My Top 10 Favourite Happiness Quotes to Inspire You

Here are my top 10 favourite happiness quotes and many more. Enjoy and let them inspire you!

1. It is not easy to find happiness in ourselves, and it is not possible to find it elsewhere. – Agnes Repplier

2. “Happiness is an attitude. We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same.” ~ Francesca Reigler, artist

3. When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us. - Helen Keller

4. Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. – Albert Schweitzer

5. Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no happiness without action. – Benjamin Disraeli

6. The foolish man seeks happiness in the distance, the wise grows it under his feet. – James Oppenheim

7. Happiness is not so much in having as sharing. We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give. – Norman Mac Ewan

8. People spend a lifetime searching for happiness; looking for peace. They chase idle dreams, addictions, religions, even other people, hoping to fill the emptiness that plagues them. The irony is the only place they ever needed to search was within. – Ramona L. Anderson

9. Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier.  The way it actually works is the reverse.  You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want.  ~Margaret Young

10. When someone does something good, applaud! You will make two people happy.
- Samuel Goldwyn

And other great quotes about happiness:

It isn’t what you have, or who you are, or where you are, or what you are doing that makes you happy or unhappy. It is what you think about. — Dale Carnegie

Don’t ask yourself what the world needs, ask yourself what makes you come alive. And then go and do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive. — Harold Whitman

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.  ~Freya Stark, The Journey’s Echo

It’s not how much we have, but how much we enjoy that makes happiness. – Unknown

Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open. – John Barrymore

Nobody really cares if you’re miserable, so you might as well be happy.  ~Cynthia Nelms

People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness.  Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.  ~H. Jackson Browne

The happiest people don’t have the best of it. They make the best of everything.

Happiness is a way of travel, not a destination. Roy Goodman

We act as though comfort and luxury were the chief requirements in life, when all we need to make us really happy is something to be enthusiastic about.  ~Charles Kingsley

People are as happy as they make up their minds to be. Abraham Lincoln

Gratefulness is the key to a happy life that we hold in our hands, because if we are not grateful, then no matter how much we have we will not be happy — because we will always want to have something else or something more. – Brother David Steindl-Rast

Happiness cannot be traveled to, owned, earned, worn or consumed. Happiness is the spiritual experience of living every minute with love, grace and gratitude. – Denis Waitley

The true way to render ourselves happy is to love our work and find in it our pleasure – Francoise de Motteville

There is only one happiness in life, to love and be loved. – George Sand

The basic thing is that everyone wants happiness, no one wants suffering. And happiness mainly comes from our own attitude, rather than from external factors. If your own mental attitude is correct, even if you remain in a hostile atmosphere, you feel happy. -H.H. The Dalai Lama

Consider the following. We humans are social beings. We come into the world as the result of others’ actions. We survive here in dependence on others. Whether we like it or not, there is hardly a moment of our lives when we do not benefit from others’ activities. For this reason it is hardly surprising that most of our happiness arises in the context of our relationships with others. – H.H. The Dalai Lama

When we feel love and kindness toward others, it not only makes others feel loved and cared for, but it helps us also to develop inner happiness and peace. – H.H. The Dalai Lama

If you want others to be happy, practice compassion. If you want to be happy, practice compassion. – H.H. The Dalai Lama

Many people have a wrong idea of what constitutes true happiness. It is not attained through self-gratification, but through fidelity to a worthy purpose. – Helen Keller

Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves. – James M. Barrie

The world has to learn that the actual pleasure derived from material things is of rather low quality on the whole and less even in quantity than it looks to those who have not tried it. – Oliver Wendell Holmes

Growth itself contains the germ of happiness. – Pearl S. Buck

If you want to be happy, be.  ~Leo Tolstoy

Most people would rather be certain they’re miserable, than risk being happy.  ~Robert Anthony

