Moving with the Stream of Life

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

the-strid-8Recently, a friend of mine (who happens to be a beautiful, funny, and all around amazing gal) invited me to a Bikram Yoga class.  In case you don’t know what that is, it’s a rather difficult type of yoga done in a room that’s 105 degrees.  In other words, it’s a form of self-torture.  Yet, as part of my philosophy of always being willing to try new stuff, I went to the class.  I must have lost 10 pounds in sweat during the one-hour class.  However, after the torture was done, I felt fabulous.   In fact, now I’m a regular…and the benefits to my body are already very clear.

The reason I’m sharing this story is to talk about the importance of trying new stuff.  As we get older, it’s easy to fall into routines, ruts, and grooves. Unfortunately, the only difference between a groove and a grave is a couple of feet!   Taking the chance to try a new hobby, a new spiritual practice, or even a new type of food allows you to grow and change at an accelerated rate.  Had I not tried that first yoga class, I would have potentially missed out on a valuable new addition to my life.

Where in your life have you fallen into comfortable routines that no longer serve you?  Perhaps in your job, your marriage, or in how you take care of your body?   I believe people are like sharks—if they’re not moving forward, they’re slowly dying.  Therefore, it’s critical that we occasionally re-evaluate our routines and see if they are still working for us.  It’s also important that we periodically try out new stuff just to see if it might be a valuable addition to our lives.

On a related note, yesterday I ran into a friend at a store in town. I had not seen this friend in a couple of months.  I asked her how she was doing, and it was clear she was doing very poorly.  The church she had been going to for twenty years was slowly shunning her.  She was miserable.   I asked her, “Why don’t you try some other church?  After all, the purpose of a church is to help you find inner peace.”  She responded, “I couldn’t do that; I’ve been going to this church for over twenty years.”

My friend was making a classic mistake.  She was holding onto a past that wasn’t working for her because she was afraid to embrace an unknown future.  Yet, I believe our first commitment needs to be to finding peace, joy, and love—not to continuing with jobs, churches, or outdated beliefs that no longer serve us.  This can be challenging to do, but the alternative is to stay with a comfortable but ultimately deadening past.

So, I encourage you to be willing to try new stuff this week.  Look at the various areas of your life and ask, “Is this still working for me, or is it time for a change?”  If it seems like it could be valuable to try something new, then take action—even if it’s just a small action.  Life is always asking us to move forward.   It’s best to be willing to move with the ever-moving stream of Life…

Invest in Yourself

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

Having just paid my taxes, I got to thinking about how we spend money in this culture.   It ends up there are some proven ways to spend money that make people happier. For example, when you spend money in ways that bring you shared enjoyable experiences with friends or family, it ends up you get a lot of “happiness bang” for your buck. It has also been shown that spending money on material possessions—like a nice car or house—has little effect on one’s level of happiness. Why is that?

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Studies show that when we spend money on possessions, our level of happiness goes up—but only for a short period of time.   We soon get used to the nice car or house, and it fails to bring us any new joy after a surprisingly short period of time.   As an example, a friend of mine just spent a year and tens of thousands of dollars remodeling her house.   When I asked her two months after the house was done if she was thrilled with the results, she said, “I hardly notice it anymore.”

Since we work hard to earn our money, it’s important to consider what is the best way to spend it in order to maximize our happiness.   One approach to spending money to maximize happiness is to do what I call “investing in yourself.”   Investing in yourself means spending a certain percentage of your income on improving your life’s skills and becoming a happier, healthier, and a more peaceful person.   Since wherever you go, you take YOU with you, it’s a good idea to make sure you’re always improving on the YOU that is interacting with the world.

3747008363_217c5214ebIn my own life, investing in myself has made a huge difference. I used to be a depressed, shy, and suicidal teenager. Yet, at age sixteen, I decided to take 5% of whatever money I earned and use it to invest in myself.   Over the years that has meant buying self improvement books, going to therapy, taking courses on meditation, going to workshops, and buying all kinds of health products. My life now is incredibly rich and blessed—largely because I am now a much more expanded person. By investing in myself and my skills over many years, I have now achieved a level of peace and happiness I could not have imagined before.

