-For starters, they help filter the air by removing harmful toxins and pollutants.   They remove carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.  They also help stabilize humidity levels.
-Plants can help brighten up a room.  They have a calming effect and make the environment more comfortable. 
-Plants are alive.  Caring and nurturing them will have a positive effect.  It also brings a little more structure to your life.

If you don’t have any plants in your home.  Go get some and try it out for yourself. 

The anxiety I am feeling is overwhelming to the point that I have butterflies in my stomach, tension in my temples, and literal shaking. I am fighting the natural tendency to get paralyzed in this moment. I It would be easy to let these things cripple me into self wallowing, inaction, and depression. I am simply not going to allow that happen.
As I started my work day, on top of the emotions I was already feeling, I was furious coming fresh off of the new work contract dispute.

Here are some tips for people in a similar situation:

• Recognize your emotions. They are real. They are powerful. And it’s completely okay to feel them. Be extra aware of your emotions. It is easy to become irritable and snap and lash out at others who do not deserve it. I have been very conscious of my state today as to not cause any new unnecessary problems.
• Write about your feelings. Think about what you are feeling. Writing has a calming effect and can help you organize your thoughts on how to resolve the issues you face. It helps put everything in perspective.
• Take relentless action. I immediately got to work researching my new problem and working on some things for the short sale.
• It is temporary. If you keep focused and do everything you have to do, most problems will eventually get taken care of.
• Look out for little things that can help brighten up your mood. As I entered work today, I was greeted with exuberance from my students and one coworker in particular who gave me the most genuine bright smile.
• Do a little something nice for someone else. For me, I had been thinking of buying a nice vinyl record for a friend and so I took this as an opportunity to make it happen. It took about 5 minutes to place the order, and I immediately felt a little better. And I’m sure it will brighten up my friend’s day when he unexpectedly receives his gift.
• Exercise. Exercise always has a positive effect on happiness, but it can be particularly important in moments like this. I like to take fast long walks. They help calm any jitters and give me time to consciously reflect on my problems and what I have to do about them.
• Get ample sleep. Problems and anxiety can keep you up at night, but it is important not to neglect getting enough sleep. You’ll feel better and be in a better state to take action if you are as rested as possible.

• Dental work
• Going to the doctor
• Legal matters
• Doing your taxes
• Paying bills
• Getting work done on your car
• Home repair
• General organization
• Personal hygiene

These are just a few of the problems that can build up and act like chains tying you down.  It can be emotionally crippling and cause irrational fear.  But, you must do something about it.  This brings me to another fundamental principal of mine.  Ignoring your problems will not make them go away. If anything, it often compounds them.

Resolve to get everything that is hanging done.  True, this is easier said than done, but if you truly want to improve your happiness level, you need to take care of it.  This is an area of your life that you have control over.  You can break free, but it requires relentless action.

Here are some tips:

1. Write down all the things you’ve been putting off
2. Prioritize them from largest to smallest
3. Create goals to resolve them
4. Break down the goals into smaller actionable steps
5. Put those steps into lists and execute them
6. Get started, don’t delay any longer

As soon as you finish reading this post, get started.  Taking action is the hardest part.  But you’ll find that once you do, you gain momentum and begin rolling and everything becomes easier and easier.

One thing that really helps me is getting into a frame of mind where with every little action I take, I am a little closer to freedom. With each click of the mouse, each email I write, each phone call I make, every second I spend working toward resolving any issue, I am a step closer to getting things done.

Once you start resolving the things you’ve been slacking on, you’ll begin to feel much better.  Not only will your mental space improve by removing the noise that was nagging you, but you will also feel empowered and add to your self worth and confidence.

Getting to the point where you literally have nothing that you have to do is one of the greatest feelings.  You can make it there if you stay focused and keep moving forward.

Here’s a little something to help you get going…

This morning I had a student, Ji-Won, greet me with what I described in my head at the time as a “pure unadulterated joy” that was so contagious that it really put me in a great frame of mind for the rest of  my day.

Suddenly, I was left puzzled.  What is that difference between children and adults where kids seem to experience more extreme levels of joy?  My thoughts curiously pondered that word “unADULTerated”.  How fitting that my brain naturally came up with that word.  I looked up the definition:

Unadulterated:  not mingled or diluted with extraneous matter, pure.

Perhaps that is part of the answer.

As adults we are often ill-equipped to handle the harsh realities of life.  As we wade through our many experiences, we accumulate baggage, build up noise, harbor regrets and resentments, develop anxieties, and more.

Now whether children are truly happier than adults is another question I plan to tackle in another post.  In their world, they deal with problems we have long forgotten.

In this site, I will take a deeper look into what makes us happy and offer advice on how to become happier.  So what makes me qualified?  I’m not a psychologist nor a self proclaimed guru.  I’m not some prolific blogger or diligent writer, but I am super CURIOUS about everything.  I’m just a person who is genuinely happy and constantly looking to improve myself.  I think that’s enough.  That said; expect about one post per week around here.

I’ll leave you with a couple of my fundamental beliefs about happiness:

1. YOU are ultimately responsible for your own happiness.
2. Happiness comes from controlling the things in your life you can control and keeping the things you can’t in perspective.

Thanks for visiting and check back soon!