This is my “depressed stance.”  When you’re depressed, it makes a lot of difference how you stand.  The worst thing you can do is straighten up and hold your head high because then you’ll start to feel better.  If you’re going to get any joy out of being depressed, you’ve got to stand like this.  ~Charlie Brown

Most folks are about as happy as they make up their minds to be.  ~Abraham Lincoln

We tend to forget that happiness doesn’t come as a result of getting something we don’t have, but rather of recognizing and appreciating what we do have.  ~Frederick Keonig

Happiness is a direction, not a place.  ~Sydney J. Harris

We are no longer happy so soon as we wish to be happier.  ~Walter Savage Landor

So long as we can lose any happiness, we possess some.  ~Booth Tarkington

You cannot always have happiness, but you can always give happiness.  ~Author Unknown

There can be no happiness if the things we believe in are different from the things we do.  ~Freya Stark, The Journey’s Echo

Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.  ~Robert Brault, robertbrault.com

To be happy, we must not be too concerned with others.  ~Albert Camus, The Fall, 1956

Some pursue happiness, others create it.  ~Author Unknown

The essence of philosophy is that a man should so live that his happiness shall depend as little as possible on external things.  ~Epictetus

You need to learn to be happy by nature, because you’ll seldom have the chance to be happy by circumstance.  ~Lavetta Sue Wegman

Plenty of people miss their share of happiness, not because they never found it, but because they didn’t stop to enjoy it.  ~William Feather

Happiness is a conscious choice, not an automatic response.  ~Mildred Barthel

Happiness is not a state to arrive at, but a manner of traveling.  ~Margaret Lee Runbeck

Aristotle
To live happily is an inward power of the soul.

Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth… Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it. – John Templeton

The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions, and not on our circumstances. We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go. – Martha Washington

Happiness is not having what you want. It is wanting what you have. – Anon

Happiness is enhanced by others but does not depend upon others. – Anon

Happiness is a choice that requires effort at times. – Anon

Some cause happiness wherever they go; others whenever they go. – Oscar Wilde

Change your thoughts and you change your world. – William James

Happiness is a habit—cultivate it. – Elbert Hubbard

Worry doesn’t help tomorrow’s troubles, but it does ruin today’s happiness.
- Unknown

“The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.” ~ Marcus Aurelius

“Simply put, you believe that things or people make you unhappy, but this is not accurate. You make yourself unhappy.” ~ Wayne Dyer

“We always have enough to be happy if we are enjoying what we do have–and not worrying about what we don’t have.” ~ Ken Keyes, Jr.

Being happy doesn’t mean everything is perfect. It means you have decided to look beyond the imperfections. –Unknown

Like swimming, riding, writing, or playing golf, happiness can be learned. — Boris Sokoloff

Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower, and draws all good things toward you. — Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

To get up each morning with the resolve to be happy . . . is to set our own conditions to the events of each day. To do this is to condition circumstances instead of being conditioned by them. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

And finally:

Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mistery. And today ? Today is a gift. That’s why we call it the present. B. Olatunji

5 Truths About Fear & How to Deal With It

I am meeting a lot of people who feel afraid these days. No wonder, we live in unstable times. The economic crisis has rocked our boat and taken away some of the reliable anchors we used to trust.

In her book “Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway” Susan Jeffers reveals some excellent truths about fear which I must share with you. The core message is to understand that fear will always be there as long as you continue to develop and grow. But you can deal with fear just fine  if you develop the TRUST that whatever happens to you, whatever life throws at you, YOU CAN HANDLE IT.

3 Levels of Fear

There are 3 levels of fear. Level 1 fears are the surface story and they are situation-oriented (such as Aging, Dying, Illness or Changing a Career, Making a Mistake, Ending a relationship). Level 2 fears are not situation-oriented, they involve the ego and reflect your sense of self (such as Rejection, Failure, Disapproval, Loss of image). There is only one fear on Level 3. It is the bottom of all fears: the fear that you “can’t handle it !”.

If you knew you could handle anything that came your way, what would you possibly have to fear ? The answer is: NOTHING.

