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Jonathan Huie - EzineArticles.com Expert Author
Sign-up for Jonathan's Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote email, and browse his Daily Inspiration - Daily Quote blog for articles on happiness, joyful living, forgiveness, gratitude, celebration and similar topics.
Jonathan Lockwood Huie has been dubbed "The Philosopher of Happiness" by those closest to him, in recognition of his his on-going commitment to seeing Joy in all of life. Jonathan's intention is to share his insights for Joyful Living with the widest possible audience.
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- Create a Life You Love - Six Ways to Choose More Happiness and Less Stress
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Stress and happiness don't mix. Try these six ways to live a happier and less stressful life.
- Lose Weight and Stop Smoking by Reducing Stress
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] Weight, smoking and similar issues are usually not your real enemy. They are the visible symptoms of a common underlying cause and the real enemy - Stress. Stress is your true sinister and cunning opponent.
- Five 30-Second Emotional-Spiritual Techniques to De-Stress at Work
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] To reduce the effects of stress in the workplace, take an emotional and spiritual, as well as a physical break, at least every two hours, preferably every hour. Here are five de-stressors you can do in thirty seconds each...
- Is There a Place For Honor in the Twenty-First Century?
[Self-Improvement] What images come to mind when you visualize Honor? Medieval knights jousting for the hand of a fair maiden? A working definition of Honor is, "respect or esteem that has been earned," but there is much more to Honoring yourself than simply having self-respect and self-esteem.
- Forgive and Forget? Can You Really Lift Your Burden of Resentments?
[Self-Improvement] The questions keep coming... "How can I forget all the wrong things that have been done to me throughout my life. How can the thoughts that are in my brain be erased so that they do not keep popping up over and over again. It is not easy to forgive what my brain cannot erase. Who knows the secret? Please tell me!"
- Zero-Based Gratitude
[Self-Improvement:Positive-Attitude] Perhaps you have heard of zero-based budgeting as a technique for governments, businesses, and occasionally individuals. Zero-based budgeting is in contrast to traditional incremental budgeting. In incremental budgeting, one starts with the budget for the last year, or other period, and prepares a budget for the next period based on the budget for the last period - incorporating whatever increases, or very occasionally decreases, are deemed appropriate.
- Ten Little Tips to Feel Happier Right Now
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Don't wait to make a big change in the quality of your life. Eight of these ten little ways to happiness can be done in less than five minutes.
- Happier Friends - Happier You
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Happy people tend to be found in the company of other happy people, while unhappy people are likely to spend time with unhappy people. Why is this true? Are happiness and unhappiness infectious?
- Another Wave Comes, Another Wave Goes
[News-and-Society:Economics] Oh no, all the water is going away! The fish will die. I'll have no food, no ocean, no pretty beach, I'm losing everything! After a relaxing day at the beach, let's talk economics.
- Forgiveness and Acceptance - Keys to a Great Marriage
[Relationships:Marriage] Forgiveness is essential to a great marriage. The longer you have lived together, the more important it is that you not accumulate resentments that tempt you to call upon them in times of disagreement. And what could be even better than forgiving your partner? Possibly acceptance.
- Go With the Flow - Six Ways to Live a Happier Life
[Self-Improvement] Most unhappiness comes from resisting life. We live our lives as if each minor happening were a matter of life and death. Demanding that the world meet our expectations has become a bad habit that causes great unhappiness. But it doesn't have to be that way. We can break the bad habit of being unhappy.
- Don't Be a Pay Per Click Tease
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:PPC-Advertising] If you really want to waste your advertising dollars, write enticing Pay-Per-Click ad copy that incites your viewer's curiosity and compels them to click through, whether they want to buy your product or not. In most forms of advertising, the highly successful ads first grab the viewer's or reader's attention, however they can.
