Do you believe that life is miraculous? Are you waiting for a miracle to happen in your life?

Just imagine what it would be like to live your life as if everything is a miracle.

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as if everything is.” ~  Albert Einstein

Simetimes people look for some kind of miracle when their life is in a fix. Other times, people may pray for a miracle when a loved one is seriously ill or when they face a life threatening challenge.

I remember praying for a miracle when I felt I hadn’t done well in a school exam. Somehow I did pass and that was my first personal experience of my own miracle, albeit a tiny one.

In the recent Haiti earthquake, there were many “miracles” of afflicted people surviving for many days under the rubble without food or water.

“The invariable mark of wisdom is to see the miraculous in the common” –  Ralph Waldo Emerson

What’s a miracle and how does one recognise one?

Wikipedia gives us a number of interpretations of what we mean by a miracle:-

• An unexpected event attributed to divine intervention.
• A fortuitous event.
• Any statistically unlikely but beneficial event, such as the survival of a natural disaster.
• An event which is regarded as “wonderful” regardless of its likelihood, such as birth.
• Survival of a terminal illness.
• Escaping a life threatening situation.
• Beating the odds.
• Some “coincidences”.

In all of the above, the common thing is some unlikely or unexpected occurence,  or something that just seems so incredible such as the birth of a child.

I have never witnessed the miracle of a child being born but a few years ago, I was lucky enough to be just outside the hospital maternity where a friend was giving birth.

I heard some faint crying and then 20 minutes later, the beaming father invited me in to see their newly arrived baby son. And there he lay cradled next to his mother, with his eyes wide open and looking as if he had always been there. It was one of the most beautiful and miraculous moments of my life – I can’t even imagine what it would have been like for the proud father.

Just how did that little baby boy happen?

“I am realistic – I expect miracles” –  Wayne Dyer

In reality, everything around us is a miracle if only we can learn to see and recognise these miracles.

By living your life as if everything is a miracle, every moment becomes something to savour and live in awe of. You naturally get to feel great appreciation and gratitude for your life, knowing that you are blessed with such miracles all around.

To help you become more present to all the miracles in your life – I have split them up into 5 specific categories.

As you read the remainder of this post, I invite you to treat this as your own personal journey into the world of miracles. After every section, please pause for a few seconds, breathe deeply a couple of times and simply become present to that miracle.

Lets begin our journey:-

1. The miracle of life.

The greatest miracle is that you are alive and able to engage in this conversation with me. Just think about it – how is it that a mass of flesh and blood is able to partake and experience what we call life? What allows us to experience the world through our senses?

If you have never thought about your very life as a miracle, please take a pause right now.

What is it that makes your blood go through your body – and what’s that universal intelligence that makes you tick?

Isn’t it a miracle that somehow life evolved on this planet we call earth, which just happens to be the right distance from our star and where during the course of billions of years, just the right conditions came about for some hydrogen and carbon molecules to gel together and finally evolve into you and me?

I am giving myself permission to repeat what I just said here, since I am so in awe – just how is it that a soup of organic materials somehow evolved into the wonder of you and me?

It all seems to happen like magic – and yet we hardly ever pause to reflect on the biggest miracle of all.

Life – our greatest miracle and gift – and even more reason for you to appreciate it every day.

“Each of my days are miracles. I won’t waste my day; I won’t throw away miracle” -
Kelley Vicstrom

2. The miracle of love

After the miracle of life, the greatest miracle is that of love.

But what is love?

Love is much greater than what we feel romantically. It is what makes us sing, dance and makes us human.

“Love doesn’t make the world go around, it just makes the ride worthwhile.” – Franklin
P. Jones

Love is the most amazing thing in our lives. It is what makes us human, what makes life worth living – in the grander scheme of things, nothing else truly matters. The size of our homes, bank balances, the beauty of our partner, the speed of our car – all those things pale into insignificance when we face the miracle of love.

“Where there is great love there are always miracles” – Willa Cather

Love leads to other miracles such as kindness. Have you noticed how great you feel afterwards when you have done someone a kind deed?

