Happiness – Page 4

20 Beliefs You Will Gradually Let Go of Over the Next 20 Years

02.09.2022 by Angel Chernoff // 28 Comments

The afternoon always understands what the morning never even suspected.

Everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head.

Every day. All the time.

YOU are telling yourself a story right now.

And this story is simply a collection of beliefs that ultimately makes you what you are – it lays the foundation for every action you take or don’t take in life. In essence, you build yourself out of this story, one day at a time.

For a while everything aligns just fine, or so it seems, and life is good.

But then at some point, perhaps sometime in your thirties, forties or fifties, you get slapped with a harsh reality [Read more…]

10 “Notes to Self” that Will Stop You from Taking Things Personally

02.01.2022 by Marc Chernoff // 46 Comments

Let’s start off with a simple question:

Why do we always take things so personally?

There are admittedly quite a few viable and valid answers to consider. But, the one Angel and I have found to be most common through a decade of one-on-one coaching with our course students, coaching clients, and live event attendees is the tendency we all have of putting ourselves at the center, and seeing everything — every event, conversation, circumstance, etc.—from the viewpoint of how it relates to us on a personal level. And this can have all kinds of adverse effects, from feeling hurt when other people are rude, to feeling sorry for ourselves when things don’t go exactly as planned, to doubting ourselves when we aren’t perfect.

Of course, we are not really at the center of everything. That’s not how the universe works. It just sometimes seems that way to us. Let’s consider a few everyday examples…

Someone storms into the room in a really bad mood, huffing and puffing, and addresses us in a rude way. Immediately we think to ourselves, “What’s going on here? I don’t deserve to be treated like this! They should know better!” And we [Read more…]

20 Morning Mantras to Start the Day Loving People (Instead of Judging or Ignoring Them)

01.26.2022 by Angel Chernoff // 32 Comments

You’d like Michelle a lot. Most people do. She’s the kind of person who listens when you talk, who smiles often, and who says things that make the people around her smile. She’s incredibly intelligent, but in a way that makes others feel comfortable. It’s the way she expresses herself in simple terms you can understand — almost like she’s articulating the thoughts you already have in your head, but haven’t quite found the right words to say aloud.

And it doesn’t matter who you are either. Michelle always has a way of relating to you. Because, in a way, she’s been there with you all along. She can think like you, so she understands you. It’s truly a special gift. So many of us have limitations in our perceptions. We understand the soldiers but not the politics governing the wars. We understand the people who go to the movies but not the ones who attend rodeos. But somehow, Michelle gets all of us. Again, it’s her gift.

If she hasn’t actually been to the rodeo you’re talking about — or any rodeo at all for that matter — she’ll be honest about it, but she’ll make you feel as if she was right there with you when you attended. And once you return home after spending a night with Michelle, you’ll catch yourself smiling and thinking about how there needs to be more people like her in the world. Because if there were, there would be far less to worry about.

Michelle passed away today. I don’t really want [Read more…]

19 Great Truths My Grandmother Told Me on Her 90th Birthday

01.18.2022 by Marc Chernoff // 45 Comments

“I have seen and touched and danced and sang and climbed and loved and meditated on a lifetime spent living honestly. Should it all end tonight, I can positively say there would be no regrets. I feel fortunate to have walked 90 years in my shoes. I am truly lucky. I really have lived 1,000 times over.”

Those are the opening lines of the final entry in my grandmother Zelda’s journal—a 270-page leather-bound journal she wrote small entries in almost every morning during the final decade of her life. In it, she reflected on lessons she had learned, lessons she was still learning, and the experiences that made these understandings possible.

When my grandmother was diagnosed with terminal cancer on her 90th birthday, I sat with her in a hospital room for the entire day, in silence, in laughter, in tears, and in awe. Although her body was weak, her mind was intensely strong. The terminal diagnosis inspired her to think about her life, everything she had journaled about over the years, and reflect aloud. So, I gave her the stage—my undivided attention—from sunrise until sunset.

As I sat beside her hospital bed, she [Read more…]

52 Good Morning Mantras (That Will Change Your Life)

01.04.2022 by Angel Chernoff // 45 Comments

“What day is it?” asked Pooh.
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.

Here are 52 morning mantras – one for each week of the year (note: you can start your year of morning mantras anytime you want). I choose one of these mantras every Sunday morning and sit quietly for two minutes, repeating it silently in my mind as if I were meditating. I also write it on a post-it note and stick it next to my computer monitor for the duration of the week. This weekly ritual has helped reduce unnecessary stress in my life by reminding me to keep things simple, peaceful and in perspective. [Read more…]