Stop Looking For Happiness!

You just need to learn how to be happy.

Are you constantly searching for happiness in materialistic goods? "Oh if I have that iPhone, 60" TV or new car then ill be happy". So what happens then when you smash the screen on your iPhone, your TV is stolen and someone rear ends your new car? Bye Bye Happiness.

How many of you truthfully wake up in the morning, lie there and are just content and happy within yourself? My guess is very few and the bad news is however you feel is pretty much your own fault.

Let's cut the crap.

• We both know more often than not you continued to eat when you knew you shouldn't have.

• You drank too much wine too often knowing you shouldn't have.

• You ordered take out knowing you'd only done a full shop and there was plenty of food there to make a proper home made meal.

• You sat on your ass and made excuses not to move your body (walk, run, cycle, swim).

• You bought the four pack of chocolate on special instead of buying the single bar knowing you’re going to eat the four bars but yet before you dig into the next bar your saying to yourself 'I really shouldn't' but do it anyway....I could go on and on and on.

I know what you’re doing, sure more often than not I've done it myself at some stage. So much of my knowledge is life experience followed and backed up by education. I've made the same nutrition and training mistakes, I've been in those ruts where you just want to eat pizza and drink beer every night. I've looked at others doing more with their lives and thought 'man I wish I could do something like that'....as I shove another four squares of Cadburys in my gob.

New plan!

Let’s take accountability for our actions.

How about the next time you buy the four bars of chocolate say to yourself 'I'm going to eat these and enjoy them knowing they are not good for me and are not going to help me achieve my goals'. Also then later when you go to sit down just bring all the bars with you and save yourself about ten trips in and out of the kitchen cause you and I both know you're going to eat them all anyway.

Will this change anything??? Well, at least it's a start in taking accountability, you stop lying to yourself and also its less guilt.

You know you're overweight, you know you’re at a higher risk of heart disease or stroke, you know you can't play for five minutes with your kids without being wrecked and/or just have a lack of interest. You probably feel guilty about it and can't understand why it's there but it is.

So you know you're unhappy but why?

You can't change it all at once but by changing nothing then nothing will change.

Let's accept you have a problem, accept it's your fault from the outcome of the choices you've made and let’s move on from there.

You didn't get to where you are overnight and fixing it won't happen in an instant either. First we need to find the source of your problems so here's a little paper exercise that helped me a few years ago:

1) Take a heap of paper.

2) On each page you write one problem. Everything from Alcohol and food issues, to body composition to the husband/wife even about the arsehole that cut you off the other day.

3) Organise into two piles. One is all the problems you can fix or sort e.g.: Body Composition and Health. The second pile is all the problems you can’t do anything about like the ass that cut you off in the car.

4) Take the second pile and one by one take a page, rip it up and throw it in the bin. Now that’s all the problems acknowledged, accepted and you’re ready to move on.

5) Now the pile of problems you can actually do something about. Organise the pile by priorities. What’s the biggest problem, followed by the next and so on.

6) Finally you now have everything that is affecting you in life right in front of you. Let’s get to work. It’s time to take accountability and choose to fix it. Either from the smallest problem to the largest or vice versa. Up to you.

This is a time consuming exercise. I remember spending a whole night doing this a few years ago (Probably with a few beers). But the relief and weight off your shoulders just organising the problems in your life even before you start to rectify them............awesome!

I hope it helps you as much as it did me.

Despite what you may think about yourself. If you're a good person you deserve all the Love and Happiness you can fit into your life.

John T.