Friendship Shouldn’t Be Hard Work – Story Time

Photo: Beautiful happy group of friends in India who shared their joy with me in a photo, taken in 2012! I hope they are still great friends!

Day 22 of our happiness challenge today and I’m feeling great. How are you getting on? The changes that are serving me the most are working out, meditating/breathwork/mindfulness, staying off social media for the most part, using my phone far less, expressing gratitude, being outside as much as possible, sitting under trees and grounding by having bare foot on the earth, practicing accepting myself as I am, releasing some expectations I put on myself and choosing to trust in the process of my life.

One week to go and since we already hit the 21 day mark it should be easy peasy 😉 You got this! Today’s blog is a bit difference as I reflected on a life lesson I want to share with you. Let me know your thoughts in the comments and if you have had an experience of your own please share with me how you learned it 🙂

Happiness Challenge 🙂

Here is the challenge if you want to join us for the final week.

Lesson: Do not waste any of your life defending your character. You know who you are and your intentions. Those who are meant to be in your life do too and won’t be making you jump through hoops to prove yourself. Call you out on your BS yes, but question who you are, nope.

How I learned it (Story Time): I once had a group of friends for over a decade of my life and the first time a situation like this arose, I was about 13, one of the girls who I spent most of my time with made up lies about my character and she successfully told our whole group of friends, boys and girls, to ignore me and that they did, completely ending their friendship with me, some for months, after knowing me already for about 3-4 years. I went out of my way be accepted again, even making mix tapes of the latest hits, remember those 😉

Feeling Emotions Deeply

I don’t know where to begin today, so many thoughts; so many ideas, unsure are any of them actually with substance or simply fleeting.

If 10 days of silent meditation at a Vipassana retreat taught me anything as someone who is obsessed and dependant on writing everything down, it is that the important thoughts will stick around, if you can manage to simply sit, choosing the act of being. It is the mental clutter and turbulence that keep us from connecting to our divine forces. I believe the insights we seek are already within, waiting to be unlocked.

I felt emotions so deeply and mistakenly, labelled myself as emotionally weak, even possibly depressed. I am neither. When I get in that headspace it is easy to fall into a whirl of repetitive yet overwhelming thoughts, as I try to think my way out of it and determine why. Why me? Why do I feel this way?

30 Habits to start before turning 30

Here are 30 changes I made in my own life that brought me closer to joy. Keep in mind these habits will benefit us at any age; it’s never too late to start! Make lifestyle changes one at a time for true success. I recommend the book ‘Slight Edge’ by Jeff Olson if you need advice on how to make habits stick. Here it is as a PDF: https://givbuxuniversity.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/03/The-Slight-Edge-Jeff-Olson.pdf

1. WEAR SUNSCREEN DAILY

Avoid age spots – I already have them on my face! Avoid premature skin ageing. Pick up a chemical free sunscreen from any health shop.

2. QUIT GETTING DRUNK

Let’s be honest, it leads us to feel bad about ourselves. Also, it’s literally a poison to the human body eeekk!

3. END YOUR RELATIONSHIP WITH TOBACCO

4. READ BOOKS

Daily if possible, even weekly. Factual, fiction, autobiography or whatever floats your boat. Keep looking until you find what you like.

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5. SAY GOODBYE TO TOXIC FRIENDSHIPS

This was one of the hardest but necessary for internal peace and joy.

6. SPEAK WITH LOVE TO THE BODY PARTS YOU FELT/FEEL INSECURE ABOUT

I had a lot of making up to do to my stomach & arms.