- Six Ways to End Bickering Over Money
[Relationships:Marriage] One of the most common causes of arguments between couples is disagreements over money, mostly about how it should be spent, or not spent. Arguments over money generally fall into two general areas, differences in fundamental attitudes, and bickering over day to day details.
- Have a Conversation With God, Today
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Some of you already have daily chats with God. Others, are sure that the idea of a personal two-way conversation with God is poppycock. For those who have not yet experienced an intimate exchange of thoughts and feelings with God, let me offer a few suggestions for beginning the process.
- Promote Work-Life Balance to Retain and Motivate Employees
[Business:Human-Resources] As a manager, you may cringe when you hear the phrase "Work-Life Balance," which is viewed by many employers as a code phrase for "work less." But is the trend toward employees demanding more balance between their careers and their other obligations and interests entirely negative for employers? Viewed from a positive perspective, Work-Life Balance can be one of your best tools to retain and motivate your employees.
- Moderating the Anger Response Through Training
[Self-Improvement:Anger-Management] Anger is a destructive emotion that becomes instinctive over the years. Through conscious training, the anger response - whether in the form of outbursts or repressed - can be moderated over time, until it is virtually eliminated.
- Alcoholism in a Relationship - When to Stay, When to Leave
[Relationships:Conflict] "Alcoholic" is one of those words that raises high emotions. We tend to think of an alcoholic as someone who is violent, dangerous, and self destructive. We may also visualize an alcoholic as being selfish and not caring about anyone but themself. Sometimes those stereotypes are appropriate, but often they aren't.
- The Silver Lining of Losing Your Job - 8 Upbeat Ideas
[Business:Career-Advice] If you have become unemployed against your will, take this opportunity to design your future. Consider consulting, starting your own business, or changing your profession. Take a step back to consider what is really important in life.
- How to Avoid Falling in Love With Love
[Relationships:Love] Falling in love with love has been the subject of parody from the time of ancient Greece, to Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, to the present. Do real life people actually fall in love with the idea of being in love? Unfortunately, it is actually quite common.
- The #1 Secret of Great Relationships
[Relationships] Behind all the issues that separate an ordinary relationship from a great one, is one common factor. Behind all the truly helpful advice on improving your life together, there lies one key to a great relationship.
- Perspectives on the Nature of God - Which of These Five Views Matches Yours?
[Self-Improvement:Spirituality] Each of us holds a different image of God. There are as many perspectives on the nature of God as there are people, but these views tend to cluster into several groupings which are instructive to examine. However much any of us may choose to argue, or to fight and kill, for our point of view, the nature of God is an unanswerable question. Perhaps there is a specific answer, that we will never learn - in this lifetime. Perhaps the nature of God is so complex and multifaceted that each view of God describes an aspect of the complex whole. Or perhaps the nature of God is actually defined by our beliefs.
- Exercises to Keep Your Mouse From Biting You
[Computers-and-Technology] If you use your computer a lot and you are of that certain age, you recognize when your mouse is beginning to bite you. It may be your mouse hand cramping, your lower or upper arm muscles, your shoulder, or perhaps the opposite shoulder knotting in sympathy. Don't wait until you are suffering, try these hints to avoid "mouse shoulder" and its cousins.
- Do You Own Your Money and Stuff Or Do They Own You? - Take This Quiz to Find Out
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Most people think they own a home, furniture, computers and other electronics, sports equipment, clothes, cosmetics, a bank account, and perhaps stocks, mutual funds, or a 401K plan. But perhaps they are owned by their possessions instead. Take the following quiz to see whether you are gaining happiness from your belongings, or whether you could find more happiness in a simpler lifestyle.
- This Above All, to Thine Own Self Be True - 5 Ways to Apply William Shakespeare's Advice Today
[Self-Improvement] If Bill were around today, I think he would appreciate hearing the flight attendant say, "Put on your own oxygen mask first." Here are 5 ways to make a difference in the world by being true to yourself.