We are always making investments in our future. We plan vacations, buy possessions, pay for college for our kids, and invest in our health. But do you regularly invest in your continual improvement and ability to really enjoy your life? If not, then your life will likely be no better five years from now.   Therefore, I encourage you to put aside a certain amount of money each month or each year just to improve your skills, expand your happiness, and invest in your ability to find true inner peace.

If you think I can be of any help in that endeavor—through therapy, coaching, or my “Deeper Happiness” course, I would be honored to be of service…images-1

De-stressing and Finding Peace Within

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

438792_2368031_lzI just got back from something called the Wisdom 2.0 conference.  If you haven’t heard of it, it’s where thousands of people talk about the interplay of three main topics: meditation, business, and technology. This is a place where spiritual teachers such as Byron Katie and Jack Kornfield rub elbows with Linked In CEO  Jeff Weiner, or rock star Alanis Morissette.   Needless to say, it attracts a fascinating group of people.

I went there partly because I wanted to know whether or not there was hope for humanity.  I’m glad to report that there is.  Despite all the problems the world faces, and despite how fast everyone is rushing around nowadays, people still have hearts.   Sure, our hearts are often buried beneath our smartphone screens, but humanity’s deeper heart is an irrepressible force. At the conference, I met a lot of good people sincerely looking for ways to bring more peace on Earth.

wisdomBeing that I’m a gadget guy, I’m always looking for simple things that can help me to be kinder, more relaxed, and more aware.  At Wisdom 2.0, I felt like a kid in a candy store.   I talked with a dozen app developers who created apps to help with meditation, or ways to remind yourself to do an act of kindness. Anyway, what I got from the conference, (other than some new friends), was a sense of the importance of daily spiritual practice.

In an age when there is always too much to do, and too little time to do it in, most of us feel pretty stressed.   In fact, studies suggest that 40% of Americans report they are “severely stressed.”  If you’re not doing some daily practice to reduce stress and find peace within, you’re basically screwed.   We all end up taking in a daily megadose of stress.  Therefore, it’s necessary to “flush” your past stress down the “toilet.”   Imagine not going to the toilet for several days.   You would surely end up feeling very stressed!  Being that stressed sure doesn’t feel very good.

So if we need to handle stress on a daily basis, a good question to ask is “How?”   More specifically, how can we get the most de-stressing bang for our buck (i.e. the smallest effort).  There is no single answer to that.   People can let go of stress and find peace within in a vast variety of ways.  For example, it can be as easy as taking a few deep breaths or listening to a favorite song.   Or, as I mentioned previously, you can now get an app or gadget that can help you de-stress. At the Wisdom 2.0 conference, I bought a gadget called “Spire” that tracks your stress level by monitoring your breath.  If you haven’t taken a relaxing breath in awhile, it vibrates and sends you a text to remind you to breathe more deeply.  It’s a bit of a kooky idea, but I’ve been trying it the last few days and it really helps!

imagesWhile gadgets can help, I’ve see that there are also a lot of simple methods that immediately lead to more relaxation, happiness, and peace.  As a psychotherapist, I’ve seen that the best practices for finding peace seem to be those that take under two minutes to do.  Sitting down to meditate or do yoga are good practices, but not many people will do them everyday to handle their daily stress.  Yet, I’ve seen that people will use something that only takes a minute or two to do if it feels good and it really works.

In my book “Find Happiness Now” or my audio program, “Deeper Happiness,” I offer a lot of such methods.   Once you find a technique or two that truly works for you, you’ve got a friend for life.   I use one such method many times a day and it has made an immense positive impact on the quality of my life.

