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Source article: How To Be Happy: 10 Timeless Principles for Lasting Happiness

Make sure to put this up on your work desk as a daily reminder!

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Related Posts

• How To Be Happy: 10 Timeless Principles for Lasting Happiness
• Apply 80/20 to Your Life Now in 3 Simple Steps
• How I Moved On From A Heartbreak – Part-2: Heartbreak and Sadness
• 12 Indicative Signs of Emotional Eating (and 7 Reasons Emotional Eating is Bad For You)

Quick announcement: Our LA meet-up for PE readers is ON, and it’ll be this Saturday, Jan 14, 1:30pm at Sage Organic Vegan Bistro! We’re expecting a big turnout for the meet-up this time (16 people so far)!

For those of you in west coast / Los Angeles, I want to meet you! Please RSVP right away if you can make it. If you RSVPed but can’t come for some reason, please let me know right away so I can plan accordingly. Look forward to seeing you guys very soon!

Are you happy? How happy would you say you are, on a scale of 1-10?

Our society today is entrenched in low levels of consciousness of fear, desire and pride. Despite the increasing affluence of people in our world, it seems people are more and more unhappy today. From unhappiness with work, unhappiness with their life, unhappiness with the world, unhappiness with themselves. If you think that the people around you seem quite unhappy, let me tell you that this is a common issue everywhere in the world – be it countries/cities I’ve been to in Asia, in Europe, or in America.

In light of this epidemic, I’ve created a guide on how to be happy. The mark of a good life is one that is filled with happiness. If you’re not happy at all, then what’s the point of doing any of this to begin with?

I see this as a timeless guide, with 10 of my universal, timeless principles to achieve happiness. May you find these 10 principles useful in your quest for happiness. Know that at the end of the day, happiness comes from within, not from outside. This is why the guide focuses on intrinsic, permanent steps to achieve happiness, rather than extrinsic, surface-level tips which only have a temporal effect (such as listening to music, going shopping, etc).

Here goes.

#1. Attend to Negative Emotions / Thoughts; Don’t Repress them

Many of us in the modern society today do not know how to properly deal with our emotions. Just look at what most of us do when we are unhappy/angry/upset/stressed/fearful. We either (a) sleep it away (b) eat it away (emotional eating) (c) drink it away (alcoholism) (d) smoke it away (e) bury ourselves with other things, usually work and/or (f) ignore those emotions altogether.

So what happens when we do not deal with our negative emotions appropriately? Our emotions / thoughts are unaddressed and get repressed. It may look like the unhappy emotions / thoughts are gone the next day, but no, they are never gone – they are just buried beneath the surface.

It’s a matter of time before they re-emerge in the future – usually when we face a situation that triggers latent memories. During which we can either respond via avoidance again, hence repeating the cycle all over again, or by dealing it the right away this time. To do the former is to live an unconscious life, no different than a sleepwalker. To do the latter is to take the path of courage and start living consciously.

How should we deal with unhappy emotions / thoughts then?

1. First, unload your mind, especially if the incident just occurred and you’re faced with a big influx of negative emotions. I find the brain dumping exercise very helpful for this purpose. Meditation also helps in calming your mind. It’s okay to use destressing methods like playing games, taking a break, taking a walk, venting, listening to music, etc – as long as you return to the issue at hand after you are done destressing.
2. Identify your source of unhappiness via asking yourself: “What’s making me feel unhappy?“. The answers can be very revealing. If you’re someone who has never questioned your emotions/unhappiness before, this will point you in the right direction, because rather than take your emotions as they are, you’re now making an effort to understand them. If you are a conscious individual, with high awareness of your emotions, this will bring you a step further.
3. Create a list of steps that will help you address the source of your unhappiness above. See next step.

#2. Take Action on What’s Making You Unhappy

I’d say I’m by and large quite a happy person. It’s not because I don’t feel unhappy emotions. Like everyone, there are times when I’m unhappy. There are times when I’m angry too. And there are times when I can be downright miserable.

What do I do during these times? Do I let myself sink in the negative emotion? No, I don’t. That’s pointless and a waste of my mental energy.