- Don't Stay in a Broken Marriage "For the Children"
[Relationships:Marriage] If you have determined that a happy relationship is no longer possible, and you are considering remaining in your unhappy marriage "for the sake of the children." Don't do it. Here's why.
- Try Daily Journaling - 7 Hints For Beginning a Rewarding Journaling Practice
[Self-Improvement] If you have never experienced the practice of daily journaling, give it a try. I highly recommend it. When I say "journaling," I am not referring to a diary in which to record the events of your life, I am talking about a place to record your feelings - a friend with whom to share your troubles, fears, hopes, and dreams. To get the most out of journaling, consider these suggestions.
- Take Charge of Your Life - 9 Secrets For Getting Un-Stuck
[Self-Improvement] From the way most people live, one would never guess that humans are beings of free will. Repetition can be a choice, but often it isn't. Are you mindlessly slogging through each day out of habit and boredom? You can take charge of your own life - today. Here are 9 secrets to get you started.
- 7 Secrets of Happy Couples
[Relationships:Marriage] Why do some couples stay happy together for a lifetime, while others are in conflict almost from the beginning? Part of the answer is compatibility - making the initial choice of a partner with whom you share common values. Equally much, however, depends upon the choices each partner chooses to make during the relationship. Here are seven choices made by happy couples:
- The Paradox of Living in the Moment - How to Be Happy Today and Prepare For Tomorrow
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] It's a paradox. How does one balance living in the now with preparing responsibly for the future? The key to this dilemma lies in the distinction between "worrying about the future," and "preparing for the future."
- What to Do When Your Whole World is Falling Apart? 6 Ideas to Give You Back Your Life
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] What if you lost your job, your house burned down, the creditors were closing in, and your marriage had become hellishly confrontational? No, that's not make believe. That's the real life of a real person. How can you maintain a positive outlook under such stress and strain?
- Meddling - 5 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Offering Helpful Advice
[Self-Improvement] Often we meddle out of a sincere desire to help another, so how can we know when we have gone too far? We have overstepped our bounds whenever we cross the line from assisting others in getting what they want to believing that we know better than they what they SHOULD want. Through painful experience, I have found five questions to ask myself to help determine whether I am providing assistance or meddling.
- Blogging - Just Do it - Today
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Blogging] You have lots of questions and doubts about blogging which have been stopping you. Which blogging service? How do I want my blog to look? What do I want to write? Who will read my blog? If you are not yet a blogger, but keep thinking about it, stop waiting, and begin Today.
- The Future of Computing is Google - Should We Be Worried?
[Computers-and-Technology] I didn't just say that Google is the future of the Internet - that is scary enough - and virtually true today. I said, The Future of COMPUTING.
- Powerful Flirting Tips From an Unlikely Source - 13 Marketing Secrets For Your Dating Success
[Relationships:Dating] What do product marketing, advertising and sales techniques have to do with your dating success? A lot more than you might guess.
- How to Be Happy in Life - The 9 Paths to Happiness
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Sometimes it appears that life throws more obstacles in our path than we can handle. However, even in the face of the most challenging circumstances, you can make the choice to be happy by following these 9 paths to happiness.
- A Friend Died Today - 5 Ways to Cope With Loss, Grief and the Fear of Your Own Mortality
[Self-Improvement:Grief-Loss] I first became aware that death - for anyone - is never far away when a sixth grade playground chum committed suicide. I had been aware that old people died - but "old" had seemed very remote to my twelve year old self. Instantly death became very real - something that could, and did, happen to anyone.
- Choose Your Habits, Choose Your Life - 5 Secrets For Breaking Your Bad Habits
[Self-Improvement] By nature, we are all creatures of habit. We instinctively adopt familiar routines for most activities. We eat about the same number of meals each day - at more or less the same times. We have a regular pattern of sleeping - unless it is perturbed by illness or shift work. Most everything we do is habitual.