At the conference, I had a chance to have a one-on-one talk with spiritual teacher Byron Katie. She is known for her many bestselling books and for a method she developed called “the work.”   I asked her, “What can people do to help change the world?”  Without hesitation she said, “They can work on themselves.  That’s the way the world will become a more peaceful place—by each person finding it within.”  I couldn’t agree more.   So my question to you is simple:  “Do you have a quick method you can use daily to help you de-stress and find peace within?”

 

 

Is Technology Good For You?

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

By Arjuna Ardagh and Jonathan Robinson

We have been friends for many years. Recently we both attended a small conference about technology and consciousness. How can technology, and specifically artificial intelligence, affect our state of consciousness? Lots of interesting people were there: from Microsoft, from Impact Financing and from many other backgrounds.
On the way home from the conference, we were driving together in the same car. Talking together, we realized something interesting. When people get together in the technology field to talk about new developments, there are really two questions that commonly get asked.
The first question is: “Can it be done? Do we have the technology available to create this?”
The second question is: “Will people pay for it? Will people be willing to adopt this technology in a way that creates financial return?”
But there Is also another very important question we can ask about the advance of technology. It is not about whether it can be done, or even about whether it will be adopted. We can also ask: “Is it actually good for us? Is it in alignment with what we really want, with what we most deeply long for?”
To answer that question, during the long drive from Southern California to Northern California, we reflected upon some commonly held values, which most people can agree upon. And then we measured advances in technology according to these values.
Check out the questions we asked ourselves, and tell us your answers.

Does It Make You More Self Reliant Or More Dependent?

Is a technology training you to become better at something yourself, or is it training you to become more reliant on the technology?
Jonathan has a little button called “LumoLift.” It is very clever: it has an altimeter built into it, so if you slouch, it reminds you to sit up straight again. Brilliant! After several weeks of use, Jonathan has noticed that even when he does not wear his lift device, he remembers to sit up straight on his own. The technology has trained him to adopt a better habit, and greater awareness, in such a way that he is now independent of the technology itself.
On the other hand, being of a ripe old age now, we both grew up before there were computers, and even calculators. We learned to do mental arithmetic in our head. The more that we each use a calculator, the less we are able to perform these functions mentally. We notice when we go to a store and want to buy four items each for $25, a younger person helping in the store has to use a calculator to multiply $25 x 4.  Regularly using the spell checker will almost certainly reduce your ability to spell well on your own. These are examples where technology has made us more reliant upon it, and reduced our sense of self-sufficiency.
Using technology in a way that makes us dependent is potentially a great risk. If solar rays from the sun suddenly fried all the microchips, for example, we would all be in deep trouble.
 

Is Technology Bringing You Closer To People Or Will It Make You More Isolated?

Research shows that the number one factor in creating a life of happiness is the quality of your personal relationships.  We view love as an intrinsically desirable experience, and we view loneliness and isolation as intrinsically negative.
For sure, we can find plenty of examples of technology that brings us closer to other people. A soldier or a missionary worker sent overseas for many months, or even years, can connect with loved ones using Skype or Google Hangout. You can maintain real conversations with people, where you can see body language as well as hear the voice, in a way we’ve never been able to do before.
On the other hand, video games you play by yourself, or many other of the activities we do on a cell phone, may actually isolate you from other people.
We have to be able to distinguish between quantity and quality. Two hundred Facebook friends does not equal one truly good friend who you can trust will always be there for you.  Technology mat easily increase the quantity of our interactions, but how does it impact their quality?
 

Spiritual Awakening

Is the technology making you more addicted and identified, or more spacious?
Last month Jonathan got a gadget called The Muse.  It is a device you wear on your forehead that gives you a read-out of your brain’s EEG waves on your smartphone. Its goal is to help you calm your brainwaves down so you can experience a deeper level of peace.
There are many other apps developed now, which are designed specifically to bring you back to your center, feeling peaceful and rested.
The question we might want to ask about apps and devices like this is: are they giving you a temporary spiritual high, only when you use them, or are the leading you to a longer-term maintained sense of spiritual maturity and awakening?
We both have  friends who take a “technology fast” one day a week.  They turn off their internet and smartphone for 24 hours, and go back to living a simpler, more peaceful life.  Like this,  we can break through addiction to reliance on devices.
Can technology help you to live more awake?
 