What I do is this – Whenever there is something making me unhappy, I fix the issue right away, in a 3-step approach. Firstly, I identify the issue at hand. Secondly, I locate the action steps that will resolve it. Then, I execute those steps immediately.

A simple example : I was recently in New York City (Nov-Dec ’11), as part of my US travel. While NYC is terrific and I love the city, its winter climate is too cold for me, since I grew up in a tropical country (Singapore). It got so cold that I would much rather stay in than go out. It was quite miserable.

Rather than let the situation perpetuate though, I checked the weather in west coast, and realized the southern west coast has a much conducive climate for me. So during Jan ’12, I traveled on to Los Angeles, California, where it is much warmer. Problem solved, and I became a much happier person.

There have been many other situations where I wasn’t happy and took action to address them:

• Quitting my previous job because it was not my passion
• Parting ways with my best friend because our friendship was no longer making us happy
• Working on my relationship with my parents because it wasn’t where I wanted it to be
• Working doubly hard on growing Personal Excellence (thereafter reaching 1 million pageviews a month) because it wasn’t growing as fast as I wanted it to
• Addressing my emotional eating issue because it was causing me so much anguish, both in life and in terms of staying true to my weight loss plan.

Likewise, if something is bothering you, fix it. Don’t let your unhappiness linger, because your happiness should be your #1 priority. Below are some tips:

1. Fix the issue right away. No point waiting. The longer you wait, the more unhappy you are.
2. Focus on what you can effect, not what you can’t effect. This includes (a) things in the present (b) your thoughts and actions. Not (a) things in the past or things that have yet to take place yet or (b) thoughts and actions of other people.
3. Remember that every problem has a solution. You are only limited by the confines of your mind. It’s up to you to expand your frame of thought and find the best-fit solution.
4. Once you have done everything within your control, let go and let things run their course. You have already done what you can. Now it’s up to the others and the universe to do what they must.

#3. Update Your Belief System

If the problem still persists despite having done what I can to fix it, or if the source of the unhappiness is irreversible (for example, death of a person or changing the past) or something out of your span of control (such as other people’s thoughts or actions), then it’s a cue that something is wrong with my framework of thought.

For example, in How I Moved On From a Heartbreak series I wrote back in 2010, I shared G’s non-reciprocation of my feelings for him left me broken up on the inside. I had subconsciously concluded from his non-reciprocation that something was wrong with me, that I wasn’t good enough, and that I was doomed not to meet anyone else in the future.

However, I later found out my unhappiness was misplaced, as I elaborated in Part 3: Forgiveness, Closure and Moving On. The conclusions I had made were not true. I had wrongly defined my worth based on whether he wanted to be with me or not, when my worth was independent of this event. I had also wrongly concluded I wasn’t able to meet anyone else, when all it meant was he just wasn’t the right guy for me. Realizing the falsehoods behind the beliefs naturally removed the unhappiness.

The best beliefs to have are the ones that empower you. If there is something that’s making you unhappy, there is no point holding on to the thought, because you are just making your life miserable. This doesn’t serve you, nor the others around you. It calls for an internal reflection and an updating of your belief system, where you dissolve disempowering beliefs and adopt empowering ones. Be sure to read:

• Ask Celes – Is It Possible To Let Go of Unhappy Past Forever?
• Day 25: Your Beliefs of Live a Better Life in 30 Days Program
• 30BBM Day 26 – Letting Go

#4. See the Positive vs. Negative Side of Things

Have you ever heard the phrase: “Behind every dark cloud is a silver lining?”. What it means is, no matter how dire a situation may seem, there is always a positive side.

For example, below is a list of things most of us would regard as negative, especially if they occur to us.

• Arriving late for a meeting
• Slipping on weight loss plan
• Failing a job interview
• Getting laid off
• Breaking up with partner
• Facing a difficult situation

What if I were to tell you there is a positive side to every single one of the situations above?