Through the miracle of our love, we can indeed transform the world – even a hug, a loving touch or just a smile can cause the miracle of healing others.

There are so many simple things we can all do on a daily basis to bring more love into our lives. Together we can all make this an even more beautiful and miraculous world than it already is.

So from today onwards, appreciate and acknowledge all the love around you and in you. Look for ways of spreading your love through compassion and making a practical difference to those around you.

3. The miracle of your body

To experience this thing we call life, we need our bodies to function as well as possible. Our bodies somehow sustain themselves, grow, repair and fight to stay alive till the very end.

There are trillions of chemical reactions and exchanges going on within us every second and everything seems to run like clockwork. Even when disease or decay sets in, our bodies continue to strive and sustain themselves almost like magic.

The durability of our body is a miracle in itself – I remember when my first nephew was born a few weeks prematurely and he spent the first month of his life in an incubator.

It was heart-breaking to see this little guy, a tiny bag of skin and bones fighting for dear life and getting stronger day by day, ounce by ounce. Experiencing something like that sure opens you up to the miracle of life – and also makes you realise that perhaps there really is something much bigger than us out there and indeed within us.

From today onwards, why not commit to take great care of your body?

You only have to take some simple and practical self-care steps and your body will begin to miraculously heal itself and sustain you for the rest of your life.

4. The miracle of nature

Where does one even begin to extoll the sheer beauty of our natural world?

Let’s start with one of the main symbols of beauty in our society – the majestic flower. Have you ever looked at a beautiful flower closely and failed to be moved by its magnificence and symmetry?

“The miracles of nature do not seem miracles because they are so common. If no one had ever seen a flower, even a dandelion would be the most startling event in the world” – Unknown Author

A flower is but just one example of all the wonderful nature that makes up our earth and indeed beyond the earth. Look at the sky this evening and marvel at all the twinkling stars all around us.

Just how do those points of light just stay there? And who put them up there?

Everything in nature is so beautifully symmetrical and perfect – it is almost like a universal master craftsman or craftswoman was at work.

From today onwards, please spend some time in nature daily and simply appreciate the miracle of what’s around you – from the humble ant to the majestic oak. And then for the rest of your life, be in continuous awe of the nature around you.

5. The miracle of your creativity

Only a few years ago, before the advent of the internet, it would have been impossible to even envisage you and I having this conversation via the medium of the blogosphere.

And yet today, we can send out a single message to thousands of people around the world in seconds.

As a species, we are incredibly creative and intelligent, and sometimes there seems no end to what we are capable of.

You are capable of so much – and probably a lot more than what you are currently doing. You can literally create your own miracles – if you choose to do so.

From my perspective, the challenge really is to channel this creativity into something that benefits the greater good.

So from today onwards, put your own creative gifts to work – and create your own miracles to make the world a better place.

“I have found in life that if you want a miracle you first need to do whatever it is you can do – if that’s to plant, then plant; if it is to read, then read; if it is to change, then change; if it is to study, then study; if it is to work, then work; whatever you have to do. And then you will be well on your way of doing the labor that works miracles.” -  Jim Rohn

It’s in your hands to see life as a miraculous experience.

Make the rest of your life a miracle

Your journey of seeing the world as a miracle has only just begun. From today onwards, your eyes and the other senses have been opened up.

See everything around you as the miracle that it really is – and your life will never be the same again.

So everything is a miracle, how will you live from now onwards?

Photos courtesy of aussiegall, peasap, Kjunstorm, DeusXFlorida and woodleywonderworks/.

Article by Arvind Devalia. Arvind writes passionately about how to make it happen for a better you and a better world at Make It Happen. He is also the author of “Get the Life you Love“.

I just walked out of a car accident. Thank goodness, no one was injured.

As the one seated at the back of a car with a rather tiny boot, if the vehicle that collided with ours had went any faster, I might be a goner right now.

Accidents do happen.

Storms do happen.

The only regret would be for a person to leave the world without leaving behind any form of a legacy.

The good news?

All you have to do — to create your legacy — is to start doing the things that you love now.