Health

Is this device or software improving your health, or negatively impacting your health?
Of course, there is plenty of medical technology which saves lives today, there are apps which help to monitor your heart rate, your blood pressure and fat, and to make better decisions.  We can diagnose and anticipate and monitor health conditions much more accurately than we ever could before.
On the other hand, staying up late at night staring at the screen, as gamers do, may be negatively impacting our health.
The long-term impact of electromagnetic fields on our body is not yet known. You may have heard about the woman who kept her cell phone in her breast pocket in her shirt. When she developed breast cancer, the shape of the tumor exactly matched the shape and size of her cell phone.
We both have had friends and clients who have overdosed on technology working in the IT industry. They spend 10 or 12 hours a day staring at the screen, and finally they burn out. Then they have to go and stare at trees for a few months to recover their health.
 

Maturity

The word “maturity” means something to most people. We recognize that a five-year-old child, or even a teenager, is not very mature, usually, but an older person is more mature. What does it mean? It means they have had a lot more life experience. They have been there, and done that. Based upon this life experience, they are able to make better decisions. When faced with the deal of a lifetime, a more mature person can say: “Yes, the deal really IS too good to be true!”
Does advancing technology make us mature faster, or make it more difficult?
Does operating in an artificial environment, like a gaming world, actually allow you to learn life skills and to increase your life experience, or does it distract from it? Can an environment like “My Second Life” actually contribute to real maturity?
 

Compassion And Love

Is reliance on technology likely to make you more compassionate and open hearted, more kind and more loving?
Devices created by HeartMath are the most obvious example of technology helping us to open our hearts, to feel the pain of others, and to live from compassion.  The entire mindfulness movement, which has had such an impact in recent years, is at the same time a backlash against absorption in technology, but the same time it is disseminated by technology.
Today you can go on YouTube, and see a talk by the Dalai Lama about compassion, or you can get inspired by Eckhart Tolle or Byron Katie. So what do you think?
Would you be a more loving and caring person with or without your smartphone?
 

More Free Time

Most people would agree that having more free time, or being able to get more things done with less expenditure of effort is a good thing. Is technology in general leaving you with more time to relax and do what you really love, or is it taking time away from you?
Recent studies show that people actually do have more time free, but they have the perception of having less time free. This suggests that technology may save you time, but at the same time give you the subjective experience of being more overwhelmed.
 

God

Another universal value that almost everybody shares is the feeling of being connected to, and in service to, something bigger than your own mind. People can call that “universal intelligence” or “The Tao” or “God.” Many people would say that anything that is helping me to be more one with God is a good thing, and anything that is taking me away from that is a bad thing.
How does our increasing reliance on technology affect our ability to be connected to the divine?

Artificial intelligence can certainly help us to perform mathematical functions more quickly, can help us to access massive databases of information, can help us to navigate through the streets of the city more efficiently, but could a programmed computer ever feel devotion? Could any kind of programmed machine ever be programmed to know what a human means by “The Love of God?”  These are universal experiences and values that have been found throughout all human history in all cultures: obviously a very important aspect of the human experience.

