37 Great Life Lessons in 37 Years

Posted by Chrysta Bairre on Feb 10, 2012 in Personal Development | 59 comments

Loving life is a practice of living with joy, mindfulness, and wisdom every day. Living a great life is all about choices, and in 37 years of life, I’ve learned to make choices that embrace happiness.

Yes, today is my birthday, and I invite you to join me in celebrating the greatest life lessons I’ve learned in 37 years.

37 Great Life Lessons

1. Happiness is a choice.
2. You don’t need life to go your way to be happy.
3. Be in awe of this moment.
4. If you want to be happy, stop complaining.

5. Asking for help is a sign of strength.

6. At any moment you can reboot your day.
7. Sometimes you have to drop the ball to give another the opportunity to pick it up.
8. Allowing others to do for themselves shows your confidence in them.
9. Confidence is essential to living a great life.

10. Be yourself. Your uniqueness is the most awesome thing about you!

11. Admit and forgive mistakes.
12. Mistakes are lessons in progress.
13. Make living amends by changing hurtful behavior.
14. Live life on life’s terms.

15. When you don’t know what to do, do nothing.

16. You’re never as stuck as you think you are.
17. Just for today, love yourself enough to give up the struggle over something that is out of your hands.
18. Treat yourself the way you want others to treat you.
19. Before you speak, THINK. Is it True Helpful Inspiring Necessary and Kind?

20. Smile more.

21. Be grateful.
22. Be playful.
23. Be patient.
24. Laugh every day.

25. Ease into your resistance; there’s a lesson in it.

26. Try something new.
27. Don’t take life too seriously.
28. Say no, and mean it.
29. No is a complete sentence. Excuses and explanations are not required.

30. Your opinion of yourself is more important than someone else’s opinion of you.

31. Take care of yourself before taking care of others.
32. Use your strengths and build on your weaknesses.
33. Trust your instincts.
34. Sometimes FEAR is Future Expectations Appearing Real.

35. Don’t believe everything you feel.

36. A positive attitude can get you anywhere you want to go.
37. Your attitude influences your experience more than you know.

Thank you!

One of the most important lessons I’ve learned in life is to say thank you, so let me take this moment to thank you for supporting Live Love Work.

Thank you for reading; thank you for your comments, subscriptions, and sharing! You inspire me every day to keep living and sharing my best life!

I love your comments! What are the greatest lessons you’ve learned in life?

Image courtesy of vistamommy.

Don’t take life too seriously

Posted by Chrysta Bairre on Dec 30, 2011 in How To, Personal Development, Stress Management | 22 comments

Life is serious and taking it too seriously robs you of happiness, fun and productivity. A solemn outlook increases stress, squanders creativity and innovation, and stifles progress. If you’re reading this blog I hope these are not qualities you want in your life!

I was a terribly serious child, with a serious case of perfectionism. When other children played and laughed, I worried over problems that were out of my control. Even the smallest of issues needed to be carefully considered and intently studied. I focused so much on everything that was wrong that I lost sight of everything that was right, and I was deeply unhappy.

Learning to love life and myself was an amazing and challenging journey. Today my life is far from perfect, and yet I am happier, healthier, and more prosperous than ever before. A significant influence in creating this change was learning not to take life so seriously.

So let’s get on to the good stuff, here are some of my best ideas to adjust your perspective, have a little fun, and love the life you have today!

Be fun.
Smile. Laugh. Skip, hop, and run. Do something you truly love and have fun doing it!

Be entertained.
Read a comic. Tell an amusing anecdote. Share your most embarrassing story. Laugh at yourself, and with others.

Be unpredictable.
Give yourself a little room for spontaneity! Do something unexpected. Take a different route. Order a different drink. Do something unplanned.

Be flexible.
Write your to do list in pencil. Reassess your progress and adjust your goals halfway through the day. Embrace the unexpected.

Be responsible for and to yourself.
Don’t take on all the world’s problems because you can’t change them anyway. You can change yourself, and being the person you want to be, and being responsible for yourself, and to yourself, is the best way to affect progress.

Be positive.
Refrain from criticism, negativity and judgement. A positive attitude is contagious and freeing.

Be grateful.
A grateful attitude will help you celebrate the good things in life, and mitigate everything else.

Be human.
Unless you’re a hero in an epic tale, your actions rarely determine the fate of the world. You can make mistakes, fall down, and pick yourself up again. Mistakes are okay!

Be patient.
Everyone else is human, too. Give others a little room to learn and grow in their own time, and their own way.

Be yourself.
Embrace your quirks and foibles. Be perfectly imperfect. Accept and love yourself as you are in this moment!

I love your comments! What are your favorite tips to stop taking life too seriously?

Image courtesy of aleeed.

Links to Love: Positive Thinking

Posted by Chrysta Bairre on Dec 23, 2011 in Links To Love | 8 comments

Positive thinking can be a powerful tool to balance overwhelming negative thoughts and associated feelings of hopelessness. Negative experiences can stick with you, and sometimes seem to hang on far too long. Intentional positive thinking can be used to counteract lingering memory of hurt, disappointment and frustration so you can move forward with a centered, healthy and open perspective.

Positive thinking can be especially beneficial in the workplace, where negativity and low employee morale are on the rise. You face many challenges at work, and a negative outlook can make your situation appear even more grim.

Positive employees are more productive, and more likely to be recognized and appreciated by co-workers and managers. Optimistic workers also have a greater ability to focus on solutions.

If you want to embrace a healthier, happier and peaceful life check out these awesome articles on positive thinking!

Tiny Buddha: 4 Simple Mantras To Help You Stay Positive and Happy I really enjoyed these beautiful statements to gain perspective and find happiness in each day.

