 When I am around people, I pick up their energy. I don’t just think they must be happy, sad, or angry… I know it. I feel it! If they are in emotional or physical pain, I can feel their pain in my body. Because of this, I am not a fan of being in crowded areas. A quick trip through the aisles of a grocery store can be a roller coaster of up-and-down feelings from everyone I walk by. It can be exhausting. I have a ritual that I do before entering a crowd. I take a few deep breaths in my car and I imagine a bubble around me that will keep all the feelings from others at bay. It helps. If you are not someone who is highly attuned to the emotions of others and can sense and experience their energy and emotions on a deep level, (an empath) this probably sounds strange to you. The reality is, we all do this on some level. You may not deeply feel the emotions of strangers as you walk by them like I do, but you still feel the feelings of others. When was the last time you came home from work and your wife was angry at someone and you immediately became angry at that person too? Or did someone tell you great news of happiness and you became happy too? Or did you receive tragic news from someone, and you hugged each other circled in the same cloud of grief? I bet you can see yourself in those scenarios. Some of that is normal, natural, and can’t be avoided. Of course, if your family is expecting a new baby, everyone will join in joy for that happy event. And of course, if a loved one passes many who cared about that person will share grief together. The problem comes when you just automatically feel someone’s feelings as if they are your own. If you dislike someone just because your friend doesn’t like them that is a problem. Don’t let their anger become your anger. Don’t let their hate become your hate. Don’t let their fear become your fear. Don’t let their skepticism, jealousy, mistrust…. or fill-in-the-blank with whatever feeling it is… don’t let theirs become yours. Before you take that easy step of jumping in with both feet and letting theirs become yours, try taking a difficult step back. Stay outside of their bubble of anger, skepticism, hate, fear- or whatever emotion they are projecting. Stand in a clear space far enough away to understand and see the whole picture. Evaluate the situation from a nonjudgmental stance. After you have looked at the situation from all angles and made a clear judgment for yourself, then you can feel the appropriate emotion. Your emotion. Maybe the situation is accurate as it was presented to you, and you will become angry or disappointed too. Maybe the situation is a little more two-sided, and you need to take a middle-ground approach. Maybe you need to walk away from the entire situation. But never allow someone else’s anger to become your anger. The bubble technique works. If you know you are walking into a troubling situation, sit for a few minutes. Take a few breaths. Build a bubble of protection around yourself. Your feelings should be your feelings. The feelings and emotions of others should be theirs. Don’t let theirs become yours. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Learn to understand the difference between your feelings and emotions and the feelings and emotions of others. Don’t blur the two. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happiness
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 What if you could do one thing that improved your mental health, created positive relationships, boosted your feel-good hormones, and increased happiness? Would you do it? What if there was a day dedicated to doing this one thing? Would you celebrate it? The good news is, there is one thing that does all of that – kindness. The act of being kind can reduce stress and anxiety. By being kind to others and doing acts of kindness you can increase your optimistic attitude and self-confidence. Practicing kindness can support positive friendships and nurture trust in relationships. Acts of kindness can increase your body’s production of dopamine, oxytocin, and serotonin – the feel-good hormones. Being kind to yourself can encourage a space of inner peace and security in your life. Kindness is contagious, and one act of kindness can lead to more. You may have been in the drive-through line at your favorite coffee shop and the car in front of you paid for your coffee. You in turn paid for the car behind you and so on. For that brief moment in time, those who participated in this paying-it-forward activity became joy builders by spreading kindness. All of this together builds to increase happiness and joy in your life and in the life of others. It creates a world with more meaning. And it may surprise you to know that yes, there is a day dedicated to celebrating kindness. Every year, November 13th is World Kindness Day. Since it began in 1998, World Kindness Day offers an opportunity to intentionally increase the common thread of kindness. Don’t you agree that the sound of that is lovely... a day dedicated to kindness? As you read this the day has passed, but why not intentionally be kind every day? It doesn’t take much to make the world a happier place by making kindness a part of your personality. Part of your daily routine. Part of your life. Offer to help someone when you see a need. Say a kind word to someone you don’t know or normally wouldn’t talk to. Share a smile, let someone go in front of you at a checkout line, and say thank you. These types of little gestures count. Start small and watch your ability to be kind grow. Once you realize the benefits of being kind you will become kinder. Today, do that one thing that can change so much in life for the better. Be kind What will you do to spread the joy of kindness? Can you do at least one kind thing today? And when you do, pay attention to how it makes you feel. We can (and should) normalize kindness. Can you imagine the ripple effect if everyone in the world intentionally practiced kindness – not just on World Kindness Day, but every day? Kindness can make a difference. Kindness does matter. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: Kindness is contagious, and one act of kindness can lead to more. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happiness  Have you lost your joy for life? Have you experienced so much pain that you feel like joy is impossible? Does the idea of the holidays spreading joy make your eyes roll? Is it time to strengthen your joy muscle? I wrote a book on joy, but at times, I still need to work on my own joy. Here are some ideas that we can all use to pump up our joy.
