Happiness at work

“Happiness at work is about mindfully making the best use of the resources you have to overcome the challenge you face. Actively relishing the highs and managing the lows will help you maximize your performance and achieve your potential. And this not only builds your happiness but also that of others- who will be affected and energized by what you do”

 -Defining Happiness at work by Dr Laurel Edmunds and Jessica Pryce–Jones at Wikipedia                                                                                                                                                    

We spend hours and hours every week working, we spent days, months, years at work at least most of us. We spend big part of our lives working, so should we enjoy it and be happy while doing it? I think we should. It is not easy to enjoy work all the time and be happy but there are ways to make it better and more enjoyable. Most important; the work should be FUN!!

Happiness is inside us so first we concentrate on that and then we begin working on external issues.

Our mind is the tool to happiness; we don’t need more money, success etc…Our brain is adapting organ which develop constantly and by mobilizing our thoughts and practicing new ways of thinking, we can reshape our nerve cells and change the way our brain works.

                -Crazy ah?

First things first, our attitude counts. Anything can be fun if we think it is fun, it’s all in our heads. I know it is not that simple but it is a start. We have to start somewhere so we begin from ourselves. Maybe the job doesn’t suck maybe the problem is us, the way we think and the way we act.

- I love my job, I love my job, I love my job…

-I don’t have a problem; my job is the problem or is it other way round?

STEP ONE

Let’s decide to be happy at work.

-I have to work or do I?

“Single biggest obstacle to work place happiness is the belief that we are prisoners of circumstance, powerless before the things that happen to us”.

                                                                                    Srikumar Rao, the author of Happiness at Work

We have to see the big picture. Work is a big part of our lives we just have to accept that, so when we accept that we don’t feel like we are forced to work. If we feel forced to work it can’t be enjoyable and we can’t be happy. We do need money or do we? We need food and water all the other stuff is extra. In western countries we really don’t have to work to get food and money so we are not really forced to work, we have social security which provides us our basic needs. The more we understand this concept the happier we can be at work.

-How can I see the big picture?

Many times when our bills are piling up and we feel that we need to get some money and we need to work. We feel that we are forced to work. Let’s work on that. Can bills kill us?? What can happen if we can’t pay the bills? If we really think, nothing really! We could lose all our assets but we are borrowing them anyway, as we know when we will leave this earth we can’t get anything with us. At the end we are taking care of all kind of stuff and when we pass away someone else will take care of them.

Amazing!

- I hate bills but I love to pay them. If I collect a million bills does it make me rich or poor?

12 tips by Arvind Devalia

     1.    On the way to your work place, get yourself motivated to face the day

    2.   Keep your work in perspective

    3.   Remember that you are more than your work

    4.   Plan your time

    5.   Concentrate on the task at hand

    6.   Clarify anytime you are not sure or where you are faced with conflicting demands

    7.   Delegate wherever appropriate

    8.    Have regular breaks

    9.    Learn to relax no matter how challenging the work gets or how demanding your bosses become

   10. Contribute towards creating a pleasant work environment

   11. Review your day before you leave home

   12. Switch off once you leave work

WORK, WORK, WORK

“Every minute of being miserable we lose 60 seconds of happiness”

-I will work until I die to make a million euros then I will be happy!

It is always good to see the bright side, it’s not always easy but if we think why we should waste our time by being miserable because our time is limited. Like Dalai Lama wrote on one of his book that one part of happiness is to accept death. Our time is limited and we have to realize that, we can’t run away death, it will come. That is part of self-conscious which helps us the build our self-images which guides us to happiness. Like happiness in general we need to have our basic elements for happiness in order to achieve it also at work and accepting life as it is, is one of those elements.

“Happiness is not something ready-made. It comes from your own actions.” ~Dalai Lama

We also have to understand that job satisfaction is not happiness and we can feel fine at work but it doesn’t mean we are happy; we could feel great and that is happiness. Happiness can be achieved in every work place and it is contagious but not eternal. We will have up and downs like always in life but happiness at work can be long-term if we just make it happen.

  LET’S HAVE A CHAT

“Lack of communication from the top was seen as one of the biggest causes of unhappiness”

                                                                          -Happiness at work research report 2007 by Chimento

We all are in the same boat as the saying goes and sometimes it is good to get to know who we work with, even if we are not interested.  Getting known your co-workers help you work together. See socializing as a part of your work.

By socializing with other co-workers we create an open working environment which helps us to communicate better which is part of work happiness.
    