Situation typically seen as negative occurrence -> Positive side(s) of the situation

• Arriving late for a meeting -> (1) You now know the boundaries to stick to if you want to be punctual (2) You learned the importance of being punctual, albeit via the hard way.
• Slipping on weight loss plan -> You are now aware of a new pitfall of your weight loss plan, which means one step closer towards your goal.
• Failing a job interview -> (1) Troubleshooting the interview will help you learn things to avoid in your next interview (2) What you learned from this encounter may well help you secure a better job after this.
• Getting laid off -> (1) Free time to reflect over what you want to do in life (2) You can now embark on new opportunities – From working in new companies, to taking on new roles, to exploring new career paths, to possibly starting your business
• Breaking up with partner -> (1) Being relieved of a relationship which was not working out. It takes 2 hands to clap. If your partner was not happy in the relationship, you could not have been much happier yourself. (2) You now get to meet new people, and possibly meet someone who is a much better match than your ex.
• Facing a difficult situation -> (1) Dealing with this will help you develop strength and wisdom (2) You get to learn and grow much more than those who have never dealt with this before.

Some people may comment that I’m being overly optimistic with what I wrote above. But I’m not. What I wrote above is fact, not fiction. I know of multiple people who have failed job interviews with good companies, only to secure jobs with the companies of their dreams after that. I know of many people who had painful break ups, only to enter the relationship of their dreams after that. I myself have been in multiple difficult situations before, which helped me gain tremendously (in strength and wisdom) as a result.

Everything in life has a positive side to it. Once you realize that, it is up to you to identify the silver lining and expand on it. After you do it for a few times, you’ll realize that the entire situation has been the silver lining all along.

Here are some tips to spot the good things in each situation:

1. Recognize there is always something good to be gained from each situation. It’s up to you find that.
2. What experiences have you gained from this incident? Everything you experienced, both good and bad, would not have taken place if not for this encounter.
3. What lessons have you learned? You would never have gained these lessons if not for this encounter.
4. What does not kill you will make you stronger. What soft skills and hard skills have you developed from this?
5. Every problem comes with its set of opportunities. What opportunities lie before you now as a result of this problem?

#5. Let Go of Expectations (and Focus on Intentions)

Focus on your intentions, not narrow definitions of your intentions. I found a lot of things that made me unhappy in the past was because I had very specific, narrow definitions of how things should be. And when I focused on my intentions vs. specific definitions of how they should manifest, it made me a lot happier. The most important thing – what I wanted would then come true after that, and in spades.

For example, I used to narrowly define my ideal family relationship as one where there is open communication. However, the relationship between me and my parents (since young) was one where there was little to non-existent communication. No matter what I did, I could not attain my desired relationship, as I shared in Part 2: A Pervasive, Widening Gap. Not only did this make me miserable, it also made my parents unhappy, because I would constantly resist what they did, since I thought they didn’t care.

It was only after a long, drawn out struggle that I realized I had approached the situation wrongly. What I really wanted was a loving relationship with my parents, and I thought open communication was the way to go. But the ironic thing was that my parents had been trying to express their love for me all this while, albeit in their special way. I was just not able to see it because I was so hung up on this one expression of love.

Attaching myself to my higher intention for a better relationship with my parents, vs. my specific definition of what an ideal parent-child relationship should be, helped me to attain a better relationship with them. I no longer resist my parents’ lack of openness since that is just the way they are. My non-resistance also made them more ready to express their love for me.

Realize that: (1) every goal we have reflects an intention we want to manifest (2) there are countless ways this intention can be manifested.

Hence, do not get hung up over the 1 definition of your goal. Continue to have goals and to pursue your goals, but stick to your higher intentions, not set definitions of how you want those goals to manifest. Once you do this, you will realize that you now make faster progress than ever, and it was your narrow definitions that had prevented you from moving forward initially.

#6. Be Grateful For What You Have

Do you know that no matter where you are right now in life, there are always people who are worse off than you? And no matter how bad things may seem, things can always go much worse?

For example, someone who complains about having a small house should look at the homeless man on the street, who has no home to speak of, no place to seek refuge even in the cold winter. Someone who complains about having just lost his/her job should talk to the guy who just lost his limb from a car accident. Someone who complains about his/her parents being naggy should speak to a recently orphaned child, who has no parents to speak of.