This is tremendous news. It means that you can handle ALL your fears WITHOUT having to control anything in the outside world ! Isn’t that a relief !?

How ? All you have to do to diminish your fear is to develop MORE TRUST in your ability to handle whatever comes your way !

Just keep telling yourself again and again:

Whatever happens to me, given any situation, I can handle it !

5 Truths About Fear

TRUTH 1 : The fear will never go away as long as I continue to grow.

So unless you decide that you are satisfied to stay exactly where you are today in all areas of your life, you will not be able to live without fear. Fear is an inevitable part of growth. The two go together. So don’t wait for it to go away for it won’t ! Take it as a relief that you won’t have to work so hard anymore to get rid of your fears and get ready for a new productive relationship with your fears.

TRUTH 2: The only way to get rid of the fear of doing something is to go out and do it.

This is not contradictory to truth 1 at all. Fear of particular situations dissolve when you finally confront them. The “doing it” comes before the fear goes away.

TRUTH 3: The only way to feel better about myself is to go out … and do it.

The “doing it” comes before the feeling better about yourself. So when you do something that’s scary you will not only get rid of the fear, you will also build your self-confidence.

TRUTH 4: Not only am I going to experience fear whenever I’m on unfamiliar territory, but so is everyone else.

Isn’t it a relief that you are not alone ? All those successful people out there have been afraid, too. They had to push through a tremendous amount of fear and they are probably still pushing. Change your habit of retreating when you feel fear to seeing it as a green light for moving ahead. Keep reading the fear truths until you they become part of your being.

TRUTH 5: Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness.

There is no security in the “cocoon” we build for ourselves. The more helpless we feel, the more severs is the undercurrent of dread that comes with knowing there are situations in life over which we have no control – such as the death of a partner or the loss of a job. This is the irony of truth 5: People who refuse to take risks have to live with a dread that is far more severe than what they would feel if they took the risks necessary to make them less helpless – only they don’t know it!

Summary:

We can’t escape fear. We can only transform it into a companion that accompanies us in all our exciting adventures.

So let’s do it ! Alone or together

Emotional Rollercoaster Or the Psychology of Running

2 weeks after starting my running training I was ready to give up. I felt I couldn’t enjoy my running anymore as I was trying to “achieve” running results (fast pace and long distance).  I used to enjoy the scenery, noticed the flowers and natures as I passed it, but no more in my new routine. All I could concentrate on was getting enough breath to carry on.

My frustration with one particular run with my faster running husband that week kicked off a whole lot of philosophic thoughts about why people physically push themselves in the first place … I felt I had nothing to prove to myself on that front, so why do it ? To find an answer to that question I wondered what those accomplished runner friends of mine are motivated by. Self worth leapt to my mind. But enjoyment ?

Clearly, I had made up a limiting belief that you cannot train for marathon and enjoy the process.

That week I wrote a letter of resignation to my running coach. Luckily for me, he asked me to come to the training anyway and I did.

He explained to me that he did not expect me to push myself so hard as to stop enjoying my running – quite the opposite. He encouraged me to run exactly the way I enjoy it and take longer – so what. The simplicity of his argumentation was powerful to me. I was left with little to say and an anticipation for my next leisurely training run.

Amazing how we sometimes make up rules about things like my “when you train for a running event like a half marathon, you no longer can enjoy your runs”.

I have meanwhile run many times and enjoyed lots of them. In fact, I now set my goals such that they are just the right little stretches for my level of ability (not my husband’s or anyone else’s !), and I feel so proud when I manage to run 5 minutes longer than last time.

Raising bilingual and multilingual children !

The first book that coaches parents how to develop their personal success plan for raising bilingual and multilingual children !

Make Your Child Multilingual!