Top 10 factors that make us happy at work	Top 10 factors that make us unhappy at work
1.       Friendly, supportive colleagues 2.       Enjoyable work 3.       Good boss 4.       Good work/life balance 5.       Varied work 6.       Belief that we’re doing something worthwhile 7.       Feeling that we do make a difference 8.       Being part of a successful team 9.       Recognition for our achievements 10.   Competitive salary	1.       Lack of communication from the top 2.       Uncompetitive salary 3.       No recognition for achievements 4.       Poor boss 5.       Little personal development 6.       Ideas being ignored 7.       Lack of opportunity for a good performers 8.       Work not enjoyable 9.       Lack of benefits 10.   Not feeling that I do make a difference

                                                               

                                                                                    -Happiness at work Research 2007 by Chimento

We should encourage people more face-to-face communication so we could express more our feelings and ensure that our staff isn’t working isolated without any support. We should be supportive to get support; team work is one key part to happiness at work.

- Talk to the hand!!

-No, take time to communicate.

FUN, FUN, FUN

Life is about moments and sometimes we need to escape from our common lives and create some amazing moments. Also at work! They can be small things like bringing a chocolate to your co-workers or remembering someone’s birthday, anything, something out of the normal routines.

Good joke is an excellent way to have few laughs and relax for a minute or two. We need to “escape” from the work environment from time to time to clear our minds and get new perspectives to our work. It helps us to be more creative.

5 tips by Laurie Tarkan, Fox news, 13/11

     1.    Have goals, visualize them

     2.   Work autonomously

     3.   Have reasonable deadlines, reduce your stress factor

     4.   Have sufficient resources, be able to delegate

     5.   Learn from problems

PUMP IT, PUMP IT

One of the basic elements for happiness is your health and it also works at work. Our physical health is connected to our mental health. Eating healthy and exercising makes us happier; we have to work out for our happiness.

How much exercise do we need then? Here is one answer:

Recommended activity levels

According to the government, only 37 per cent of men and 24 per cent of women take enough exercise to get any benefit from it. To avoid obesity, heart disease and other life-limiting conditions, the chief medical officer (the government's top doctor) recommends the following:

·         Adults should do a minimum of 30 minutes moderate-intensity physical activity, five days a week.

·         You don't have to do the whole 30 minutes in one go. Your half-hour could be made up of three ten-minute bursts of activity spread through the day, if you prefer - it's the total that matters.

·         The activity can be a 'lifestyle activity' (in other words, walking to the shops or taking the dog out) or structured exercise or sport, or a combination of these. But it does need to be of at least moderate intensity, again measured by it making you slightly breathless or a little warm.

·         People who are at specific risk from obesity, or who need to manage their weight because of a medical condition, need 45-60 minutes of exercise at least five times a week. For example, if you have diabetes, it will be much better controlled if you exercise like this.

                                                         - BBC Health by Dr Gill Jenkins in December 2010                                      

Sufficient sleep makes a huge difference. We shouldn’t try to manage with few our rest, our body and brains need to rest.

Daytime naps are another strategy some people use to make up for lost sleep during the night. Some evidence shows short naps (up to one hour) can make up, at least partially, for the sleep missed on previous night and improve alertness, mood and work performance. But naps don’t substitute for a good night sleep.

                            -Your Guide to Healthy sleep by U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Healthy sleeping habits lead to better moods, a reduced risk of obesity, better memory and learning ability and a healthier immune system. How much sleep we get and the quality of that sleep needs to be a part of our fitness program and a priority in forming a healthier lifestyle. Fitting sleep into our already packed schedule can be a challenge and often becomes something that we compromise…How much sleep are you getting?

Pack snacks with you. We all know how crumby we can get if our sugar levels drop down. Have a snack every 2 hours to keep your sugar levels up, that will help you to keep your positive attitude throughout the day. 

MR. NICE GUY

We need to respect each other and treat everybody as we would like to be treated. Be polite and do nice thing for your co-workers. What goes around comes around. Times when you need help it make it so much easier to get if you have helped someone else earlier.

 

7 tips by Jeff Stiebel

    1.    Smile

    2.   Stop worrying

    3.   Take a break

    4.   Do things differently

    5.   Stop managing and start leading

    6.   Delegate 

    7.   Have fun

ARE WE DIFFERENT?

Learning what truly makes us happy is an individualized process and something that works for someone doesn’t mean it will work for everybody.