So, take stock and be grateful for the things you do have. Be grateful you’re not dealing with worse situations. Be grateful you are alive. Be grateful for your senses. Be grateful for the people in your life. Be grateful for the air you get to breathe every day. Be grateful for the problems you get to face.

Even if you may think you have nothing, you are very much wrong, for you will always have you and your higher self.

Read:

1. How To Start When You Have Nothing
2. 60 Things to be Grateful For in Life (bonus article in Personal Excellence Book, Volume 2)
3. Live a Better Life in 30 Days Program, Day 15 – A Day of Gratitude
4. Be a Better Me in 30 Days Challenge, Day 11 - Day of Virtue: Appreciation

#7. Think of Your Ideals vs. Problems

Most of us tend to turn our energy to our problems. However, such an approach puts attention on the negative and reminds us of things we don’t want, which breeds more negativity. Not exactly an effective path towards happiness.

Here’s a better way – Rather than wear yourself out with liabilities, think in terms of ideals instead. Always ask yourself: “What is my ideal vision?” (Day 2 of Live a Better Life in 30 Days).

This is my favorite question which I always pose to anyone who seems bogged down by his/her problems. And it never fails to light a spark in the person’s eyes, after which he/she begins talking excitedly about what he/she wants, not seemingly able to stop.

There are 3 important benefits of focusing on ideals vs. liabilities. Firstly, it gets you thinking of possibilities rather than limitations. Secondly, helps you to get clarity of what you want, which makes it easier to achieve your 100%, ideal life.  Thirdly, by thinking of your ideal vision, it puts you in a positive mental state, which, by default, already makes it easier to address any challenges in your way.

That’s not to say that you ignore your liabilities and pretend they don’t exist. It means you don’t let them tie you down anymore, but remain mindful of them

For example, if you have a $100k debt to clear, don’t focus on that – be aware of the debt, but focus on wealth-generation opportunities. If you are working in a job you don’t like, focus on the ideal career you do want, and how you can create that. If you just lost your job, focus on the new jobs you can now pursue. If you are surrounded by negative people, focus on the positive, new people you are going to meet. If you are single and constantly getting into bad relationships, focus on your ideal relationship you would like to have, and the qualities you would like your ideal partner to have.

#8. Live a Purposeful Life

Living a purposeful life, one where you have an empowering life purpose and noteworthy goals, paves the way for a happy life.

Have you established your life purpose? If not, perhaps now is the time to do so. I’ve written a lot on this subject, which I recommend you to read:

• Are You Sleepwalking Your Life Away?
• How To Discover Your Real Life Purpose (7-part series)
• How To Know What You Want To Do In Life
• Live a Better Life in 30 Days Program, Day 16: Life Purpose

As you define your life purpose, you want to set life goals, because they bring out your highest potential. Read the following on goal setting:

• 6 Important Reasons Why You Should Set Goals
• ESPER: 5-Step Successful Goal Achievement Framework (7-part series)

#9. Recognize happiness is a choice

One of the most stressful points in my life was back when I was in my previous job.

At that time, I was denied of bigger projects by my manager even though I had delivered my work without fail and was exceeding expectations. It had nothing to do with my performance, but simply my (lack of) seniority in the company. I felt unfairly boxed in by my position, and was extremely frustrated. What was the point of staying on if I wasn’t allowed to grow? I was unhappy with my manager, with the situation, and with my life. Repression was the word of the day.

It was during this darkest period, as I cried to myself while I was showering, that I realized that no matter how painful the situation may be, I always had a say in the matter. I could either lament about the sorry state of my life, or I could make the best out of what I was given. I could either struggle in this pain, or I could tap into it and forge it into strength. I could either see this as a liability, or turn it into an opportunity. I could either be unhappy and miserable, or I could be the happiest person in the world.