2 Reasons Why You Should Do Things That You Love

Have you seen a person who’s laser focused in their cause?

Let’s take Theodore Roosevelt as the first example. He got shot. Minutes later, he went on to the podium and continued his now famous “It Takes More Than That to Kill a Bull Moose” speech.

Or someone I know, got mugged at knife point a couple of days ago, and went on to say “just got robbed” and showing me the wound.

So today, “I just got out of a car accident”.

Here’s 2 reasons why you should do (or start doing) the things that you love now.

“My time ain’t up yet.”

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I’m just going to end this entry here.

If there’s one thing that I’d love to have you take out of this post, that would be:

Go work on your the things that you love now.

“I believe that being successful means having a balance of success stories across the many areas of your life. You can’t be considered successful in your business life if your home life is in shambles.” –Zig Ziglar

Choose the key areas of your life and then ask yourself questions to help you decide what you want to achieve in each of these areas. Pretend that you’re a life coach interviewing a client trying to help them define their ideal life. For example, the areas you choose and the questions you ask could be the following:

1. Finances: What would you like your net worth to be? When would you like to retire? How much money do you need to support your life goals? What investments would you like to make? Are you going to create multiple streams of income? If so, how? Are you going to create passive income? If so, how? Are you going to invest in stocks and/or bonds? Are you going to invest in real estate? Are you going to hire a financial planner?

2. Vocation/Career/Contribution: What do you want to do? What do you want to contribute? What would you like to be known for in your profession? What kind of impact would you like to have? What could you create? What contributions do you dream of making? What does your workday look like? Would you like to make the world a better place? If so, how? What is your ideal work environment? Would you like to be self-employed? Would you like to write a book? Would you like to start a business and then have others run it for you? Would you like to create an online business?

3. Learning/Personal Development: What are your life goals? What skills would you like to acquire? What courses or seminars would you like to attend? What books would you like to read? What are your thinking strategies? Do you want to achieve any artistic goals? Does your thinking style serve you well? Would you like to develop a different mindset? Do you need to learn how to master your emotions?

4. Intimate Relationship/Marriage/Children: What would you like your relationship with your partner to be like? What do you want your marriage to look like? Would you like to be a parent? If you’re already a parent, what do you want your relationship with your children to be like?

5. Social/Interpersonal/Community: What kind of organizations would you like to be involved in? What qualities and values do you want your friends to have? What kind of activities would you like to participate in with your friends?

6. Home: What is your perfect home environment? Do you want to live in a house or in an apartment? Would you like to create a sanctuary for yourself? What would you like to see, hear, and smell when you walk into your home? What is the view from the window? How much space would make you comfortable? What kind of decor do you enjoy? What objects would you like to be surrounded by? How would you like to feel when you walk into your home? Would you like a session with a closet organizer? Would you like to have a garden? Do you want to have a swimming pool? Would you like to have a rose-covered gazebo in the backyard? Do you want to have a fireplace?

7. Spiritual: What would make you feel spiritually fulfilled? Would you like to start meditating? Would you like to take up yoga, tai chi, Qi Gong, or some other healing practice? Do you need to heal old wounds? Do you need to learn to forgive?

8. Fitness/Style/Beauty: What are your fitness goals? Are there any athletic goals you would like to achieve? What is your ideal weight? What clothes/shoes/accessories would you like to own?

9. Travel/Adventure/Fun: Where would you like to go? What activities relax you and bring you joy? What adventures would you like to have? What events would you like to attend?

10. Possessions: What would you like to own? What kind of car would you like to drive? Do you want to own a boat? Are there any electronic gadgets you would really like to have?

What else do you want? Can you describe it in more detail? Come up with more questions you could ask yourself to help you probe into what you really want in life. The brain runs on questions. If you ask the right questions, your mind will help you to design the life of your dreams.

Article by Marelisa Fabrega

Now that I’ve learned to look at things with the lens of simplicity, I can see others making mistakes I’ve made in the past.

I want to gently say to them — and to my past self — “Stop making things so complicated!”

