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Articles by Maurine Patten
6 Proven Secrets For Effective Goals
Positive Psychology research indicates that there is value in setting goals. Learn how goals direct your attention by clarifying where you are going and motivate you to take action when you follow six proven secrets for effective goal setting. Think of a goal as a dream with a deadline. Start by looking at the possibilities in your life. Choose something that is meaningful, uses your strengths, and matches your values.
People talk about not having enough time to get things done they need or want to do. While being busy makes you feel important and needed, it can fool you. Discover 6 tips that will help you manage your time more effectively. Authors Loehr and Schwartz stress the need to balance expending and renewing your energy to be at your best. Following one or more of these tips, you wil find that you are accomplishing and enjoying more of what you do.
Success is personal. When you are successful with something, you are pleased with the outcome. Principles are guidelines to help you achieve something that is important. They simplify data so that you do not get overwhelmed. Following three principles of success from personal development experts will help you keep steadily moving forward so that you will achieve the success you are striving for.
Wisdom is defined as judging rightly and following the soundest course of action. Some researchers believe it is a "master" strength which guides your other strengths. It is learned through experience, not taught. Wisdom grows by the successful resolution of crises and hardships. Choose from a checklist of ways to improve practical wisdom. You will benefit by having an increased sense of calmness about choices you make in your life.
Use This Checklist To Increase Your Happiness
It is possible to be happier. On-going research in the area of Positive Psychology is helping to identify thinking and behavior patterns of happy people. The good news is that forty percent of your happiness level depends on choices you make. Learn which choices will enhance your happiness level. Use the included checklist to discover what you are currently doing and what you might want to add to increase your sense of well-being.
How To Live A Meaningful Life?
Living a meaningful life is possible. The search for meaning and purpose in your life is essential for you to thrive. It is important to feel needed, appreciated, and noticed for good mental health. Meaning comes from using your strengths to achieve your purpose. Discover how to determine your pupose and choose meaningful activities. It will increase your sense of well-being and fulfillment.
You, Too, Can Enhance Your Relationships
Having healthy relationships is an important sign of Emotional Intelligence. Learn how to express caring, appreciation, and/or love to the people who are special to you by discovering how to use Gary Chapman's Love Languages. Six tips will help you become more proficient in using love languages with your partner, friends, coworkers or children to build trust, heal past hurts, provide a sense of security, self-worth, and significance.
Do You Want To End A Tough Year With Gratitude?
Are you looking forward to the New Year? New research points to gratitude as a key to your health and happiness. Robert Emmons book, Thanks! (2007)sheds light on the benefits of gratitude. For a life changing experience, specific suggestions from Positive Psychology research are given to help you tune into what is good in your life.
Do You Know The Key Ingredient To Make Your Holiday Season Bright?
Numerous religious holidays will be celebrated during a 6 week period in December and January. One ingredient, in the form of a character strength, can make your holiday bright. That strenth is spirituality which can be seen as a search for the sacred. No matter what your religious beliefs are, you can deepen your character strength of spirituality by following some of the suggestions to make this your brightest holiday season ever.
Do You Need To Balance Your Life?
Living in a world that keeps changing almost faster than time itself, can cause a time crunch to get things done. To avoid being overwhelmed, it is important to strive for balance and stay focused. However, focusing on something can cause you to lose the sense of balance in your life. There is a way to consider what needs to be done and how each item is tied to your values. Six additional suggestions help create a feeling of inner balance.
Research indicates happiness can be learned or increased. It is something you make happen. Seligman defines 3 types of happiness that can lead to a pleasant life, a good life, and/or a meaningful life. Having all three leads to a full life. Positive emotions broaden your intellectual, physical, and social resources. Follow the route to happiness by learning the important internal states which can be controlled to increase positive emotions.
Do You Know The Key Ingredients To Feel Fulfilled?
During the last 5 years there is increasing evidence supporting the association of happiness/fulfillment with life and being able to use your strengths. Now, there is information which tells us which strengths are necessary and the ingredients the brain needs to experience fulfillment. Do you have these five strengths? If you are not strong in these strengths, it is possible to increase them, and find the key to increasing your fulfillment.
Most people want their life to be meaningful. Sometimes you may struggle finding what will give you that special feeling of meaning. To begin, consider the conditions necessary to give meaning "within" life by answering two important questions. In addition, consider the three conditions Jonathan Haidt describes needed for feelings of meaning to exist. By establishing these three conditions, life becomes more meaningful.
What You Need Before You Are Motivated
It is wonderful to feel motivated. In contrast, you probably have had times of feeling unmotivated. While different people are motivated by a variety of things, there are three decisions you can make that will help you be fully motivated. If you find it difficult to make one or more of these decisions, there are small, beginining steps you can take to move you in the right direction.
Do You Want To Ask Powerful Questions?
We all ask questions on a daily basis. Some you direct to others and some to yourself. If you want to get the best answer to your questions, you need to be sure you have asked the right questions. Some words have more power than others. A good question provides the information you need and satisfies three requirements. If change and action are what you are looking for, asking more powerful questions can alter your perception and attitude.
How do you know if you are stuck? There are 5 symptoms of being stuck. Each has a remedy that can help you reach your goal. It is important to have good self-awareness, to be honest with yourself, and listen to feedback from people you respect. Discover if you have any of the symptoms of stuck performance and the appropriate remedy. If noticed at an early stage, there are steps you can take to begin forward movement and ensure your success.
Sharpening Professional Effectiveness
Emotional Intelligence (EI) may determine as much as 80% of a person's life success. It influences success in four areas of life: productivity, health, relationships, and quality of life. It determines who excels in a given job and is the basis for outstanding leadership. Upbeat moods boost cooperation, fairness, and performance. EI is learned and can be retained through motivation, effort, practice, and repetition.
Research on happiness indicates that once your basic needs are met, money does not make you happy. An exciting discovery is that there are things you can do to increase happiness without making major life changes. Reasearch also indicates that how you choose to think about things can affect your level of happiness. Reap the benefits from an improved sense of well-being and feeling happier today by choosing to follow some of the suggestions.
Do You Use These Strategies To Manage Your Mood?
Stress is our reaction to people or things going on around us. Sometimes the situations are positive and other times negative. When you are unhappy about how things are going, there are three strategies which will help you move forward in a positive direction. To mange your mood, consider your needs, wants, and values before you choose one of the three strategies. Then take positive steps to move forward confidently.