So I chose the latter. And since then, whenever I’m caught in a situation which makes me feel unhappy in any way, I would go for the latter. I know no matter what happens, no one can rob me of my happiness. My happiness is my choice

The same goes for you too. Are you caught in a situation outside of your control? Are you letting it affect your feelings? Are you going to let it drag you down, or are you going to smile and turn it into gold?

Read: You Always Have a Choice

#10. Don’t think “What if”, but “Next time”

You know how many of us like to go “what if” whenever things don’t go our way? “What if I had done this instead?” “What if I had done that instead?” “What if … this? “What if … that?”

Well, who cares? And what does it matter? No amount of “what if“s is going to change the reality.

On the other hand, what will help is this: “What can I do such that this doesn’t happen next time?” This will help you learn from what has happened, so you can make things different – be it preventing the same problem from happening, or taking a different course of action so you create a different outcome.

So instead of thinking “what if“, start thinking “next time“. The former is entrenched in the past, while the latter is forward-thinking. The former is disempowering, while the latter is empowering. It will make a world of a difference.

Concluding Note

I hope you found this guide useful. Please share it with others if you found it helpful. Let’s spread the art of happiness to as many people as we can.

Here is a related article worth reading: 13 Helping Points When Things Don’t Go Your Way. This one teaches you how to deal with the daily setbacks in life.

This guide has covered my 10 universal, timeless principles for happiness. Now, do you have your specific tips to be happy? Please share them.

Related Posts

• [Pic] The Happiness Manifesto
• Apply 80/20 to Your Life Now in 3 Simple Steps
• 10 Reasons You Should Meditate
• How I Moved On From A Heartbreak – Part-1: My Journey With Love

I’m excited, guys.

I’m excited because 2012 is coming, and it’s less than 24 hours before that becomes reality (it’s Dec 31 as I’m writing this). I’m excited because I’m happier than I’ve ever been, and I can’t imagine what’s going to come next. I’m excited because I feel like my life has just started, and I’m discovering something new about myself and what it means to live my richest life every day. I’m excited because I’ve big hopes and dreams for 2012, and I can’t wait to see them unfold in the new year.

But first off, here’s my annual review for the year. Because so many things have happened in my life this year, I’m going to do a quick recap by way of a timeline first. This will be followed by a list of 2011 accomplishments I’m most proud of. After which I’ll share my top lessons learned this year, before I end off with my plans for the big year of 2012 ahead.

2011 in a Nutshell

If you’ve been following my blog and Facebook closely, the stuff below wouldn’t be news to you. Here is a summary of what I’ve been up to this year:

• Jan – Went on a 21-day healthy living plan (via 21DHL), where I did my 3rd raw food trial since 2009
• Feb – Went on a 21-day water fast and reached my lowest weight ever (partly due to the fast, partly due to proper refeeding post-fast) for the first time since 10 years ago. I’ve since regained some weight since, which I’m happy with as I felt my previous weight was too low.
• Feb-Apr – Began to let go of 1-1 in-person coaching clients and speaking engagements in Singapore, so I’m no longer bound to Singapore for my business.
• Jun – Achieved final revelations which helped me become at peace with my relationship with my parents.
• Jun – Invited to Amsterdam, Holland for a speaking engagement. Hence began my travels around the world.
• Jun 25 – Celebrated my 27th birthday away from home.
• Jun-Aug – Traveled around West Europe, namely Holland, Germany, France (Paris). Passed by Belgium while traveling from Paris back to Amsterdam. Stayed with different readers and coaching clients during my travels, thanks to their immense generosity. Met many great people and formed some highly meaningful friendships.
• Aug – Permanently removed my 1-1 coaching service from my business, so I can focus on high leverage mediums, such as writing articles and running online courses/challenges
• Aug-Nov – Stayed in London for 3 months. Visited Cambridge; Had a 4-day long trip in Ibiza, Spain as part of a work arrangement. Met *a lot* of new people and made very meaningful friendships during my stay. Had 2 amazing PE readers meet-ups. ♥
• Nov – Was invited to speak at prestigious Wharton Business School (in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) for their annual marketing conference. As a result, I cut short my London stay and flew to Philly on Nov 7, hence beginning my US travels.
• Nov – Traveled around US East Coast, including Philadelphia, Washington DC, New York City and Boston (Dec).
• Nov – Overcame my long-standing emotional eating issue.
• Nov-Dec – Stayed in NYC for 2 months. Made many new, amazing friends. ♥ Held a NYC PE readers meet-up on New Year’s Eve (today!). Celebrated X’mas in beautiful NYC. Counting down to 2012 in NYC later tonight!