I’m not going to criticize how other people do things in this post, but rather talk about things I did wrong in the past.

The biggest problem came when starting a new endeavor — starting running, trying to get organized or productive, starting blogging, getting out of debt, even the act of simplifying.

I’d always make things so complicated — looking back on it, I either want to cringe or laugh. And yet, I know that life is a learning process, and those early mistakes helped me to get to where I am. Even now, I make tons of mistakes, learning as I go.

Example 1: I wanted to be more productive, so I learned GTD (Getting Things Done, an excellent book by David Allen). I bought tools that other GTDers recommended, set up a series of lists, tried out a couple dozen different software (and paper) approaches to lists. Every GTDer knows this problem. GTD, and many other productivity systems, can end up being complicated.

Today, my advice to my former self is: stop making it complicated. Productivity, such as I care about it today, is simple. You pick the most important thing you want to do today, clear distractions, and start on it. You don’t even need a list, though having a list for remembering what else needs to be done later is fine. Have one list, but don’t fiddle with it. Just pick one thing, and start working.

Example 2: When I wanted to get out of debt, I tried various financial software, I made spreadsheets, I made schedules for payments, I tracked everything, and so on. It was complicated, believe me.

Now I know it’s simple. First, stop the unnecessary spending (I know, easier said than done, but once you learn to recognize it and stop your impulse urges, it’s not complicated). Second, put everything you can to one debt at a time (first creating an emergency fund of at least $500), pay off that one debt, then pay off the next.

Example 3: When I started blogging in January 2007, I looked at dozens of different blogging platforms/software, themes, ad platforms, ebooks, articles on every possible blogging topic. This is natural, as I was just learning the field.

But today, I know it’s simple: you pick a topic, and write. Then hit publish. Share your stuff via Twitter or Facebook if you like, but don’t worry so much about that. Just write interesting and/or useful stuff, and people will find you eventually. Just write, and publish.

When you start something new, sure, there’s a learning process. But also realize that while the learning is good, the doing doesn’t have to be complicated at all. Find the simplest way to do things, and just start doing it. You’ll learn by doing.

Post by Leo Babauta

You probably don’t need me to tell you that there’s a global recession at the moment. People all over the world are feeling the pinch and the travel industry is suffering because we all have less money to spend these days on luxuries like travel.

But not being able to afford it doesn’t stop people from wanting to travel. Apart from general happiness, I think dreaming of travel, visiting new places and seeing new things is probably one of the most universal life goals.

Travel is also one of the most popular search engine terms and the more we see of the world on TV and read about in books, or on the Internet, the more we want to explore planet earth ourselves.

Yet although many of us want to travel more we don’t. There are so many excuses for not traveling: the expense, the kids and the job are all commonly used to explain to ourselves why we can’t travel right now.

But what’s the point in deferring your dreams? To me you should be able to follow your dreams even if you do have limited funds, a growing family and a demanding career. All you need to do is change your mindset, make travel one of your top priorities and get on with it. These are my ideas on 10 ways you can travel more with less.

1. Start Local. First try changing your mindset. The purpose of travel is to see new things and experience new cultures. Many people think that in order to see things they’ve never seen before they need to travel far afield but that’s not true. Find out more about your local area. Anywhere within a two or three hour drive should be fair game for a weekend trip. If you’ve got longer you can extend your range further.

First head to your local library or get on the Internet for ideas of things to see and do close to home. There are probably some walks, caves, rivers, lakes, forests or waterfalls that you’ve never visited before but have always wanted to. Pick one and make sure you check it out as soon as possible.

When I lived on the beautiful Waiheke Island in New Zealand I was amazed by the number of Aucklanders who, on hearing where I lived, would wistfully say:

“What’s it like? I’d love to visit some time.”

But Waiheke is only a 35 minute ferry ride from downtown Auckland so I couldn’t understand why they didn’t just jump on the ferry and check it our for themselves.

2. Accommodation. Think outside the box. For me, travel isn’t about staying in boutique hotels or luxury spas. Travel is about getting out of your comfort zone and experiencing things you’ve never tried before.