The 10 Step Success Plan to Raising Bilingual/Multilingual Children

A workbook for parents

By Silke Rehman

Bringing children up with more than one language is a gift for life ! We live in a global world and most parents would love their child(ren) to grow up with an additional language. Yet most struggle along the way and many never succeed. What makes it worse is that parents often don’t notice the warning signs until their child is older, when it is much harder to correct the earlier mistakes.

What parents need is much more than knowledge about the topic ! They need step by step guidance to apply the knowledge to their specific family situation and put it into practice. Parents don’t fail in theory, they fail in practice.

The purpose of “Make Your Child Multilingual !” is to empower parents to successfully raise their children with more than one language by leading them through the practical steps of planning their own family-tailored success journey. “Make Your Child Multilingual !” is the first book on multilingualism written by a professional certified coach with a multilingual family and based on her proven successful workshop which made hundreds of families successful over the course of 3 years prior to writing. It integrates coaching tools and a thorough planning process to provide a practical approach to successfully raising multilingual children, tailored to each family’s needs. It provides it all in 10 easy steps: a powerful success plan.

The author coaches parents step by step to develop a complete success plan tailored to the reader’s specific family situation. “Make Your Child Multilingual!” is not just a collection of ideas and advice but truly a workbook that integrates the latest coaching tools as well as first hand experiences from numerous workshop participants and the author herself. Parents finish the workbook with their personal success plan in hand.

Specifically, the book

• provides exactly the information you need to succeed – no information overload , no unnecessary academics
• guides you through developing a personalised success plan tailored to your family needs – no one-size-fits-all solutions
• is based on the proven successful workshop and real-life success stories
• offers dozens of tried and tested tips and tricks from other parents
• written by a multilingual, professional, certified coach (ACC, CPCC, NLP Coach, MBA) who has gone through the method herself

“Make Your Child Multilingual!” costs $ 19.95 and is available for download from www.themlnetwork.com/ebook/

When it all gets too much…STRESS and How to Get Rid of It !

Have you been following the principle “work before pleasure” or “business before play” and wondered why you always feel stressed ? The hard scientific truth is: these principles don’t work !

Let’s first have a look what stress actually is: You feel stressed when….

… you feel helpless

… you feel driven by others

… you don’t know how long the pressure will last

… you feel you are a victim

… you feel you can’t handle it

Stress is a natural body reaction to cope with extraordinary pressures. The key is not just to know how to avoid those stressful feelings but to know how to get rid of them fast.

The more you are in control of your life and the way you spend your time, the less stressed you will feel. So stress relief is a matter of organization !

First Aid against Stress:

1. What is the source of my stress ?

Your first task is to figure out the real source for your stress. Just ask yourself what really causes you to feel pressured. The daily way to work ? The routine tasks at home ? The noise ? Your boss’s comments .. and what about them exactly ?

2. Relaxation

Breaks from your work are vital for staying balanced. This sounds simple and yet, sometimes, the simplest solutions are the best. Taking a break allows you to switch off or step back so you can see the big picture again. It will put your current task in perspective and allow you to see new solutions and opportunities. At the very least it will just recharge your batteries for you to keep going.

3. Sport

Find a sport or a form of movement that you enjoy. Enjoyment is key here. The impact of sport on eliminating stress hormones is well documented. And regular activity is also proven to prevent stress from building up in the first place.

4. Say “No”

Many people say “yes” to often when they wish they had said “no”. As a result we pile up to many tasks and finally feel we can’t cope anymore: stress emerges. So why do we say “yes” when we mean “no” ? Most people think that “yes” makes them look competent, strong and helpful and that saying “no” is a sign of weakness. Yet, the opposite is true. Saying “no” is a sign of strength. It takes courage to say “no” to a friend or a boss and it shows that you value your own goals, family and friends.