My Top 2011 Accomplishments

(in no specific order)

1. Invitation to speak at Wharton (part of UPenn), which was a significant milestone to me. To speak at an Ivy League was an affirmation that I’m on the right track and PE is no longer just a blog or a website, but a recognized entity by big wigs.
2. Reached 1 million page views / month milestone.
3. Made many new amazing connections around the world. Feel like my social circle has significantly broadened, both in terms of diversity and number of people I know.
4. Generated monthly earnings higher than my previous drawn salary back when I was in corporate. Successfully converted 100% of my business revenue to passive income – I no longer trade any of my time for money.
5. Turned my business into a non-location bound model. Able to work from anywhere in the world now, literally.
6. Started my world travels, starting with Holland, and spanning to West Europe, United Kingdom, and now United States. Finally ventured into the western part of the world, which I had not visited up till that point. Combed a good fraction of the world in the past 6 months. Visited the key places that have always been on my agenda, which are London and New York City. As a result of my travels, have crossed off quite a few things on my bucket list.
7. Gained a significant amount of knowledge, insights (of different cultures, people, and the world) and (soft) skills as a result of my travels.
8. Achieved my long-standing dream to live overseas for an extended period of time (6 months).
9. Made a lot of incredible relationships, some of which are richer than any connections I had made up till that point. Some of them I consider as close as family. ♥ While #3 referred to new friends I’ve met, this point refers to the depth of relationships I’ve made.
10. Addressed my emotional eating issue, which I had been struggling with for about half my life till then.

Reflections / Learnings of 2011

2012 – Year of Intuition

(Note #1: Am speeding up this post because I’m at Starbucks now (8:23pm) and they’re closing in 30 minutes, since it’s New Year’s Eve. Bummer! It’s okay – my laptop battery is dying soon, and I should be heading to my friend’s countdown party right about now anyway.)

(Note #2: I’ve written about the benefits of choosing a focus area for the year before. What I’m going to share below is my focus area for upcoming 2012. I recommend you to do the same too – read: Which Area Of Your Life Do You Want To Transform This Year?)

In the past 3 years, PE has evolved into a huge community – it is now the #1 community for people who are passionate about achieving excellence in life. From starting as a small blog on Dec 14 ’08, it is now more than just a blog – it is now an online platform for growth, where people can access nearly 400 high quality articles on growth, take part in organized monthly challenges and take action on personal goals, connected with like-minded people around the world via the forums, download free growth resources such as ebooks, wallpapers and manifestos, watch original videos on relevant growth topics, purchase inspirational gifts, among many others.

This is why I renamed PE a couple months ago from The Personal Excellence Blog (TPEB) to just Personal Excellence (PE), because we are no longer just a blog – we haven’t been that for a long, long time. (Note that we are just known as PE today and NOT PEB nor TPEB, which some of you are still erroneously referring to by. We’ve permanently dropped the words ‘the’ and ‘blog’ from our official site name since October.)

I’m very excited about 2012, because I have a lot of big plans and intentions for the next year (and years ahead). Moving forward, I intend to expand PE bigger than what it is today. The restructuring of the site in Oct this year to incorporate a whole new Challenges section, plus videos and manifestos section, plus the launch of the new domain PersonalExcellence.co earlier in Oct (and subsequent removal of CelestineChua.com – fellow bloggers who are still linking to the old domain on your blogs, please update your links!), are just the first of many new things to come. Some of my future plans include having a talkshow (at some point), releasing my first published book, expanding the reach of PE to 5, 10, 20, 100, 1000 times its current reach, among many others.