And, for that matter, could artificial intelligence ever understand or duplicate the experience of falling in love? A dating site could match you up with a suitable partner based on all kinds of parameters, but could a computer ever understand the feeling of the spark we feel when we love somebody deeply?
Technology isn’t going away.  In fact, its rate of development is growing faster and faster every day. Since technology is here to stay, we have to learn to adapt its power towards the goals and values that are most important to us. This is not always easy to do.  Yet, by asking the questions presented here, and being honest with your actual experience, you can hopefully keep from getting lost in a technological jungle.
Ultimately, technology gives us more choices.  It is up to us to choose wisely what we do with them…
Jonathan Robinson is a psychotherapist, best-selling author of ten books, and a professional speaker.  He has reached over 100 million people around the world with his practical methods.   Mr. Robinson has made numerous appearances on the Oprah show, as well as many other national TV talk shows, and articles about him have appeared in USA Today, and Newsweek.  In his public talks and seminars, Jonathan is known for providing people with immediately useful information in a fun and entertaining manner.  For more information, go to his web site:  FindingHappiness.com

Four Simple Keys to Turn the Holidays into Heavenly Holy Days

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

‘Twas the week before Christmas and in my own house I was frantic and hurrying, and felt like a louse. That was five years ago. That day I vowed I would never again get sucked into the hyped up of “Christmas Spirit.” Instead of running around, fighting traffic, and losing my temper with store clerks, I decided I would do whatever it takes to really enjoy the holidays. After all, it’s supposed to be a time of celebration and spiritual renewal. Why not make it into one? Of course, if you’re at all like I was, you’re going to have to change how you “do Christmas” if you ever hope to truly enjoy yourself. I’ve found that four simple keys can help people turn their hurried Holidays into heavenly Holy days.

imagesFirst, try to remember the original purpose of the Holiday Season. Whether you celebrate Christmas or Hanukah, they both represent a time to appreciate the blessings of life, God’s grace, and the end of darkness and the beginning of new light and hope. Can you remember a Christmas memory from your childhood that was filled with joy, comfort, and love? That’s really what we all want to experience during the Holidays. Yet, sometimes it seems we’re being led down a fast flowing river that only leads to stress, insecurity, and even sadness. By having a clear picture of what a truly happy Holiday Season would be like, you have a fighting chance to create what you want. Without your own unique Christmas “fantasy” to hold onto, you’re likely to be swept into the currents of what everybody around you is doing.

Once you have an idea of what you’d like to experience during the Holidays, your next step is to figure out creative ways to avoid what you don’t like about Christmas. For example, if you don’t enjoy running around buying a lot of presents, then don’t. Most people ask themselves the wrong question when it comes to planning their Christmas. Subconsciously, they think, “What should I do now that it’s the Holiday Season?” If you “should” all ask yourself, “What would I love to do to spread joy and good cheer this time of year?” Listen for your own unique answer to that question. By following your heart, you’ll feel the joy of Christmas, and enliven the Spirits of those you love.

zenA third way to keep the Spirit of the Holiday’s alive is to give a present to your self. I don’t mean another sweater or necktie. I mean something that will help you to experience the joy, peace, and sacredness of life. Last year, my wife and I spent three days in Yosemite in the middle of December. Leaving the craziness of city life for the grandeur of nature was the best present possible for both of us. This year we plan to go to a desert resort. As we sink into a jacuzzi bath while listening to Mozart, we’ll be sure to reminisce about the madness we left behind back home. What would be some treat you could give to your self that would add meaning, joy, and relaxation to your winter season? Schedule it in now, before you get too swept up in the Christmas rush.

Lastly, to have a truly Merry Christmas or Happy Hanukah, plan ahead for something that you’d truly like to do. If you’re not spending the Holidays with your family, call some friends and see if they’re available. Perhaps you can create a meal together, play a fun board game such as Pictionary or Monopoly, or simply have a meaningful conversation. A nice thing to do around a Christmas dinner is to ask your friends and family questions such as:

1) What’s your favorite Christmas (or Hanukah) memory?

2) What was one of the most special moments you experienced this past year?

3) What are you truly grateful for in your life right now?

4) What was the worst Christmas gift you ever received?

5) What gives you a real sense of joy in life?

Asking questions like these to those you love can help bring intimacy and a sense of the sacred back into the Holiday Season. Your fondest Christmas memories are probably not of presents you’ve been given, but of special times you’ve spent with people you cared about. Having a really good conversation with a friend or family member can be one of the best “gifts” you ever receive.

