Three Steps to Achieving Happiness by Beth Banning & Neill Gibson

Do you hear the phrases “self-love” or “loving yourself” and wonder what that really means or how to go about doing it? Are there things about yourself that you’re not sure you even like, never mind think that you could love? No matter where you are in your life, or what you may think about yourself, read on to find self love techniques that will bring more happiness and satisfaction to your life.

Whether you’re single, married, or divorced, the sooner you start loving yourself, the faster all of your other relationships will be filled with fun, closeness, caring and happiness. Why? Because what you focus your attention on grows. When you start noticing all the wonderful things about yourself, other people will have no choice but to see them too.

In this article, we will focus on the three beginning steps toward self-love and achieving true happiness.

Step one: Investigate your thinking. Believe it or not, the things that you think a/bout determine how you feel about yourself and everything else in your life. We are raised in a culture that teaches us to focus on what’s right and what’s wrong. When you’re always focusing on what’s wrong with yourself, you’re bound to feel bad. Practice investigating your thoughts by using your feelings as an alarm. The next time you feel uncomfortable in any way, try to identify what you were thinking about just before you started feeling uncomfortable.

Step two: Know what’s deeply important to you. The fastest way to achieve life-changing results is by discovering what’s most important to us. These things are hidden beneath the storm of feelings that we experience every day. Using step one, you have now identified what you were thinking about just before you started feeling uncomfortable. At this point, you could start asking yourself questions such as: “What is so important to me in this situation that makes me feel this way?”

For example, underneath profound sadness, there might be the regret of a dream lost. Hidden within confusion could be a strong desire for understanding. Beneath anger, there could be a need for effectiveness. When you can get beyond your feelings to what you value—what’s deeply important to you—you will start to notice wonderful qualities about yourself that you can enjoy and can easily learn to love.

Step three: Remember that you’re never alone. Although at times you may feel very lonely, once you learn to pause when you start to feel uncomfortable and identify what is most important to you beneath your feelings, you will find that you always have YOU. Using these self-love techniques you are guaranteed to find the best friend you’ve ever had and will be well on your way to mastering the true art of happiness.

Finding authentic happiness isn’t as impossible as it may sometimes seem. If you’d really like to boost your self-confidence and learn to consciously raise your self-esteem, sign up for our thought-provoking and motivational Weekly Action Tips eMail series at: http://www.FocusedAttention.com/cmd.php?ad=081030

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Article Source: Self Improvement Articles from PositiveArticles.Com

No matter how much wealth we manage to accumulate in this world, it is virtually useless without good health. This is tied closely to the knowledge of our own mortality. Deep down, we all know that we only have a handful of decades on Earth and then it’s over.

In light of that, what becomes important then? That is indeed an interesting question. What is important cannot be money, because we can’t take it with us when we die. What is important can’t be our possessions because, once again, they are not going with us. Having money and possessions is very temporary. Those things cease to matter to us when we die.

Some turn to their relationships when they realize this. They feel that family and friends must be the most important thing then. Yet, we will lose contact with family and friends when we pass away too.

Some people die and then come back. They call this the near-death experience. Many of those people talk about what they saw in the state of death. They also talk about how they feel which is almost universally wonderful. There are a few that report going to a very bad place, but the majority feel good. They are free from the pain and suffering of their mortal bodies.

In the near-death experience, many talk about the life review process, where they see their entire lives displayed before them. The good things they do and the bad are right there. In addition they see how their actions and words affected others too. Apparently it can be quite painful to recognize how much we hurt others and caused others pain.

They also get to see the good things they did. I remember one woman who went through the life review process said that the most significant act in her entire life occurred when she was a little girl. She said that the most important action out of her entire life was holding a little flower in her hand and giving it unconditional love. That was it, out of her entire life that was deemed the most significant thing she ever did.

In light of that, we can conclude that what is important is not who we were but how well we treated others in this life. Therefore, when we contemplate our lives and set our goals, maybe it would be a good idea if we thought about others first.

Life is not temporary, but life on Earth is temporary. How are we going to face all those people who are watching what we do, when it is all over? Hopefully, we will have done things that we can be joyous about.