Cheap sleeps include camping and house swapping. If you want to try camping ask around and see if you can borrow some camping gear. As soon as you do you’ll be amazed at the number of people who have all the camping equipment but hardly ever use it. For a couple of nights all you really need is a tent, bedding, an icebox and a small stove so you can cook pasta or risotto. Or forget the cooking part and just grab a take away.

If you don’t want to camp organize a house swap with friends or through out of town friends. Find someone in an area you’d like to visit and swap away. The added bonus of this is that it will motivate you to clean out your house.

3. Food. Who needs fancy restaurants? Even eating out at fast food joints will eat into your precious travel budget. With a little advance planning and some basic equipment you can feed yourself twice a day for a minimal cost. Here’s how.

Take a couple of plastic plates, bowls and beakers with you and buy a picnic knife that comes with a cover so it won’t pierce a hole in your bag. For breakfast pick up some local seasonal fruit, yogurt and muesli bars. One of the healthiest breakfasts is a thin layer of peanut butter on bread and you can’t get easier than that. Just buy a plastic jar of peanut butter to carry round with you and pick up bread, chapati, tacos or rolls fresh.

For lunch fresh bread, tomatoes and cheese or ham are simple, nutritious food. Eating outside is a real pleasure and you’ll have more time to explore because you won’t be stuck inside or limited to places with restaurants. If you’re staying in a hotel ask if they can include breakfast at no extra charge.

When it comes to the evening meal watch where the locals eat, don’t head straight to the touristy restaurants. Street food can be excellent and extremely cheap too. I ate lots of street food from stalls in India and never got sick once. In fact, I may be the only person in the entire universe who went to India for three months and put on weight. My secret is to pick stalls that are poplar with the locals, watch what they order and get the same.

4. Sight-Seeing. There’s a lot of store set by seeing the big sights, like visiting Disneyland, going up the Eiffel Tower or touring the Sydney Opera House. But these things tend to be expensive. They’re big ticket items so limit yourself to one at the most per trip.

Some of the best things have no entry charge and there are plenty of lesser known attractions which may be free or low cost like hanging out at Venice Beach in Los Angeles, visiting Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris or browsing the Paddington markets in Sydney. All fun, interesting and easy on the budget too. You get the idea, no matter where you’re going don’t feel you have to spend big on the main tourist attractions. That’s all they are, you can learn more by hanging out with the locals.

5. Relax. This is my top tip. Too often a vacation or travel becomes a check list of things to do. Promise yourself that you’ll stop trying to tick things off just for the sake of it.

For example, f you do make it to Paris then visiting the tourist attractions needn’t be your top priority. You won’t see many French people paying to climb the Eiffel Tower. They’re all sitting in the cafes having a short black coffee (the cheapest option) and people watching. Or you can join them wandering free of charge around the parks, visiting the local markets and walking along and over the bridges of the River Seine.

You may not be heading to Paris this trip but you get the idea. Just travel to get to your destination and then be. Stop rushing, relax, enjoy and see what happens. Travel is all about getting rid of your agenda and going with the flow, allowing a little spontaneity into your life.

That’s it! Don’t delay. Get your calendar out and write in when you’re going away for the weekend. My next trip is to the hinterland which features waterfalls and bush walks and is only about a ninety minute drive from my house. Definitely not something you’d want to do for a day trip with 3 young kids in the car so I think we’ll pack the tent, relax and make a weekend of it.

Happy travels everyone!

Editor’s note: This is a guest post from Annabel Candy of Get In the Hot Spot.

Read more from Annabel Candy at her blog, Get In the Hot Spot, a virtual treasure trove of inspiration, information & idiosyncrasies for people who want to live their dream. Or subscribe to her free feed to keep yourself posted on the latest articles.
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We all have days when we’re just not very inspired, when we need passion and creativity breathed into us.

I know I do.

For anyone who needs a little shove, whose creativity has dried up, who needs to be moved … I humbly offer this simple guide.

While I never claim to have all the answers, nor that my way is the only way, I share here some things I’ve learned about inspiration, some tricks I’ve learned that work for me.