Although advertisements try to convince us otherwise, the Holiday Season is not a time of ease and joy for most of us. If you plan to have a good Christmas, you need to be deliberate about creating a sacred time with your self and/or the people you care about. By following your own heart, and keeping true to the original purpose of the Season, you can make this your best Holidays ever.

 

Three Secrets to Joyful Relationships!

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

images-1Secret #1 for Joyful Relationships: Make Your Partner Or Friends Happy to See You. I have a Golden Retriever that virtually everyone loves.   One reason she is so popular is that, the moment she sees anyone, she runs up to them and excitedly greets them.  She makes everyone feel totally special and appreciated.  People love feeling loved and special.   If you make people feel loved and special, they will be very happy to see you.  If people are happy to see you, your own happiness will get a boost.   It’s that simple.  So when you first see your partner or your friend, go up and excitedly lick their face.  Just kidding.   Yet, it’s a good idea to smile and give them a hug—or whatever is your way of expressing that you’re excited to see someone you care about.   Secret #2:  Do an Act of Kindness Studies show that doing an act of kindness for a stranger or a friend is the fastest way to boost your own level of happiness.   It’s a win-win.  You feel better, they feel better, and there’s a bit more kindness in the world.  It need not be a big act of kindness.  You can simply say something you appreciate, buy a small gift, or give your friend a shoulder massage.  As I once said on the Oprah show, “kindness is like chocolate; it’s addictive.  Once you see that it makes your life better, it’s easy to keep it going.”   Secret #3:  Practice Play and You More (humor) If you watch kids, they play and laugh a lot.  Four year olds who hang out with each other make playing the basis of their relationship.  As adults, we sometimes forget about the power of laughter and play.  We don’t even “play” tennis.  Instead, we compete at tennis.   But play is a natural and joyous way of being with someone you care about.   If you let more play and humor into your marriage or friendships, you’ll feel both closer and more joyous.   So get out the board games, beer, funny movies or whatever helps you to play, and enjoy the fruits of fun and silliness.   So that’s an appetizer.   I hope you’ll join me on my call in which I go into the full 10 secrets for creating joyful relationships.   By signing up for the “deeply happy” telesummit, you’ll get a chance to listen to many happiness experts describe tools and ideas to add even more joy to your life…You can sign up for that by clicking here: www.deeplyhappy.com

My New Book “Find Happiness Now”

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

find_happiness_now (1)What do you want in life?  You may think it’s money, or a hot relationship or a better job, but why do you want those things?  Because you think if you had them, you’d be even happier.   I call this belief the “as soon as” method for finding happiness.  You think “As soon as I have more money, or as soon as I lose 10 pounds, or as soon as I find my soul mate, THEN I will be happy.”  I have good news and bad news for you. First, the bad news:  if you are a member of the “as soon as” approach to finding happiness, you’ll never be happy for long.

But there’s good news.  Recent research shows that happiness can be learned, and it doesn’t require that you change anything in your life.   In my new book, “Find Happiness Now”  I reveal simple ways you can: Continue reading →

The Vacation Commitment Experiment

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

OceanIslander02One day I called up my friend, Susan, and asked her how she was.  She said, “Things are great.  Joe and I just got back from another week long vacation.”  I realized that, just about every time I talked to Susan, she had recently gone on vacation.  I was a bit annoyed and jealous.  “How do you take so many vacations?” I asked.   Her reply made me even more annoyed, “We simply make it a priority.”  I felt a certain amount of self-pity as I shot back, “Boy, I wish my life was set up so I could take so much time off.”   In a compassionate, yet direct manner, Susan replied, “You can if it’s important enough to you.  Joe and I just decided we’d take eight weeks off each year.  There’s a lot of resistance to doing that, but we’re committed to living the life that we want to live.” Continue reading →