Quick – Fix for Any Stress Situation

Often stress is a matter of perspective. Ask yourself the following questions to find new perspectives that will immediately relieve your stressful feelings:

1. Is my life in danger ?  Yes: Act quickly ! No: Relax, it’s not all that bad.
2. Is the life of someone I love in danger ? Yes: Act quickly ! No: Relax again.
3. If I had only 3 more months to live, would I get annoyed now ?
4. If I explained my situation to a 4 year-old child, would it understand what I find stressful ?
5. Could I imagine that I’d laugh about my current situation in 5 years ? Or in 5 months ? If so, why not laugh about it in 5 minutes ?

Selected to train & run a marathon :-) !

We got selected ! Yeah !!!

A few weeks ago our local newspaper published an article about the Romantik-Marathon that is being held in our region (Füssen/ Schwangau – Alpine Germany) once a year in July. The paper stated that only very few people from the region run it and that 90% of participants come from elsewhere. Determined to change that they were looking for 8 local people to apply and get trained by professionals to run it in exactly….3 months !

To cut a long story short, to surprise my husband I applied – after all we moved here 9 months ago and that kind of makes us “local”, doesn’t it ? . I entered both myself and my husband (who always needs all sorts of physical challenges to stay balanced – luckily I don’t have that problem) for the half marathon and guess what ….they selected us. God knows why….maybe they liked the fact that we chose to move from busy, dusty Dubai to the Alpine region at the border of Germany and Austria….maybe we were the only ones applying …..who knows.

I am totally thrilled ! I love running in the beautiful countryside of our chosen dream location, but I would not have committed to run a marathon or half marathon. Well, whether I like it or not,  now I AM committed and strangely, it feels great.

I guess, it must be this great feeling that comes from having a clear goal or a purpose. The next 3 months are dedicated to running.

I am excited to meet the other 6 runners and in 3 days we are all going to be introduced to each other – how exciting !

I am also excited to keep you informed about my experiences as I prepare for the big event (will keep blogging here). Already I seem to be more of a runner ( I love the idea of thinking of myself as a RUNNER). After returning from our holiday in Dubai yesterday at 5 in the afternoon, we immediately put the running shoes on and went for a 40 minute run around lake Hopfen (a beautiful lake in our neighbourhood). My feet were aching and I could feel all those hotspots.

Today I went for the next one: 50 minutes across the fields this time. I dug out a pair of  NEW running shoes that I had in my cupboard for more than a year and so far never used. An experienced runner-friend 0f ours however advised me to wear a different pair of running shoes for each day of the week I am training, so I remembered those lonely new shoes. Using such a “professional” shoe-strategy so early on in my preparation felt great .

I will keep you posted. Wish me stamina !

Even The Longest Journey Begins With a Single Step

“A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step” (attributed to Lao Tzu – founder of Taoism)

You have probably heard the saying before. Did you ever notice how powerful it is ?

I have met so many people and clients who feel disappointed for not starting or progressing their big projects and dreams. They often don’t know where to start and in view of the mountain of tasks ahead, they feel like giving up before they’ve really started. In this respect, we are all the same.

And yet, sometimes people achieve BIG things and you wonder how they do it, where they take the energy, time and stamina from. The answer is often so simple and even better: it is available to all of us not just a selected few. The answer is to take one little baby step at a time – and enjoy the process !

For this to work, you need to manage your expectations. Give yourself permission to take a couple of years to work on your BIG project. So what if it doesn’t happen next year. If you don’t even start it, it will never happen at all.

Then, break it down into pieces. What would you want to have achieved by the end of the first year ? If this still feels daunting, extend the total period further until your first year goal feels doable. Break your tasks down further to a monthly level/ ideally weekly.

Now think about what would be the very first baby step in the direction of your goal ? A phone call ? Surfing the net ? A few notes ?

Just focus on your first step and when that one is done, focus on the next one but only that one, don’t look ahead and get disheartened. The winners are the ones who just keep going: step by step. And they enjoy each step because their big goal is in line with something they are passionate about, so their little steps feel exciting, too – most of the time. The other times they just display perseverance in the sure knowledge that it will lead to the goal.

As Sir Edmund Hillary was saying. Ultimately, “It’s not the mountain we conquer but ourselves.”