I’m often in need of inspiration, but in all cases I’ve found it. And it’s a wonderful thing.

What Is Inspiration?

Many people think of it as an elusive quality that can’t be forced, and yet it can be found if you look for it.

Others think it’s a way to find ideas, but it’s more than ideas … it’s being moved to put those ideas into action.

Inspiration is finding something else that is divinely inspired (people, nature, amazing ideas), having that inspiration breathed into you (“breath” is the root of “inspiration”), and then taking action on it. Creating, doing, inspiring others.

How to Find Inspiration

Inspiration is just about everywhere you can look, if you’re looking for it. That’s the key: to keep your eyes open. Too often we miss beautiful sources of inspiration, because we’re too busy thinking about other things.

Be observant. See everything around you as a possible source of inspiration.

Some possible sources of inspiration:

• blogs
• books
• magazines
• films
• people around you
• nature
• children
• art
• music
• history
• exercise
• religion
• great projects
• dreams
• social media
• photographs
• forums
• google
• success stories
• life, everywhere

Just keep your eyes open, at all times, staying present whenever possible, and allow yourself to breathe in that inspiration.

How to Stay Inspired

Inspiration isn’t just a one-time thing. You’ll need it on a regular basis.

When you practice the above method — keeping your eyes open, staying present, and breathing in inspiration — you get better at it. It becomes a skill you can use at any time, and you’ll use it often.

Some tips for keeping the inspiration coming:

• Work with inspired people – one of the best ways to stay inspired is to work with creative, energetic, positive people.
• Read daily – varied things, from blogs to magazines to books of all kinds.
• Get outside – nature is one of the biggest inspirations, and you’ll miss it if you’re inside all day.
• Talk with new people – they’ll always expose you to new and interesting things, if you’re open to it.
• Break out of your routine – see things from a different perspective. Take a new route home. Go to a new restaurant. Visit someplace new in your area.
• Find time for silence – it’s more inspiring than you might think. Unfortunately, not enough of us do it.
• Exercise – or at least get moving. It helps the blood to circulate, and gets ideas moving around. My most inspired thoughts come during runs.

Now Take Action

Don’t just feel inspired. Take this inspiration and use it, be moved, and do something. Channel that inspiration into creating something amazing.

Put that something out into the world, and in turn, you will inspire others.

Having trouble taking action? Read The Little Rules of Action.

“For my part I know nothing with any certainty, but the sight of the stars makes me dream.” ~Vincent van Gogh

Post written by Leo Babauta.

Now is the time to be bolder, to dare to achieve, to begin something worth doing.

Begin now to do something that has long been a dream, something that makes you approach each new day as a journey to accomplish what you want and desire.

Your days are numbered, you won’t live forever so now is the time to grab hold of that dream and shake it for all it’s worth. Time is a fleeting commodity that can never be retrieved again so do it now, not tomorrow or the next day – now.

Don’t just dream.
Dig for it.
Put your desires into motion not just thought.
Act.
Be bold and courageous.

Will it be easy? Not likely. Will it be worth the work, the risk, the frustration? Absolutely.

Persist, persevere. Life gives you the opportunity now so don’t let one more moment escape your capacity to have, be, or get what you want.

There is one thing that you need to get right before you even make one move to get what you want and that is to trust yourself. Yes, trust yourself to be able to learn what you need to learn, to take risks to accomplish what others may think is foolhardy or impossible. Trust your own resolve to meet each and every challenge along the way.

Remember that YOU are the instrument of change, the mechanism that with all your capacity will see new things unfold as you put thought into action. Anything is possible.

by Byron Pulsifer. Retired criminologist, former manager of an employee assistance program, project manager and strategic planner, motivational speaker and motivational seminar leader.

It’s hard, from within the storm of every day life, to see things with real perspective, to know what’s important and what’s simply pressing on our consciousness right now, demanding attention.

We have people emailing us for information and requesting action, we have phone calls and visitors and a long to-do list and a million chores and errands to run and all of the slings and arrows of our daily reality … and yet, what is important?