One man’s happiness can be another’s living hell.

Working in a team is always a challenge, different backgrounds, and different religious and different ways of doing things.  There are as many different ways to do things as they are people but finding the golden gateway it’s important. We have to realize that maybe the way we do things is not the only way; there can always be better and more efficient way.

We need to be open-minded to work in a team or even if we work alone, we still need to be able adapt new ways to do things. Even if we work alone, our work affects other people in some way.

We all are different and we all have different needs and habits, different ways to do things and different opinions but that makes us all special. No one is better than other; we are all on the same planet, made of same kind of flesh and blood but what makes us different is the way we think. We all have same beginning but different ending. We choose the way we think regardless of wealth, place or background. We choose to be happy and we decide what makes us happy; it’s all in our heads.    

DON’T BE AN ASS

No one wants to hear how good car you have or how big is your house. People don’t like to hear those things. I know that I don’t feel comfortable to hear how great other people lives are. I feel great hearing if my love ones are doing great but hearing people that I just know bragging about their lives doesn’t make me feel good, just opposite. It is important to be the one who listen not the one who brags. No one likes show ups!!  This helps you to create better relationships with your co-workers which lead to happiness.

BE THERE OR BE SQUARE

Sometimes our supervisors need us for some extra job, it is not their fault, and they just need someone to do the job.  It is always good to volunteer to raise the spirit and be example. Sometimes we feel tired and fed up but in the long term all the effort is worth it. 

We know how boring it can be to attend all the meetings but it is important to be part of matters which concern your company, we need to express our opinions because it does matter, it matters to you. Be proud what you do and feel passionate about your job.

Also all the company gatherings, parties etc. ATTEND!!  Just pay a quick visit even if you are not really interested to attend because as we all know the gossips and funny stories begin from those events and we want to be part of those laughs. Laughing relaxes us and brings us happiness.     

6 ways to find happiness by James Clear

1.        DEVELOP A SOCIAL CIRCLE.

2.      LOOK FOR OPPORTUNITIES FOR GROWTH INSTEAD OF FAILURE

3.      HELP SOMEONE SOLVE A PROBLEM.

4.     TAKE ON ADDITIONAL RESPONSIBILITY

5.      HAVE ENOUGH COURAGE TO ASK.

6.      TAKE ACTIONS THAT INCREASE GOOD WILL.

HAPPINESS AT WORK SURVEY

Let’s make a survey.

Answer the following questions.

 Questions to Ask About Your Job:

• Is my work important?
• Am I giving something to my company?
• Does my work excite me?
• Can this work challenge me?
• Can I be proud about my work?
• Would I think about my work even when I'm not working
• Am I passionate about my job?
• Can I achieve anything?
• Can I make true friends of my co-workers?

So how it went?

These are the questions we should ask when we are thinking about our dream job. If we are able to answer yes to all those questions we are at our dream job but if we just got one or two “yes” - answers maybe we should quit our job and find a new one.

Don’t get depressed if you didn’t get any “yes”-answers, we can work on that. Now we know what makes us happy at work so we can start doing things for it.

We want to be happy at work? YES! 
We know what we need to be happy at work? YES!

We can be happy at work? YES!

Yes, yes and YES!

CONCLUSIONS

At the end we are us happy as we think we are and happiness can be found in every work place. The biggest obstruction to our happiness is our mind. To found happiness we need dedication, hard work and time. We need to know what makes us happy and prioritize most important things in our life.

Work is just a work but it is big part of our life so why waste time to be miserable at work if we can be happy.

·        
     Let’s decide to be happy.

·        Make a survey

o   What makes you happy?

o   Does your work make you happy?

·         Action

o   Decide to quit or continue at your work

o   Make happy plan

o   Follow your plan   

Have goals, see the big picture, follow your dreams and be happy.

Happiness is for everybody.    

Inner Peace

WHAT IS INNER PEACE? HOW WE CAN FIND IT?

This inner peace fascinates me a lot and I have been thinking about it for a long time now. I feel that we can control our minds and that is what inner peace is all about, controlling our minds and bodies.  We all can find it or should I say we all can achieve it because it takes time and practice to master it.

Inner peace is a mind-set.  It makes us complete. It gives us energy and strength and it is a gate to ultimate happiness. Inner peace balances us and it gives us ability to enjoy life more. It gives us new perspectives for better life.