- How to Use Valentine's Day to Reconnect With a Past Lover - 5 Tips
[Relationships:Conflict] Can there be anything good about being alone during the Valentine season? Perhaps there is. If you really want to reconnect with a past lover, and they are also without a partner at this time, consider using the spirit of Valentine's Day as an opportunity to win them back.
- Two Easy Ways to Keep Your Blog Fresh While You Are Away From Your Computer
[Internet-and-Businesses-Online:Blogging] It is well known that blogs with daily or nearly daily posts get more visitors. But how to handle days when you are traveling, busy, or just don't feel like writing?
- Your Marriage is in Trouble - Is a Trial Separation the Way to Go? 10 Reasons Why and Why Not
[Relationships:Divorce] Your relationship has gotten so bad that you are talking about divorce - when you are talking at all. Should you consider a trial separation? Why and why not.
- Is Your Relationship in Danger? Take This 10 Question Quiz to Find Out
[Relationships] You have the occasional argument. Sometimes you feel frustrated, and you have that uneasy sense that everything is not as it should be. Is your relationship in trouble? The answer may not be obvious. Take this quiz to measure the overall state of your relationship and highlight the trouble spots.
- Who Leads the Happier Life, the Cynic Or the Believer? A Look at Both Perspectives
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] First, let's define both "Cynic" and "Believer," as both words are more likely to provoke emotional reaction than thoughtful analysis. When I use the term Cynic, I simply mean someone who holds the opinion that people are motivated wholly by self-interest. Do not confuse the factual definition of Cynic with the ill-spirited description, "a sneering and sarcastic faultfinding critic."
- Where There is Love, Nothing is Missing - A Parable
[Arts-and-Entertainment] The true meaning of life appears in this story of a suicidal American and a generous Mexican woman. Grab a box of Kleenex before you read this one.
- Trying to Get Your Ex Back? A Look at the 10 Best and Worst Ways to Rekindle the Romance
[Relationships:Conflict] They left. You're lonely, and they look pretty good right now. Should you even attempt to rekindle the romance? What are the best and worst ways to rebuild your connection?
- Should You Try to Get Your Ex Back? Rekindle the Romance Or Walk Away? 10 Questions You Need to Ask
[Relationships:Conflict] They left. You're lonely, and they look pretty good right now. Should you attempt to rekindle the romance? Let's look at when to try and when to walk away. Ask yourself these 10 questions.
- You Are Never Too Old to Give Or Get Gold Stars - Five Ways to Show Honest Appreciation
[Business:Workplace-Communication] As adults, we are much more likely to receive criticism than appreciation. When was the last time you offered sincere appreciation or a gold star? Consider these ways to express appreciation.
- Was Today a Hard Day? Nine Ways to Find the Best in Life
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] Life is magnificent - just as it comes. Life has no need for fancy clothes, or lipstick. Life is no pig. Our life is the greatest gift of all creation.
- Mae West Said "Too Much of a Good Thing Can Be Wonderful" Was She Right?
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] When we are surrounded by abundance, not only do we stop being grateful, we actually STOP SEEING our abundance. "What air? I don't see any air."
- Lost Money in the Stock Market? Lost Your Job? How to Cope With the Emotional Devastation
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] You are probably waiting for me to tell you how to fix your finances, but I'm not. How much money you have is a relatively small part of what creates happiness. Once people have food, shelter, and a few basics, happiness is no longer much related to money. Happiness comes from self-worth, healthy pride, family and friends, and viewing life from a perspective of seeing joy in all of life.
- Never Let Anyone Get Your Goat, Push Your Buttons, Get You Riled Up, Or Annoy You - 6 Ways to Cope
[Self-Improvement:Anger-Management] Whether phrased as "push your buttons," "get your goat," "get you riled up," or "annoy you," it's no fun to be on the receiving end. How to cope?