Ask yourself this: if you suddenly found out you only had 6 months to live (for whatever reason), would the thing in front of you matter to you?

Would those 20 emails waiting for a response matter? Would the paperwork waiting to be processed matter? Would the work you’re doing matter? Would the meetings you’re supposed to have matter? Would a big car and nice house and high-paying job and cool computer and mobile device and nice shoes and clothes matter?

I’m not saying they wouldn’t matter … but it’s important to ask yourself if they would.

What would matter to you?

For many of us, it’s the loved ones in our lives. If we don’t have loved ones … maybe it’s time we started figuring out why, and addressing that. Maybe we haven’t made time for others, for getting out and meeting others and helping others and being compassionate and passionate about others. Maybe we have shut ourselves in somehow. Or maybe we do have loved ones in our lives, but we don’t seem to have the time we want to spend with them.

When was the last time you told your loved ones you loved them? Spent good quality time with them, being in the moment?

For many of us, doing work that matters … would matter. That might mean helping others, or making a vital contribution to society, or creating something brilliant and inspiring, or expressing ourselves somehow. It’s not the money that matters, but the impact of the work. Are you doing work that matters?

For many of us, experiencing life would matter — really being in the moment, finding passion in our lives, seeing the world and traveling, or just seeing the world that’s around us right now, being with great people, doing amazing things, eating amazing food, playing.

These are just a few ideas … but what would matter to you?

I highly recommend that you spend at least a little time now, and regularly, thinking about this question … figuring out what really matters … and living a life that shows this.

How do you live a life that puts a great emphasis on what matters? Start by figuring out what matters, and what doesn’t. Then eliminate as much as you can of the stuff that doesn’t matter, or at least minimize it to the extent possible. Make room for what does matter.

Make the time for what does matter … today. Put it on your schedule, and don’t miss that appointment. Make those tough decisions — because choosing to live a life that is filled with the important stuff means making choices, and they’re not always easy choices. But it matters.

Spend time with your significant other, show them how important they are. Take the time to cuddle with your child, to read with her, to play with her, to have good conversations with her, to take walks with her. Take time to be in nature, to appreciate the beauty of the world around us. Take time to savor the little pleasures in life.

Because while you might not have only 6 months to live, I’m here to break the news to you: you really do only have a short time to live. Whether that’s 6 months, 6 years or 60 … it’s but the blink of an eye.

The life you have left is a gift. Cherish it. Enjoy it now, to the fullest. Do what matters, now.
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Post by Leo Babauta

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The “Superman Syndrome” is a tendency for people to try to demonstrate their worthiness to others by buying things for them.

Just yesterday, a reader emailed me:

Superman syndrome is just another example of poor self-esteem and how it can entrap you and your money. It’s no different than keeping up with the Joneses or anything else like that.

It’s true. We only need to impress other people if we feel that somehow we need to impress them, that we don’t have enough already on the table to make them happy and make them want us.

Do you buy clothes because they fit you well and keep you warm, or do you buy them based on how they impress others?
Do you buy electronic gadgets because they fill a real use in your life, or do you buy them with an eye towards showing them off to your friends?
Do you go out to dinner and pick up the tab because there’s a real reason to do so (like you’re treating someone for a special occasion), or are you thinking about how it’ll butter someone up?
Do you throw money into redecorating because it’ll improve how you feel about your living quarters or do you do it to impress and stun your guests?

In other words, is your personal worth based on what you value or what you think others value?

For most of my life, I placed an inordinate amount of value on what others thought of me. I was only cool if others thought I was cool. I was only worthy if others thought I was worthy. Thus, I would strive to make others feel as though I was cool so that, by osmosis, I would feel as though I was cool.

The end result was that I would constantly spend money to make others think I was somehow cool or worthy. I’d take people out to dinners. I’d buy gadgets based largely on impressing others (”This one would be fine for what I need, but this higher model… that’d impress ‘em!”). The list goes on and on.

There are lots of problems with that kind of attitude, of course. I’ll just outline two of the most relevant ones.