Wisdom a la carte: Resourcesful Thinking Vs Positive Thinking An interesting re-framing of positive thinking and how it differs from denial and ignorance.

Freckled Brilliance: What’s Better Than Positive Thinking? A tongue-in-cheek look at the cringe-worthy reputation of positive thinking.

The Daily Love: Don’t Deny the Negative- Understand It A powerful perspective on the importance of embracing the lessons of negative thinking.

Live Love Work: Stop Negative Thoughts, Encourage Positive Thinking Check out my tips on breaking the habit of negative thinking and welcoming more positivity in your life.

I love your comments! Do you practice positive thinking? Does positive thinking work for you? Why, or why not?

Image courtesy of Wavy1

How to have a great day (almost) every day!

Posted by Chrysta Bairre on Nov 11, 2011 in How To, Work-life Balance | 18 comments

Since starting this blog I’ve empowered my goal of living a great life and having a great day every day. I’m pleased to say I’ve had far more good days than bad, and the abundance of good days help get me through the bad days that happen from time-to-time.

As I practice the positive, healthy behaviors and attitudes I write about, I enjoy more happiness and more success! I sleep better, feel better, and more opportunities come my way. I make greater progress towards my goals, and my co-workers are more pleasant, or so it seems to me thanks to my positive outlook.

Here’s how I live a great life and experience great days:

1. Decide to have a good day.
Say it out loud, “I’m going to have a great day today!” Making the decision to have a positive experience determines your mood, your attitude, and your approach to your day.

Once you’ve decided to have a good day, other people will be attracted to your positive energy and are more likely to approach you with a smile.

2. Be productive.
Completing a simple task or accomplishing a personal goal feels great!

You can get satisfaction out of tasks you don’t particularly enjoy if you appreciate the results of your efforts- even if the result is crossing an annoying item off your to-do list and moving on to something you enjoy!

Better yet, spend time working towards one of your goals. Do at least one activity in pursuit of what’s important to you.

3. Stop stereotyping your day.
I often hear people express dread when Monday comes around again, as if Monday is inherently a bad day. Monday is just day like any other and it’s as good or as bad as you make it out to be.

You can have a great Monday and a terrible Friday. It’s true I enjoy Friday for my beginning of the weekend routine, and look forward to two days of fun and rest. I also enjoy Monday for the beginning of the week routine I’ve created for myself.

4. Let the little things go.
Many of the bad things that happen in your day are really just minor annoyances that don’t have any more power over your day than you give them.

So someone cut you off in traffic or you spilled coffee on your shirt. Do either of these events have a significant impact on your life? Do you still have a job? Your home? Your health? Your family? Don’t sweat the small stuff.

5. You don’t need everything to go your way to be happy.
Happiness is not something that happens to you, it’s something you choose. When you feel happy, you’re embracing appreciation and joy in your heart. Resist thinking you can’t have a good day unless things work out the way you want.

If something doesn’t go your way, recognize it for what it is. Perhaps you feel disappointment. Acknowledging these feelings as simply feelings can keep negative emotions from defining your day. Disappointment can be disappointment, and you can still be happy and have a great day!

6. Practice makes progress.
Perhaps you thought I was going to write, “practice makes perfect”, but I don’t believe in perfect. I believe in progress.

Just for today, let go of the belief you won’t be happy until… Be happy now for all the great things in your life right now. Nobody has a perfect life and no one ever will. So practice positive habits every day and you’ll quickly find that you’re experiencing a great life even when life challenges you.

I love your comments! How do you have a great day? What does a great life look like to you?

Image courtesy of H4NUM4N

Links to Love: Inspiring Gratitude

Posted by Chrysta Bairre on Oct 26, 2011 in Experience Strength and Hope, Links To Love, Work-life Balance | 14 comments

Scientific studies have shown that negative experiences have a greater affect on our well-being than positive experiences. These studies reflect the importance of nurturing and promoting positive experiences in life to enjoy a life of good health, happiness and success.

No one has a perfect life and true happiness is not the result of your external experience being positive, but instead a positive internal experience. To be healthy, happy and achieve your dreams you’ve got to feel good about your imperfect life, and the way I do this is by practicing an attitude of gratitude.

Gratitude is essential to a great life, and there’s always something to be grateful for. A regular practice of gratitude does not mean I don’t have any struggles or challenges because, trust me, I do! It does mean I actively seek out what is going well, what’s working, and I focus my energy on the good stuff.

This practice of focusing on the good helps me keep my life in balance. Without an abundance of gratitude, life will inevitably get me down and that’s not the way I choose to experience my life.

Gratitude is so important to me, I look to be inspired in gratitude whenever I can. I hope you enjoy these awesome links on gratitude as much as I do.

Seattle Pi: The key to wellness? It’s gratitude, one doctor says. A look at the link between gratitude and health.

Tiny Buddha: 60 Things to be grateful for in life. Use this handy little list to get you started.

Kind Over Matter: Gratitude unlocks the fullness of life A sweet and simple sentiment to inspire gratitude.

Janet Callaway: 13 quotes on gratitude I loved these beautiful quotes on gratitude!

Motherhood Your Way: Printable gratitude journal to count your blessings Enjoy this fun and creative way to express and share your gratitude.

Live Love Work: Get gratitude: 3 simple steps for living I hope you enjoy my take on a practice of gratitude.

Pringle Hill Studio: Gratitude journal pages Check out more of the lovely gratitude in art by Pringle Hill Studio! Gorgeous!

I love your comments! Share your regular practice of gratitude, or simply share 5 things you’re grateful for today.