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Home » happiness » Page 2

Turn Your Unhappiness into Personal Growth

Unhappy young woman

I often discuss happiness with my clients. They find it very awkward when I tell them it is possible to find happiness everywhere, including times of unhappiness.

Most people try to avoid unhappiness like the plague. They divide life into happy and unhappy and think they should move towards happy and avoid unhappy. This is good if you think of it as a process and direction, but not if you think of it as something that shrinks you. You see, we can grow from happiness and we can grow from unhappiness.

Trent was a 28-year-old man who worked at a petrol station. He was healthy, made good money, could pick shifts if he wanted to do something in the evening, had time for computer games and had some good friends.

On the surface, you’d think Trent had a very good life, but he didn’t. His friends were all professionals with university degrees, and he still didn’t know what he wanted to do in his life. He told me he’d never known what he wanted to do in his life.

One day, Trent had a weekend away with his friends, and although the time spent together was fantastic, Trent came back very unhappy. This was when he looked for a life coach and found me.

Read Turn Your Unhappiness into Personal Growth »

October 10, 2018 by Ronit Baras In: Personal Development Tags: acceptance / judgment / tolerance, choice, emotional intelligence, emotions, empowerment, feeling, happiness, how to, Life Coaching, motivation, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, positive attitude tips

You Can Change Your Life

A bridge over a creek

Change is not easy and you can recognize the points that have changed your course in life only in hindsight. We call these points “quantum moments”. I have had many quantum moments in life and the ones that have steered me in the right direction included reading books, meeting inspiring people and attending empowering events. I contemplated each of them until I got to some realization that later became part of my being.

My biggest change in life was when I was 15 years old. I remember how before it, I dreamed every day of waking up to a different life. I said, “I wish…” and had millions of wishes. I hoped to be the Genie of the Lamp, but every morning realized I was not. I built up hopes and got up in the morning to realize they were just illusions that I had no power to fulfill.

You see, it is one thing to want and another thing to make it happen.

Read You Can Change Your Life »

April 25, 2017 by Ronit Baras In: Parenting Tags: change, emotional intelligence, empowerment, financial freedom, goals / goal setting, happiness, how to, inspiration, motivation, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, positive attitude tips, self confidence / self esteem / self worth, success

Blessings for You

Buddhist monk child pouring water in a stream

I think of myself as very fortunate, because I have found a profession that is a purpose and does not feel like work at all. I discovered my purpose 32 years ago when I started my Special Education studies. Serving humanity is very fulfilling and it is great to help people find their own purpose in life.

On my bookshelf, there is a beautiful blackboard that says, “To teach is to touch a life forever”. I have given cards with this quote to many of my students over the years. Touching people, helping them open their eyes to the endless possibilities and empowering them to take charge is a great joy and has become my mission.

Read Blessings for You »

March 22, 2017 by Ronit Baras In: Spirituality Tags: affirmations, focus, gratitude, happiness, hope, inspiration, Life Coaching, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, purpose

Singing Family Full of Joy

Noff with a microphone and Tsoof on guitar

On my happy list, I wrote, “It makes me happy to listen to my kids singing”. This was true even when they were babies. I remember my youngest daughter Noff joining us in Alicia Keys’ song Fallin’ when she was one year old. She always joined on time and it made us all very happy.

Singing is a very sensitive thing for me. Well, it was very sensitive. Today, when I run workshops or stand in front of a big crowd during my presentations, no one can guess that years ago, when I was young, I sometimes had no voice. Speaking was difficult for me and singing was not even an option.

Read Singing Family Full of Joy »

November 22, 2016 by Ronit Baras In: Parenting Tags: activity, art, body image, fun, happiness, kids / children, music, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, practical parenting / parents, role model, self confidence / self esteem / self worth, success experience, video

How to Keep Negativity Away from You

Girl looking worried while giving the thumbs up

Last week, in Toxic People and Why You Should Stay Away from Them, I wrote about the kinds of people we should stay away from when we feel they are damaging our self-esteem. In this post, I will cover some ways to keep those people away from your heart and minimize their influence on your mind.

The main difficulty we have with energy consumers is that we take their negative influence with us, even when they are not present physically. By taking it with us, we spread the bad vibes to other areas of our life and affect other people in our lives negatively.

Think of this negativity, as a virus that spreads and damages people’s self-esteem. To overcome the virus, you need to find its source and then, make sure it will not spread.

Read How to Keep Negativity Away from You »

November 15, 2016 by Ronit Baras In: Parenting Tags: acceptance / judgment / tolerance, change, feeling, forgiveness, friends / friendship, happiness, how to, mindfulness, negative, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, practical parenting / parents, self confidence / self esteem / self worth

Toxic People and Why You Should Stay Away from Them

Ronit, Tsoof and Noff on the Great Ocean Road

I think that the people in our life have the potential to help us evolve into better versions of ourselves. On the other hand, toxic people drain us from energy and do not help us move forward. In some ways, they even take us backwards.