First, other people are fickle. You might impress someone one day, but the next day it doesn’t matter. Why? Once a person’s opinion of you is set, it takes quite a lot to alter that opinion, and it’s a change that you usually can’t buy. Sure, in the short term, you can get their attention with something shiny and new, but they’re fickle and they’ll soon revert to their already-established view of you.

Second, the only person that you always have to live with is you. At the end of the day, when you close your door, you’re the only person there. All of the cash you’ve spent trying to impress others has turned out only to drain away the resources you need to do the things you want. You’ve got a shiny car and a lot of cool gadgets that impress people, but when you close that door at night, do you have the life and the career that you want? Are you fulfilled when you’re alone?

It took me a long time to realize that I often wasn’t fulfilled when I was alone – and that, underneath the bravado, the shiny things I owned, and my material generosity, others knew it, too. Their opinions of me weren’t made of the things I bought (for myself or for them), but from my personal character.

Spending time with someone (read here about how your connections with others affect your happiness), genuinely listening to them, and helping them when you can (usually in non-material ways) goes far more towards building a positive reputation with others than throwing cash at them – or at things to impress them – ever will. Even better, you can save your financial resources to put yourself in a better position in life, doing whatever it is you dream of doing.

Post by Trent Hamm of The Simple Dollar

Self doubt has been something I’ve struggled with all my life, from debating whether I could get into a top tier university to believing I could succeed as a writer. It’s a very human emotion, and it’s made worse for some people because of life experiences or temperament. Self doubt also makes you feel alone. Sometimes you think you’re the only person in the universe who suffers from a crisis of confidence, and you wish that you could be more like your successful, self-assured neighbor. Well, I guarantee that your neighbor doubts himself every now and then too.

You won’t ever be able to rid yourself of doubt entirely – believe me, I’ve tried. But I hope that these suggestions will lessen your pain when dark thoughts are all around you.

Go back in time: The first step to overcoming self doubt is to recognize that it’s there in the first place. Think about the circumstances that are leading you to feel insecure, and see if you notice any patterns. Are there particular situations (for example, dealing with a new boss, speaking in public) that prompt you to feel this way? Make a note of times in the past when you doubted yourself but ended up coming through with flying colors. Knowledge and recognition of your past successes will bolster your courage regarding what you can achieve in the future.

Defeat the doubtful thoughts: In one column, write a doubtful thought, and in the opposite column, write facts that dispute that doubtful thought. For instance, suppose you are afraid to invite a new colleague to lunch because you’re afraid you won’t have anything to talk about and she won’t like me. Statements that refute that thought might be: “We can spend at least an hour talking about the office culture here and what she did before this” and “She will like me because I’ve made a sincere overture to get to know her better.”

Keep an event journal: If you are a person who experiences a lot of self doubt, then it’s time for a test. In the course of a single day, write down all of the things – simple and complex – that you accomplished without a hitch. These can be things like “ran productive staff meeting” or “had great talk with Brandon over coffee.” Then, write down the things that didn’t go so well. You will inevitably notice that the list of things that went well far outweighs the list of things that didn’t, and this will hopefully allow you to see your doubt in a different light.

Call on your cheerleaders: Often, our loved ones can see our lives much more objectively than we can. Being a natural introvert, I sometimes doubt my interpersonal skills, and when someone doesn’t respond to me in the way that I expect, I occasionally get paranoid. It always helps to call one of my best friends so that she can assure me that I do in fact have a lot of wonderful relationships in my life.

Celebrate your successes: When a situation in which you doubted yourself turns out better than you expected, don’t just nod and smile and move immediately on to the next thing. Take a moment and reward yourself for a positive outcome. Do something you enjoy like going to your favorite restaurant or eating a delectable dessert. Taking the time to cement positive emotions in your mind will hopefully make the doubt disappear more quickly next time.

This is a guest post by Alexandra Levit, a columnist for the Wall Street Journal and the author of the new book “New Job, New You: A Guide to Reinventing Yourself in a Bright New Career.” If you’re struggling with what to do with your career in the New Year, visit www.newjobnewyou.com for free tools and guidance.