But most important of all, 2012 is going to be the first year where I’m not going to set any concrete goals. That’s right. As opposed to my previous approaches, this coming new year, I’m going to have a full-fledged experiment in living. For the first time in my life, I’m going to totally let myself be guided by my intuition. I’m going to lead every day of my life in the year based on what my heart guides me to do, and I’ll follow it as best as I can. And I’m going to see where it takes me from there.

This is not an experiment in laziness. For those who are lazy to work, please do not use this as an excuse not to set goals, because you know you’re just using this as a cop-out reason to skive. This is also not to jab the ideas I share on the site, because:

1. They do work and still work marvelously in my life, and are in fact the very reasons why I’ve accomplished everything in my life to date
2. I’m still going to be setting goals within specific, defined contexts, for example: Setting weight loss goal to lose XX weight.
3. If anything, it is precisely because I have lived by goal setting/goal achievement so closely in the past few years of my life that I feel I can now benefit from pursuing my intuition 100%, because goal setting has already been ingrained it into my subconsciousness, and as such is an innate tool I utilize without having to make a conscious effort to do so. So what I’m doing here is really a natural step forward in using the goal setting route, and not a step backward or a resistance of goal setting as a tool.

By not setting goals, what I’m referring to is not setting myself with a specific list of things to do by X date, and not living my life on pre-intended schedule of having to do X things in X week or X month. I’m referring to waking up every day, with the absolute full intention to live my life to the fullest, to do whatever is necessary to excel and to accomplish as many things as I can with my life, and living my life based on that intention.

I already have a broad level direction of things I want to achieve/do in the future (as I shared above, with the talkshow plans etc), and I already know they will come to fruition as long as I take the necessary steps. Just that instead of using the same approach as I’ve done in the past (i.e. the logical, set X goal, do step A, step B, step C, all the way to step Z route), this time I’m going to simply follow my intuition and see how it’s going to guide me there.

In a way it’s like letting go of the steering wheel in my life (which I’ve been holding pretty tightly on in the past), holding it gently, continuing to maneuver the car in the background using my knowledge of driving (i.e. goal setting), putting faith in the universe, and seeing where it’s going to take me. It’s going to be quite interesting, to say the least.

In all honesty, I’ve sort of been doing this, where my travels are concerned, since I started traveling June. I started off my trip with little idea of what I’m going to do in the next 1-2 months, and simply allowed the trip to create itself from there. And hence created an almost 7-month long adventure of a ride so far, bringing me from Holland, to Germany, to France, to London, to Cambridge, to Spain, to Philadelphia, to Washington DC, to Boston, to NYC. Today, I’m traveling with little to no idea what I’m even going to do next week, and I’m really just going with the flow here and letting things manifest themselves. And boy has it been an amazing ride.

Starting 1st Jan (tomorrow), I’m going to start living my year of 2012 on my intuition. If there’s any one big goal I want to accomplish in 2012, it’s to develop my intuition and be connected with it on full throttle (refer to #3 and #5 on my reflections for 2011 above). Making 2012 my year of intuition is definitely going to help in that.

That’s it guys. Happy New Year 2012 to all of you, and here’s to our best year ever ahead!

(PS: Those who have not joined Live a Healthier Life in 21 Days Jan 2012 challenge, be sure to do so now! Signing up is completely free and you have less than 24 hours to sign up!)

Related Posts

• My Review of 2010 (Big Thank You and Onward to 2011!)
• End of 2008: Reflection, and Moving Onward to 2009 :)
• What Are Your 2012 Goals? Please Share!
• Why I Do Year End Reviews (And 6 Important Questions To Ask Yourself in Your Review)

It’s the end of the year again, and like every year I will be writing a year end review to round up my year and share how everything has been. I will also be sharing my upcoming goals and focus area for 2012. Stay tuned.

Before I do that though, I’d love to hear from you guys. What is your review for YOUR 2011? What are your biggest goals for 2012? What will be YOUR focus area? Share them in the comments area.

Read the past related posts for inspiration:

• Why I Do Year End Reviews (And 6 Important Questions To Ask Yourself in Your Review)
• 58 Noteworthy Resolutions For The New Year
• Which Area Of Your Life Do You Want To Transform This Year?