For me full inner peace is a dream, it is a dream for better life. I believe we can always be better and we can always learn new things and pursuing for inner peace is one of my goals in life. I believe we all should develop ourselves all the time and learn from our mistakes and that is what I am doing. Every day I am growing up, learning new things and making best of my life.

Good example about inner peace and why we should seek it is the movie called “Kung Fu Panda II”, the movie is about inner peace, he has to find it to save the world. What a story!  It is a good movie, you should watch it if you haven’t seen it already. Basically with inner peace you can find your hidden talents and use all your resources because you are in harmony with yourself and you are able to control your body and your mind. The movie tells exactly what inner peace is, it is power which gives you amazing powers. 

WHY WE SHOULD PURSUE FOR INNER PEACE?

I feel like it would be achievement which would bring peace and happiness to my life. I think by finding inner peace it would make my life much easier and I could face all the challenges without any grief or worries.  I could be steady all the time and I would get more out of my life.

My life is good, it is excellent. I have amazing family and friends, I don’t have financial problems and I am happy. I do feel complete but still I worry and I get all kind of stupid feelings like anger. I don’t want to feel angry or jealous; I just want to feel happy and steady. I want to cry and feel sad but I really don’t want to feel envy or other silly feelings. I believe that full inner peace will help me to control those feelings.

By being in harmony with our bodies and minds gives us the control of our lives and feelings.  It gives us energy to live. It gives us inner peace. 

FINDING INNER PEACE

We can’t achieve inner peace just by deciding that I will be in peace with myself and I don’t feel any anger or any other annoying feelings anymore. Inner peace comes with dedication, time, and practice and with compassion.

Compassion

Dalai Lama writes about compassion and I just read his book about it. I believe in compassion, I agree that it is a way to inner peace and happiness. By giving compassion without any prejudice it will give us back something that we can’t buy, it gives us back fulfilment. Why it so important to get that is because we need to feel complete to be happy and compassion fills empty holes in us.

Dalai Lama divides people in three categories: love ones, neutral ones and enemies. One of his exercises is to think how we feel about all those people and give compassion to all of them.  He writes that without our enemies we couldn’t find inner peace. Our enemies are our friends; they help us to find ourselves. They gives us something to work at, they gives us anger which by practicing can be controlled. So we can learn from our enemies, they help us to grow.

By giving compassion to everybody regardless their backgrounds is the key to inner peace.

Complete

We all know how sometimes we feel that something is missing in our lives and we are searching for something…We have holes in our heart. We don’t know why but we just feel that we have to search and do something to fill those holes. Some of us try to fill those holes with stuff by buying everything, thinking that it makes them feel better, it helps for a while but it is not the solution. Some of us drink and some of us try to fill those holes with meaningless relationships. We all have different ways but how we get complete is when we decide to stop searching, that is how I found my fulfilments; I stopped searching. I accepted that I will die someday and I looked around and saw how amazing my life is. I stopped living in the future and started to live in the present. I decided that I don’t need any fancy car or beautiful wife. I just need to enjoy what I have now. That is how I filled all my wholes and got my heart complete. Sometimes I still feel that I am missing something but then I go through all my things again to realize what life is all about.

Time, patient and dedication

To achieve something we always need time, patient and dedication; this also applies with inner peace. I believe I will learn more every day by practicing control my mind and studying the way I behave on different situations. I am analysing myself all the time to understand how I react on different things and I am trying to identify reasons for all my bad feelings. I study and I learn.

There is no short cut.

ENDING

I am not saying that we all should seek for inner peace but I believe that it will bring me more happiness and joy in my life. I believe it will make me a better person.

Whatever we decide to do, it is right decision. We all make our own path which will take us to the end. Life is short, we have to accept that and we all are masters of our own lives. We are in control. We make our own decisions based on our experience and that will be the outcome of our life. We all make mistakes, we are not perfect but that is life.

It doesn’t matter what we do or not do, only thing matters is that we are happy whatever we do.

Happiness is for everybody.     

Dreams can come true

I am now at work sailing along coast of Italy, just heading to Dubrovnik.  Life is good at sea and here I have time to do some soul searching. I spent some time in Cartagena and also some time in Finland with my kids but now I am at sea at least the next 5 weeks.

I have been searching my inner peace by reading books.

All this is preparing for my next adventures.

I bought couple books before I joined this mighty ship and one of them was the Alchemist by Paulo Coelho.

 Dreams can come true.

I am now telling the whole story so if you don’t want to know what happens on that book please do not read further!! I will read this book at least one more time to really understand its meaning.