When my youngest sister traveled, I made her a journal to capture her experiences and added quotes. One of them was this:

“Keep away from people who try to belittle your ambitions. Small people always do that, but the really great make you feel that you, too, can become great.”

– Mark Twain

This quote now hangs on my fridge too.

Read Toxic People and Why You Should Stay Away from Them »

November 8, 2016 by Ronit Baras In: Personal Development Tags: acceptance / judgment / tolerance, change, feeling, friends / friendship, happiness, how to, list, negative, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, practical parenting / parents, self confidence / self esteem / self worth

Experiences, not Possessions: How to Best Spend Money on Your Kids

Baras family in Thailand

If you wonder how to give your kids the best life possible, do not buy them things. Instead, give them great, exciting experiences. Research shows they will remember special events and adventures longer and relive the joy and excitement again and again.

We live in a world of abundance. If you want to understand how much you have today, all you need to do is think of how your life would have been 50 years ago. I like asking myself, “What did my parents not have 50 years ago that I (or my kids) have today?” It is a good lesson in perspective.

Unfortunately, not every person who asks this question reaches the same conclusion. Some people feel grateful and other feel fear. Grateful people, who feel that they are fortunate, tend to appreciate what they have and care for it. Fearful people panic and start to accumulate things. No matter how much they accumulate, they are never happy. Fear takes away the joy of what they already have.

Read Experiences, not Possessions: How to Best Spend Money on Your Kids »

November 3, 2016 by Ronit Baras In: Parenting Tags: education / learning, fun, happiness, holidays, how to, lifestyle, memory, money, practical parenting / parents, school, travel, vacation

Make a list: Life Lessons Learned

Road sign with all arrows leading to the right way

Old people often reflect on life and give the younger generations their list of life lessons learned. It is as if experience gives them the credit to give tips to the young on how to live life.

Well, it does! Experience is important and the best thing about it is that it helps develop perspective.

Unfortunately, not all old people with lots of experience have the perspective to give “young ones” and many of their tips are not applicable to the way life happens now. What worked for my parents, who are now in their 80’s, might not work for me or for my children.

Does this mean I cannot learn from them? No! I can learn a lot from them, but it is best to develop my own lessons, because the lessons I learn by myself are the lessons I can live by.

This post is part 39 of 47 in the series Make a List

Read Make a list: Life Lessons Learned »

November 1, 2016 by Ronit Baras In: Personal Development Tags: beliefs, change, choice, happiness, how to, mindfulness, perception, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, responsibility, rules

Mental Pain Shouldn’t Kill You. It Can Make You Stronger

The word depression projected onto a sad man's face

I have written before about emotional pain as a reaction to a perceived threat and our body’s way of telling us that something is wrong. Mental pain is not the enemy. It is the messenger. And it is very important not to kill it.

Many people will tell you that when you come out of the other side of pain, you feel stronger. I have learned the hard way that the fear of pain takes more energy than the pain itself. Worry is an example of it. When we worry, we experience mental pain from something negative we have imagined in our head. Yes, all in our head.

There are many techniques to turn mental pain into psychological strength and the more you use them, the less you feel the pain. I have gathered some of them here to share with you. All of them are proven and practical. I use them with my clients.

Read Mental Pain Shouldn’t Kill You. It Can Make You Stronger »

October 25, 2016 by Ronit Baras In: Health / Wellbeing, Personal Development Tags: acceptance / judgment / tolerance, anxiety, attitude, change, depression, emotional intelligence, empowerment, focus, happiness, health / wellbeing, how to, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, positive attitude tips, stress / pressure

The Optimistic Creed

Be Optimistic

Everybody in the world wants happiness. Ask around and you will see. Being optimistic is a way to reach happiness and if you want to go this way, you must first believe that it will take you to where you want to go.

When we talk happiness at my workshops, many people highlight the obstacles to happiness. They share stories of heartache, disappointment, frustration, failure and pain. For them, you can only be in a state of happiness when everything in life functions at a 100%. When I ask them, “What makes you happy?” they mostly list what needs not to happen, which shows a focus on the past and on avoiding pain.

When I draw their attention to this focus, they make a list of what needs to happen for them to be happy. This is better, but we quickly discover that one painful thing is enough for them to feel unhappy, but to feel happy, they need the whole list to happen at the same time. This way, they make sure that unhappiness is easy to reach and happiness is really hard.

When my clients understand that this is a problem, they usually ask, “Ronit, how do we change the formula?” and one of the best ways to do it is by practicing optimism.

Read The Optimistic Creed »

October 4, 2016 by Ronit Baras In: Personal Development Tags: acceptance / judgment / tolerance, anxiety, emotional intelligence, empowerment, gratitude, happiness, law of attraction, optimism, personal development / personal growth / personality development / self improvement, positive attitude tips

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  • Home
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