A person can be beautiful on the outside, yet be arrogant, pompous, and negative inside. Beauty comes from a clean heart.

14. I have found both freedom and safety in my madness; the freedom of loneliness and the safety from being understood, for those who understand us enslave something in us.

It is our quirks, our innermost layer of personality that keep us free. When we want to be accepted, we act in a way that is “right” and give up our freedom.

15. They deem me mad because I will not sell my days for gold; and I deem them mad because they think my days have a price.

Your time is too valuable for working for money. One day you might become a millionaire doing the work you hate and realize that you have lost 10 or 20 most important years of your life.

16. The appearance of things changes according to the emotions; and thus we see magic and beauty in them, while the magic and beauty are really in ourselves.

When we are happy, the world seems bright. When we are sad, the world seems gloomy. As within, so without.

17. It is well to give when asked but it is better to give unasked, through understanding. – Khalil Gibran Quotes

When you help someone when they ask you, they are happy because their problem is fixed. But when you go out of your way to help someone, you instill faith in them and affirm that life is good.

18. Sadness is but a wall between two gardens. – Khalil Gibran

Sadness is just a block between you and happiness. When people are broken inside, they can still see the positive side, but their focus remains on the negative side.

19. To be able to look back upon one’s life in satisfaction, is to live twice. – Khalil Gibran Quotes

A successful person is that who does what he wanted to do in his life. Period.

20. Yes, there is a Nirvanah; it is leading your sheep to a green pasture, and in putting your child to sleep, and in writing the last line of your poem. – Khalil Gibran

The greatest feeling in this world is seeing the results of hard work. So before you go on to find Moksha or Nirvana, realize that hard work gives the sweetest fruits.

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