It is a story about a Spanish boy who was a shepherd, he has few sheep and he takes care of them and travels around Andalucía.  He knows all the best places to feed his sheep and they become good friends. He provides them food and shelter and they provide him cotton.  They live in perfect harmony, life is good. Or is it? The boy started seeing dreams about a treasure near pyramids and on that dream a man says follow the signs. He gets some signs, he meets a king who knew about his dreams and he starts pursuing his treasure, his dream.  He doubts a lot can he leaves his good and safe life behind and pursues something which is just a dream.  He gets more signs and he travels to Egypt and he gets rubbed. He lost all his money but with his amazing attitude he found a job which gives him great fortune and he have to decide to continue following his dream or get back to his old good life. More signs occur and he has learnt new amazing things about life and people. While travelling he has been observing the world and learning from it.  People thought him new skills and new languages.  It was hard decision to continue following his dream but he did continue. He had to cross the great desert but before that while in Egypt he met love of his life. Love on first sight. The girl was Muslim so they didn’t have any physical contact but they talked and talked. They both fell in love. The girl wanted him to follow his dream and she promise to wait. It was true love.

The boy continues his journey through desert,   war against tribes was going on and he met a new friend who thought him about books. While travelling the boy studied the world, the nature, the wind and the people, he started to understand the language of the world. Soon he was able to talk with the world.  He understood that only way to really understand the world was to listen it.  

Their convoy reached an oasis and they stopped to rest and waited the war to end. The boy went for a walk and had a vision that the oasis will be attacked by the rebels. The oasis was under agreement that the tribes won’t attack there but the boy was sure about his vision and went to the leader of that oasis. First they didn’t believe the boy but they didn’t want to take any changes so they prepared themselves for a fight on condition that if no one will attack the boy will die. Next day there was an attempt to take over the oasis. The boy got rewarded and got offered a high position in the community.

The boy met the Alchemist who could transform led to cold; an ancient skill which required a motivation, understanding and patient. The alchemist has had a vision that a boy would come and he should teach him, that day came, the boy was there. Once again the boy had to decide which path he we would take, to return home as a wealthy man, stay in the community as a respected citizen or continue chasing his dream. He decided to continue his journey. More difficulties and challenges were on the way but the alchemist thought the boy to listen his heart. He learnt it. He was able to communicate with his heart and he realized that a heart guides and protects him.

They could almost see the pyramids when a warlord captured them.  The Alchemist got them more time to live saying that the boy could transform into wind and fly away. The warlord was curious and gave them 3 days to prepare. The boy was scared; he didn’t know how to transform into wind. The day came and the boy was standing on a cliff trying to transform into wind. All the soldiers and the warlords were waiting a miracle to happen. The alchemist believed in him, he knew he was special. The boy started to listen and he realize that while travelling he had learnt the language of the world. He was able to speak with the wind. He asked the wind to transform him into wind but the wind didn’t know how, so the boy asked the sun and the desert. The sun was not able to help but it advised the boy that the only the ONE could help him. The boy started to pray but he didn’t ask anything for himself so the GOD almighty helped him and turned him into wind.

Finally the boy reached the pyramids and he got rubbed and mugged again but got his final sign which said that the treasure was where he first started his journey; it was where he has lived his whole life.

He founds the treasure and he gets the girl. Happy end! J  

This was long story short.

Amazing story! That book gives something to think and it gives hope. Hope to pursue our own dreams.

It is a story that if we don’t pursue our dreams we will never be truly happy. With open heart and mind the world keeps us safe.

In the happiness point of few there was really good points. Let’s make a list.

1.        Pursue your dreams.
2.        Don’t give up (attitude)
3.        Believe in love (family) THE GREATEST THING IN THE WORLD; LOVE!
4.        Listen your heart it will guide and protect you (safety)
5.        Believe in life (attitude)
6.        Listen the world it will teaches you so amazing things (flow)
7.        Smile and the world smiles back to you
8.        Faith   

The book is a love story but it’s also a story of hope and life. Challenges are part of life and we all get them but we shouldn’t give up, we should face them and learn from them. Life goes on whatever happens and there is a treasure waiting for all of us somewhere, we just have to follow the signs and listen our hearts and just keep going.

This story is for everybody but especially it is for all those people who are sitting at home thinking that they should chase their dreams but are too scared to leave everything behind.

GO, take a change!!!