The Three Minute Body Miracle

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

03-nodding-off-TS-78429850It’s a rainy, sleepy afternoon, and you’re stuck in front of your computer.  Your bones are weary, your eyes blurred, and your mind feels burned out.  You can grab another cup of coffee, but you know your body really doesn’t need any more caffeine.   What to do?  If you knew that in three minutes of effort you could go from burned out to blissed out, would it be worth your while?  If the answer is yes, then the “Three Minute Body Miracle” (or T.M.B.M for short) is for you.  This simple, but amazingly effective four-step technique does several things in a short period of time.  First, it gets your body naturally energized.  Second, it stimulates blood flow to the brain for better focus and concentration.  And finally, it allows you to quickly let go of stress and tension in both your body and mind.  If you try it just a couple of times, I think you’ll be hooked. Continue reading →

The Five Questions of Success

Jonathan Robinson, Finding Happiness Posted on by

The-Five-Questions1If someone asked me to describe in four simple words how they could achieve wealth, health, and happiness, my answer would be easy: ask the right questions for success.  When we ask ourselves good questions, it leads us to make better decisions as to where and how to spend our time.  When we fail to ask the right questions, we can easily fall prey to mechanical routines, other people’s goals, and a life of unhappiness.  When it comes to taking charge of your time and your life, asking the right questions can be the answer you’ve been looking for.

I created a list of five questions that seemed the most valuable in gently guiding people back to the life they truly desired.  I have found that answering these questions once a month can be an amazingly efficient way to create the life you really want. When answering these questions, it’s best to say your answers out loud to a mate, friend, or co-worker. Another option is to write down what you have to say in a journal.  Somehow, saying the answers out loud or writing things down has more impact than simply thinking them in your head.

For each of the five questions that follow, I give a brief description of why it can be useful to ask yourself—or those you love—this question once a month.

1) What can I do this week to bring more fun and/or meaning into my life?

As adults, most of us get lost in daily routines, problems, and plans.  Yet, as children, life was very different.  We’re not born into this world as planners and problems solvers, but rather as bundles of playful energy.  This question can help remind you to schedule something each week to bring fun and/or meaning into your life.  It will help provoke your thinking as to what you currently find fun or meaningful, and help you keep these things as priorities in your life

2) What could I feel grateful for in my life?

This may seem like a strange question to get your life in order, but it’s important to remember what is going great in your life.  If you focus only on what’s wrong with your life, you’ll always be thinking about problems.  Part of living a successful life means focusing on what’s going well, and feeling grateful for how blessed you are.

3) How can I use the gifts I’ve been given to better serve people?

If you want to make a lot of money, get good at giving people what they want.  If you want love, become skillful at caring for people.   Whatever you want in life, you can receive it by becoming good at serving people.  This question will help you to consistently ponder how you can do this more effectively.

4) Is there anything I’m doing that is hurting myself, other people, or steering me off course?

When planes fly to a destination, they are of course over 90% of the time.  However, they almost constantly correct their course, so they end up where they’re supposed to be.  We need to do likewise.  When people make mistakes, they often spend a lot of time in blame, self-pity, or distraction.  That just makes matters worse. Instead, what we need to do is quickly realized when we’re off course, and immediately take the actions necessary to get back on track

5) What would be good to do to create more balance, harmony or growth in my life?

To answer this question, it helps to access your intuition, or still, small voice inside.  Perhaps there has been something you’ve been avoiding, and this question will help you realize it’s time to move forward.  Whenever possible, try to be specific with your answer and the new action(s) you plan to take.  Insights are helpful, but only changes in actual behavior are likely to lead to the results you desire.

QAimagesThese five questions are an easy, quick, and powerful way to gain important insights that will help you to plan your time wisely.  Rather than waiting until a problem is big, these questions will help you to handle things when they’re small and easily handled.  By writing your answers in a journal, or taking turns answering these questions with a friend, you can help each other create the life you truly desire.