- Beyond the Grief of Divorce - 7 Steps Toward New Beginnings
[Relationships:Post-Divorce] If you have been divorced, you know it hurts - especially if your marriage had lasted many years. Whatever the circumstances of your relationship, and whatever the nature of its ending, there is always grief and regret - perhaps regret over the ending or perhaps regret over not ending the relationship sooner - or perhaps both. How to move past the grief and regret? No matter how painful, divorce, like all endings, opens the door to new beginnings. Let's examine several.
- Say NO to Stress - 8 Easy Yet Powerful Ways
[Self-Improvement:Stress-Management] Stress is to your emotional health as junk food is to your physical health. As you need exercise and a healthy diet for your physical body, so too, you need exercise and a healthy diet for your emotional body.
- Don Miguel Ruiz - The Four Agreements - The Wisdom of the Ages in Four Sound-Bites
[Book-Reviews:Self-Help] From Moses and the Buddha to the present day, the Wisdom of the Ages remains unchanged. What varies is how that wisdom is expressed. don Miguel Ruiz has reduced the essence of living a joyful and purposeful life to four short phrases. How well has he succeeded?
- Holiday Party Spoilers - Do You Know Any of These People?
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Are you dreading that family get-together or office party? You can stay home, you can just suffer through it, or you can have a good laugh labeling the behaviors. Stereotyping people may not be considered nice, but there really are personality types, and nothing brings that out like a holiday gathering. Do you know these people?
- Honor the Human Spirit - Love All of Life
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Each of is loving in some moments - hateful in others. Patient and calm sometimes - harried by urgency at others. What does all this mean? It means only that we are human - nothing more. Our opportunity is to love ourselves exactly as we are - with all our joys and sufferings.
- The "Law of Attraction" Is a Dangerous Half-Truth
[Self-Improvement:Attraction] Everything regarding the so called "Law of Attraction" is an opinion. There is no scientific basis whatsoever for the "law," as there is no scientific basis for anything else in metaphysics or in religion. Does that mean all of metaphysics is wrong?
- Most of the Dating Advice You Have Read is Dead Wrong
[Relationships:Dating] Guys are supposed to act confident, buy flowers, tell jokes. Gals are told to hang on his every word, flirt, be coy. Baloney! Why be a pretend you - an imitation you - instead of a real you? As Judy Garland said, "Always be a first-rate version of yourself, instead of a second-rate version of somebody else." Ask yourself why you are dating, and how you can get what you really want.
- Joy is a Choice - But Not an Easy Choice
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Of course you want to be happy, but life is hard. Your job's a pain, your family nags, and sometimes your body hurts, so how can a Joyful Life be a choice? It isn't an easy choice, but Joy IS a choice that you can make.
- Regrets, Resentments and the Path to Forgiveness - Stop Anger & Live Happy With Conscious Awareness
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Although the readers of my daily inspiration email seem to believe otherwise, I am not always happy inside. Actually, I got quite angry recently. I do not live a perfect life, I live a life of conscious awareness - most of the time. Often people go through life in a sort of fog - unhappy, helpless to address the unhappiness, and unhappy about the helpless feeling. That is what my approach to life can address. There are two steps, the first of the mind, the second of the heart.
- Living Life Beyond Assumption, Expectation, and Anger - A Personal Confession
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Each of us is burdened by an unlimited number of expectations (demands) that we hold for the actions of others. We know that there is a right way to do things, and are often outraged when our expectations are not met. Usually, we are unaware that we merely have a strong opinion and point-of-view - we are sure that we know how everything is supposed to be. The following story is one of the many times when my subconscious expectations have been shattered.
- Online Dating After Divorce - A Man's Guide to Seeking Women, Finding Love, Getting Married Again
[Relationships:Post-Divorce] You say you are looking for your next long term relationship - this time a really great lifelong partnership - but you are horny and you want to get laid - soon. STOP! That attitude is NOT going to lead you to a great long term relationship. Bank the fires of lust long enough to search consciously for someone with whom you are truly compatible.