• My Review of 2010 (Big Thank You and Onward to 2011!)
• My 2009 Reflections: 2 Biggest Things I Learned, 15 Key Highlights and A Big Thank You To You
• End of 2008: Reflection, and Moving Onward to 2009

Look forward to reading about your goals! Feel free to check out others’ comments and join in the discussion.

Update Dec 31, ’11: My end of year review post is now up! Read: My Review of 2011 (and Moving On To 2012!)

Related Posts

• My Review of 2011 (and Moving On To 2012!)
• My Review of 2010 (Big Thank You and Onward to 2011!)
• 2009 Reflections: 2 Biggest Things I Learned, 15 Key Highlights and A Big Thank You To You
• Why I Do Year End Reviews (And 6 Important Questions To Ask Yourself in Your Review)

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Source article: 101 Important Questions To Ask Yourself in Life

Once again, if you find any of the new manifestos helpful, please spread the love and share them Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc. Convenient share buttons can be found below this post. We’re already on our path of growth, but let’s help others create their best lives too. I’ll really appreciate that.

I hope you’ve found the manifestos helpful. That’s about it for now for the manifestos – I was thinking of doing a manifesto for 101 Ways To Be a Better Person, 101 Ways To Live Life To The Fullest (Personal Excellence) and a Happiness Manifesto, but those are not as simple as the first few I did and would take quite a while (like the Self Reflection Manifesto above). So I’m parking them for next time and continuing the regular blog activities for now.

The emotional eating series will continue soon. I’ll be reposting part-1 so everyone is on the same page.

PS: FYI – Today is actually the 3rd year anniversary for PE (Dec 14, 2008 was when I first started the site). Nothing fancy for this year’s anniversary, just lots of quiet happiness and appreciation of how far we’ve come. I reckon I’ll share more in the annual round-up post I do at the end of every year. So happy anniversary to PE!

Related Posts

• [Pic] 101 Things To Do Before You Die, Manifesto Version
• [Pic] How To Say No, Manifesto Version
• [Pic] How To Nay-say the Naysayers, Manifesto Version
• [Pic] What To Do When Things Don’t Go Your Way, Manifesto Version

So here we have it – The Self-Confidence Manifesto. Great to remind us that at the end of the day, confidence really just begins on the inside:

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Source article: How To Be The Most Confident Person In The World

Of course, be sure to read the source article for the real thing. All the manifestos I’ve created so far are simply condensed versions of existing top articles on the site.

Feel free to like/share this on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc if you find it useful. Convenient share buttons can be found below this post.

Related Posts

• How To Be The Most Confident Person In The World
• [Pic] How To Say No, Manifesto Version
• How To Say No To Others: The Only Guide You’ll Ever Need
• Ask Celes – How Do You Keep Yourself Humble While Recognizing Your Worth?

Today, I’ve for you the Bucket List Manifesto. It lists 101 sample things to do before you die, which you can hang on your wall as inspirational reminders. Spans 3 pages long:

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Source article: What’s on Your Bucket List? 101 Things To Do Before You Die

I’ve deliberately kept the colors simple as most of you would probably want to print this one, so it helps to save ink.

You can also download the full bucket list article in the form of an ebook, in the Free Ebooks section. For newsletter subscribers (if you’re not subscribed yet, where have you been?! ), you should have received this as one of the 2 welcome ebooks when you first signed up.

And last but not least, as a special touch, I’ve included a blank bucket list template for you to write the things YOU want to do before you die.

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Those taking Live a Better Life in 30 Days Challenge right now (Dec 2011 run) – You can print this out and use this in the bucket list task which will be coming on Day 27.

Feel free to like/share this on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, etc if you find it useful. Convenient share buttons can be found below this post.

Related Posts

• [Pic] What To Do When Things Don’t Go Your Way, Manifesto Version
• [Pic] How To Say No, Manifesto Version
• [Pic] How To Nay-say the Naysayers, Manifesto Version
• [Pic] How To Be a Dean’s Lister, Manifesto Version