There is only one life, one opportunity to feel and see. We are alive so let’s start living.

Life is not easy and lots of challenges are on our way but is makes us stronger, it makes us what we are and behind every corner there is something new and exciting waiting for us.

The book is also about power of love and pray, nothing can beat them!! Love makes the world.

I recommend this book for everybody. Amazing book!

I now preparing myself to my next step to ultimate happiness and I will do lot of reading and self-examination which I will share on my blog.

This book gave me power to continue doing things I do, it gave me support what I was thinking before. AMAZING!! J

Happy thinking!

Life is an adventure.

Home sweet home

What is the meaning of life? To be happy and useful. - Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama

I am in Cartagena, Colombia. I am home. I have spend the last month just relaxing, doing nothing. I have felt my "emotional fuel tank" was running in low gas but it is filled up now. What I mean about emotional tank is that we only have certain amount of energy and we use it when we keep our mind occupied like being under stress. We have to listen our bodies, that is one part of happiness, we have to know what is going on inside us. I really felt I needed rest. I know how my body works and every time after a long contract I need to rest my body and my mind. Heart is a good example, did you know that a heart only works 9 hours a day and it rest 15 hours? Amazing. We should do the same. We should not burn out our bodies and minds, we should take care of ourselves. That is what I have been doing the last month, just relaxing, giving my mind some rest.

I have been slightly stressed out due to my current work situation. I had to look for a a new job after my time in Africa and it is normal to stress out when you are unemployed and no sign for a new job. How I deal my stress? I try to build a watertight wall around me and not worry about the past nor the future, I try to live today, not tomorrow or not the past. Key part of happiness. Sometimes it is difficult to actually do that but it feels so good after you realize that you can live the present and not to worry about the future. Usually nothing will change by worrying, it just make it worse. I have been thinking a lot how to live in present and it was good to spend some time in Africa because that is exactly what people do there, they live in the present. Why they are happy there, because they don´t worry about the future or the past. Okay, that is not the only reason but it is a big part of their happiness.  

It is amazing to be here in Cartagena which is in the same latitude than the place I were in Africa so the weather is the same but the culture is so different. Same kind of place but totally different. My point is that people make the place, people make the difference and people can find the happiness everywhere in the world in them. Happiness is a state of mind. Cool ah??

"Nothing is worth more than this day."
- Goethe

My normal day here in Cartagena is that I wake up around 9 am and and make myself amazing breakfast which will take me an hour or two to finish while watching TV or listening radio. Best time of the day. After I normally have my morning swim in our swimming pool or I go jogging. I love to make food and everyday I do something, some days twice a day. I just love cooking!! During the day I visit the city or go for a cafe in some cafeteria. Evenings are for relaxing at home; watching movies or making some great food with good wine. Simple things but so good. So this time here at home have been my time for refueling my "emotional fuel tank". Simple things, things that I love to do.


I arise in the morning torn between a desire to improve the world and a desire to enjoy the world. This makes it hard to plan the day.

- E. B. White

Summarize my time in Africa...it was amazing, it was great. Would I do it again, absolutely. It was amazing experience. I met so amazing people who I miss already and Africa thought me about life and gave me some cool ways to see life in a new more amazing ways.

Being here in a country with everything and comparing this to the country I just spend 3 months, things for happiness are still the same. My happiness is about small things, I don´t need to do anything amazing to be happy, I just need to do things I love, that is happiness.

There are always challenges in life. Life is not perfect, attitude makes the difference. There are good days and bad days, it is the way you see them.

I will continue searching happiness and my next step for finding ultimate happiness will take me to the source of inner peace, it will take me to Nepal.  I found a monastery by searching internet and I found a place where I want to go but now I will concentrate on my family but also on my trip to Nepal where the monastery is located, the plan is to stay there for a month to learn the inner peace and find the ultimate happiness. Hopefully that trip will happen end of next year.

"As human beings we want to be happy and free from misery...we have learned that key to happiness is inner peace. The greatest obstacles to inner peace are disturbing emotions such as anger, attachments, fear ans suspicion, while love and compassion and a sense of universal responsibility are the sources of peace and happiness". -DALAI LAMA 


That´s all for now. After a month here in Cartagena I can´t wait to get to Finland and spend some time with my kids, friends and family. That is happiness.

how to find happiness??

Here are 10 free tips to find happiness.

Please note that all these tips are applicable all over the world!!! It doesn’t matter where in the world are you, you can still be happy.