“It’s not about me !” or Taking Things Personal

Have you ever suffered from or felt hurt about comments which others, such as colleagues, family members or friends have passed about you ? Today I share a powerful secret with you ! None of these comments were actually about YOU ! Yes, I mean what I say. Here is why.

Most people are way to pre-occupied with themselves to truly be interested in you. Everything they say and all their behaviour is only an expression of what is going on in them, what is on their mind and needs an expression. So when these people say something about you or behave in an unpleasant manner vis a vis yourself, what they are actually doing is giving away information about themselves. If they judge you e.g. by calling you lazy, you get to know that laziness is something that bugs them, probably about themselves. If they try and push you aside at work, you get to know that they might be afraid of you, that they might feel insecure and worry they might not succeed otherwise. If someone snaps at you without much of a reason, you get to know that they might be very stressed or have been snapped at themselves….maybe by their partner….

Once you realize that other people’s comments or behaviour are nothing personal but simply information about them, then you can relax. You can even become curious and maybe even feel sorry for their situation or behaviour. The main thing: you are free.

So next time you feel the rising anger or hurt because of someone else’s comments, tell yourself “It’s not about me !” and become curious instead “I wonder what is going on with that person ?”

Try this for the entire next week and see what difference it makes !

The Power of Silence

You haven’t heard from me for a while. I was harnessing the power of silence. Have you experienced its power yet ?

Silence is so much more powerful than noise or talking – in so many ways. You can’t use it though, unless you feel comfortable with silence. Most people don’t.

You may remember the “awkward” silence in a conversation you had and remember how fast one of you “covered’ it with saying something, anything, …just so it wouldn’t feel so awkward. Silence is hard to stand, hard to maintain….unless you decide to focus on it, decide to become comfortable with it and train yourself in staying silent. Why ?

In conversation, silence encourages your counterpart to keep talking, to deepen his/her statements, to reveal more of the motives behind his/her earlier sentences. It signals that you are listening and ready to hear more. Silence provides space for depth and encourages exploration. It creates deeper relationships, relationships in which it is ok to just BE together.

Staying silent on your own is another matter. Most of the time noise and clutter dominate our lives. As a result we feel constantly busy. Some of us have grown so used to feeling busy that they get confused when they are not. They instinctively fill any empty slot with a new task, cramming more things into their fast noisy lives. The result is that you can’t see the wood for the trees. You are IN your life, driven by immediate requirements, emergencies, commitments. What you miss is seeing ONTO your life. Leaving the day-to-day behind and reflecting upon what’s going on for you from a perspective far above your daily actions.

In fact, being silent for a while and stopping the mad routine of DOING DOING DOING, is the only way to reflect about BEING, about who you are in this life and more importantly about who you are still becoming. This is where I have been.

I have to say that I was shocked myself how easily one gets sucked up into the DOING-TRAP, working off to-do lists, completing task after task (our move, the establishment of the international coaching practice in both Dubai and Germany) and even feeling accomplished in the process of it.

And then, one day I woke up and realized I was not walking and enjoying my life but running it, sprinting the last months along. Why ? There is no rush, there is no point in arriving. The whole point about living a happy life is about enjoying the journey and regularly correcting the course of the journey by reflecting upon one’s life. This is what I took my time of silence for in the past week, reflecting – just being still and listening, just writing down what I heard, just viewing my life from a “mountain” – is what I have been doing in the past weeks.

I have come to some great new insights and visions for my next life phase. I feel refreshed and full of energy to enjoy the next stretch of the journey. I have made a commitment to spend regular time in silence - treating myself to this pleasure on a weekly basis. How about you ? When do you harness the power of silence ?

Interactive Wheel of Life

Hi,

for a quick assessment of the state of your life and your satisfaction with it, the wheel of life is an excellent tool. I have described this tool in a previous post, but just found this electronic version of the wheel of life. Enjoy !

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