- How to Know When "Mister Right" is Mister Wrong - 7 Keys to a Great Relationship
[Relationships:Dating] You are in love. Your hormones are surging, so you know this must be "the one." Besides, you are lonely and you want someone to hold you and make you feel cherished - now.
- Stop Anger Before it Stops You - 7 Secrets
[Self-Improvement:Anger-Management] You've told yourself a hundred times that you aren't going to get angry - really angry - ever again, but wham, you start to feel that telltale heat, locked shoulders, clenched jaw, shallow breathing. Someone has just done something really awful and you are very angry at them. What now?
- The "Spousal We" and 6 Other Ways to Leave Your Lover
[Relationships] You really want to end your relationship, but you don't have the courage to say so directly. What to do? Here is a tongue-in-cheek list of ways to force your partner to make the break first.
- Inspirational Quotes - Spur For Inquiry
[Self-Improvement:Inspirational] The greatest value of quotations and sayings is to get us thinking about new ideas. Let's take all aphorisms as a spur for inquiry. Let those ideas with which we disagree start us thinking, talking and questioning, but also let our comfortable, familiar, and inspiring quotes become a source of questioning. Remember that each of our comfortable inspiring quotes is a "no way - that's dumb" bit of foolishness for some other equally conscious citizens of our planet.
- How to Be Happy - 7 Secrets For a Happy Life
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Happiness is not something anyone else can give us, or take away from us. Happiness is what we make of our lives... or don't. Life is NOT "Supposed to be Fair." Whatever our circumstances, we can create a joyful life... or a miserable life. It is up to us.
- Living the Unconcerned Life - Choosing to End Worry
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] "Unconcerned" doesn't sound so great at first. "Living the Unconcerned Life" may seem that we are advocating living unconsciously - without attention, thought, or compassion. Shouldn't we want to be "concerned" about the affairs of our lives and show "concern" for the welfare of others?
- What If Every Day Were Halloween - Celebrate Whimsey Today
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Who made the rule that life has to be so serious? One would think that "life is serious" had been engraved upon stone tablets to judge from how most lives are lived. Get a life, smile broadly, sing loudly, paint your rooms in bold colors, search every rabbit hole for a magical white bunny, have caviar for breakfast and oatmeal for dinner, wear a purple coat with a red hat - dance lightly with life.
- Cyanide Happiness - What Kind of Happiness?
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] That someone would name a comic strip Cyanide and Happiness, speaks volumes about the age in which we live. What if we didn't need the newest gizmo... the highest high? What if happiness is about enjoying life exactly as it comes to us - without chasing after it? What if happiness is something we CHOOSE... regardless of our circumstances?
- Celebrating Rainbows & Butterflies - The Small Miracles of Our Life
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] Rainbows and butterflies are themselves beautiful and highly symbolic, but they are also representative of all the small miracles of our life - the little things that are so easy to overlook, yet so awe inspiring when we take a moment to notice and to pay attention. Give thanks for the rainbows, for the butterflies, for all God's creatures - large and small, for the bright blue sky and the soft fog and the gentle rain, for the tree veiled in the season's first frost, for the baby's laugh, for the touch of a hand and the whispered ...
- Pay it Forward - As an Expression of Universal Gratitude and Thanksgiving
[Self-Improvement:Happiness] While many of us recognize the expression "Pay It Forward" from the 2000 movie of that name, the concept is an ancient one. Consider "paying forward" to future generation as a act of gratitude for everything we have and are.
- Life is Good - Make a Happy Thanksgiving List of Gratitudes
[Home-and-Family:Holidays] Making a list of gratitudes is an exercise that holds renewed power each time it is repeated. One can never be too conscious of everything there is for which to be grateful.
- My Personal Greatest Hero - Jimmy Yen
[Self-Improvement:Self-Esteem] Who do we most respect and admire? Why our Heroes of course. Jimmy Yen is my own personal greatest hero. Who is yours? And why?
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