While reading these tips, think about your happiness and think how these tips applies to YOU!   

1. Decide to be happy

The first step is to decide you want to be happy! Happiness is a state of mind and it is inside us, in all of us. We just have to find it.

2. Positive attitude

Our attitude will determine our future. To be happy it is important to have a right attitude for it. With a right attitude you can change the world. If we think nothing is going to happen to us, nothing will happen but if we think something good will happens, it will.

Positive attitude brings happiness! It is well known that positive people are happier, of course. So this is not really secret but still people don’t understand the value of positive thinking. It does not only get you closer to happiness but there are other benefits too.

There is lot of studies regarding of positive thinking and the benefits it brings. Optimists live longer, they have better immune system, and so they don’t get sick so easily and their standard of living is much better than pessimist.

So thinking positive give you actual benefits, and its free!!!

Positive thinking is something we can learn but its need real work to achieve it.

We don’t born with positive attitude, we learn it.

3. Faith

Have faith. Faith will bring you safety, faith will give you comfort and faith will give you fulfillment. It will also give you some answers.

4. Live today

Live today! Life is about moments. If we think our life’s we just remember the moments. We have to see and feel the moments. Happiness is to live now, not in the past or in the future, NOW. Like one Wiseman said: “past is gone, the future is not yet born, present is now”. So we should learn to live in the moment and enjoy our everyday life.

Normal mindset is that we are happy when we get a better job or when we get married and so on.

NO! Look around and be happy now!

Don’t wait tomorrow to come, live today. Be happy today!

5. Love

Love is good, live is kind. Love is everything. Life without love would be like a day without air. We need love to be happy and this is one of the most important elements for happiness. But first we have to learn to love ourselves; we can’t give love if we can’t love ourselves. Love is everywhere and it is amazing feeling.

There are many different types of love; you can love your wife, your family, your friends and etc. It doesn’t matter what type of love you have, it is just important that you have it.

6. Appreciation and gratitude

He is rich or poor according to what he is, not according to what he has.

STOP! Look around you, what can you see? Wherever you are, you can see colors and shapes. Imagine if you were blind.
Listen! What can you hear? You can hear music, birds, people talking and so much more. Imagine if you were deaf. Feel! Touch something. Feel the softness, hardness, stickiness or any other surface or thing. Imagine if you were num. Smell! Smell the flowers, smell your favorite perfume or smell good food. Imagine if you would lose your sense of smell. Taste! Food…mmm…!! Imagine if you couldn’t taste.

I think you got the idea.

Three grand essentials to happiness in this life are something to do, something to love, and something to hope for.

Days go by and we don’t realize what we have, we don’t THINK.

Start appreciating things you have not things that you might get. That is the gemstone of happiness.

Think about your family. How often you tell them that you love them? Not often enough. The words are free, so why not to use them.

Appreciate your family and your friends and show them that, and you will live happier ever after.

Research has shown that the happiest people are close to their family and friends. They appreciate what they have and value it.

7. Stress free

Stress is path to unhappiness and poor health. A primary cause for stress is repeated desire for preferred results. Worrying things will not turn out as we’d like. Stress can be non-stop and can destroy a person. Stress is a physical reaction of a thought. A thought can be chosen; therefore having less stress in your life is a choice. If you integrate the following into your beliefs, you will reduce stress.

8. Work out and eat healthy for your happiness

Exercise, exercise and exercise!!! Healthy body means healthier mind. Your physical shape is linked to your mental health and to be happy you have to be mentally health. Happiness is a state of mind. 

9. Flow

Life satisfaction often occurs when people are engaged in absorbing activities that cause them to forget themselves, lose track of time and stop worrying that is called flow.

Start your engines, put on the first gear and step the medal to the pedal! Keep yourself busy! What motivates you? What keeps you going? What is your fuel?

Flow, in other words, to get something to do, is well known way to become happy and stay happy. Flow is a big piece of the happiness puzzle, the puzzle which makes you happy when you finish it.

Happiness is like a puzzle, you get the pieces together, keep them together and the happiness is yours.

Scientists have shown that people are happier when they keep their mind occupied, so they get stimulated.

10. Make time for yourself.

It is good to give time but it also good to take time for yourself. It is super important to we have some quality time to think and relax.

_____________________

Happiness is for everybody!!

We don’t have to be rich or poor to be happy. Happiness is FREE and it is for everybody.

HAPPINESS CAN BE FOUND!! IT CAN BE FOUND IN YOU!!!