Don’t waste your time wishing for and wanting joy. You must work for it. You must exercise and strengthen your joy muscle. Through the steps I outlined, set your mind on practicing intentional joy. Pump up your joy muscle. It is possible to increase the joy in your life. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: You hold the power to strengthen and increase joy in your life. Fall in love with the process of joy building. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happiness  Have you had one of those days? You know the ones. You wake up late. You stub your toe as you hurry to get dressed, and then on the way to work, you are stopped at every red light. You realize you forgot your notes at home for the presentation you must give at work. One thing after another seems to be going wrong. You are in a bad mood and want to begin the day over again. Or rush through it and get it over with. It is a no-good rotten terrible day! It is easy to become the victim and believe that the day is out to get you, everyone is against you, and the world is a terrible place. You are just an innocent bystander in this calamity of a day because you think, “Everything always happens to me!” Then one day turns into two and then a week goes by, and you are in total victim mode and slowly you believe your world is falling apart. And then it does. When a day begins like this, it is human nature to lock in on all the bad things that are going wrong and how nothing ever goes right. Reticular thinking takes over. Our brain begins noticing and directing our attention toward what matters most to it. In this state of expecting everything bad to happen, what matters most to our brain is bad things happening. So, our life is going to give us more bad things. Let’s look at reality. There are many days when one or two unfortunate things happen. That does not mean we should just check the day off as a bad day. We have more control over how our day turns out than you might think. What if we took control of our thinking pattern and allowed reticular thinking to work in a positive way? If we stop at the first or second inconvenient experience and begin looking for the good in the day, we can control what our brain is noticing. Maybe you overslept and stubbed your toe, but the coffee is hot and tastes great! On the drive to work when you are stopped at red lights, notice the sunrise or the beautiful blue sky. Be grateful for the car you are driving. When you arrive at work smile at everyone you see – they will smile back. Be grateful for your job. With every interaction and experience, continue looking for the good in the day. It won’t take long for you to forget about how the day began. Your mind is too busy concentrating on seeing the good in your day. Your brain is clicking through the day frame by frame, moment by moment, interaction by interaction searching for happy situations. You begin to think, “Everything good always happens to me!” Then one day turns into two and then a week goes by, and you are in total control of your life. Slowly you believe your world is an amazing place. And it is! When you are having one of those days where everything seems to be going wrong… remember, it is never too late to change the ending of your day. Until the day is over there is always time to create a good memory and forget the bad. There is always time to change the pattern. There is always time for everything good to happen to you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ Pennie’s Life Lesson: There is always time to change the ending of a bad day. Until the day is over there is always time to make it a good day. ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ YOUR TURN...
Share your thoughts and experiences relating to this post in a comment below. And please feel free to email me at: [email protected]. Thank you! ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ All Rights Reserved Copyright © 2013-2024 Pennie Hunt This was written and produced by Pennie Hunt. Feel free to forward and share this post. Please keep the entire message intact, including contact, logo, and copyright information. #CornerofSpiritandBrave #LoveYourLifeNoMatterWhat #JourneyThrough #PennieHunt #IAmGoodEnough #grief #Love #Joy #HowToBeHappy #Happiness |
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