Let’s be happy.  

Happily ever after?

“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.” Dalai Lama

I have 2 more weeks left and I feel great. I feel amazing!! We have overcome lots of challenges and I have been growing up as a human to tolerate and be more patients towards other people but also I have learnt lots of new things which I think life is all about, to learn and to develop. I believe we are never ready and the life is constant learning and growing up.

"Happiness is the overcoming of not unknown obstacles toward a known goal."

The time here has been amazing, all the experiences and all the people I have met have made this beyond amazing. I have seen the beauty of this country and I have been lying on these gorgeous beaches relaxing and enjoying the life.

Happiness can be found in this country.

There is song called “I love my life” and it is playing here constantly on the radio and every time I hear it just makes me smile. We have listened it so many times while driving around the crowded streets of Freetown. It is a good song!! Music definitely brings happiness but also silence can bring you peace and happiness.

I met a guy last weekend on our diving trip to the Banana Island and he is from Latvia. He has been living on that small island for 3 years now. First let me describe the island…It is small island, two hours away from Freetown and it takes about 45 minutes to get there by boat from the nearest land. There are 150 habitants and they have own schools and small shops, African style though. J He had a newspaper business here in Freetown but all the stress and working drove him to move to the island. Now he said that he has never been happier and healthier in his life!! Couple more things about the island…There is no electricity and it is impossible to get there after dark.  

It was really cool to hear his story how he left the business life and trade it to peace and happiness.

Living on an island…Happiness? Maybe for someone but I think I couldn’t do that, I still need some challenges and people around me for my happiness but it was a good story.

Living happily ever after I need to take care of myself and I will give you some ways how I work out for my happiness. I have a secret for happier life and I will give it you. The secret is water…WATER!! Amazing!! So simple thing but so beneficial for your happiness and your health! What water gives you? It gives you energy, it gives you better skin, it gives you great feeling and it purifies you. Water is like high quality oil which helps you to run your engines. Our bodies are like engines, we need fuel to run it but we also need some oil to keep running. I try to drink 3-4 liters of water everyday. It is amazing what water can do for you.

Few weeks ago I felt tired all the time so I increased my daily water dosage and it helped, I have much more energy everyday.

  

I have never been on a diet but I have lost some weight few times because I have started to eat more. What?? More!! Yes, by eating more I have increased my metabolism which has led to weight lost; even I have wanted to gain some more weight. I try to eat at least 5 times a day to keep my motors running. Sometimes it is difficult especially here in Africa but I still try. I try to eat small portions and lots of fish and chicken. That is my secret for happy life.

The belly rules the mind.  ~Spanish Proverb

Food is really important for your happiness but also exercise makes a big difference to you mood and also to your health. Health and happiness goes together. Sometimes we are too tired to work out and we just eat some junk food because it is easy to get and it is tasty. I do that time to time and there is nothing bad about it. I know if I don’t work out in a week or I am not able to eat healthy, it affects me, it affects me a lot. Happiness comes inside us and if we keep putting all the junk inside us and do not burn them, we start feeling depressed. I have been feeling it many times but I have managed to get back to my routines, back on track, and started to work out and eat in a right way. It makes such a huge difference.

Worries go down better with soup.  ~Jewish Proverb

Three key elements for happiness and healthier life:

1. Healthy eating habits (low fat, chicken and fish)
2. Water!! (3 -4 liters per day)
3. Exercise ( at least 3 times a week)   

So let’s work out for our happiness.

How the rest of my time will go here in Africa? Today we will have a film festival. Some of us have made short movies and we will have a festival to see them and the best ones will be awarded. There are 10 movies and 6 prizes. Our movie is called “sal y amor”, salt and love and it is about love, salt and heroism!! J

On Saturday I will be a nurse for a day, just to see how it feels!! I am excited, new experience!! Next week I will hopefully work in our Starbucks Cafe serving café for our crew; also a new experience!! I also asked if I could cook for the whole crew and yes, I can, so I will also be a cook for a day and work in the galley. I am super excited for all these opportunities!! J COOL!!!

I am still going to be a full time Chief Officer but I want to do everything and be involved. EXPERIENCE!

Happiness is for everybody!!   

“I believe that the very purpose of our life is to seek happiness. That is clear. Whether one believes in religion or not, whether one believes in this religion or that religion, we all are seeking something better in life. So, I think, the very motion of our life is towards happiness…”

Dalai Lama

Dalai Lama