Categories
Happiness Tips

How to Rewire Your Mind for Happiness

 happyAs you know, I (Carl) love to read and learn. One of the books I have recently read is called Hardwiring Happiness by Rick Hanson Ph.D. Great read and a great take on a powerful strategy I want to share with you. But first some background.  

Velcro and Teflon

Rick Hanson makes a great statement when he says we are like Velcro for the bad and Teflon for the good. In other words we readily notice and are attracted to the ‘bad’ and tend to not let in or quickly move past the ‘good’. Now it is no one’s fault really. It is just part of our crazy evolution and in-built survival mechanisms. Back in the day (a few 100,000 years ago), we would only survive if we were hyper-sensitive to threats. So we got REALLY good at noticing all the things that could potentially go wrong. And that fixation on the ‘bad’ for all those years means we are generally subconsciously programmed to notice the bad and brush over the good.

All is not lost though and Hanson reminds us of what we can do about it. Something he calls ‘hardwiring happiness’.

Categories
Happiness Tips

Are You ‘Shoulding’ Your Way to Discontentment?

shouldThis Happiness Tip is simple, but HUGE!!

The scientific reason why

Psychologist don’t tend to agree on much, since they are coming from different angles; but one thing they do agree on is that one of our basic human needs is to feel a sense of autonomy. We are more happy when we have a sense of autonomy. That is; we feel that we are in control, or have a significant degree of control in our lives. Whether it is at work, in our relationships, or with our health. If we feel no autonomy, chances are that we will be feeling pretty crap on a consistent basis (aka: ‘out of control’).

The Happiness Tip

Be very conscious of your use of the word SHOULD. In fact I have worked on removing it from my vocabulary all together. Whether it is saying it to myself or to others.

Categories
Happiness Tips

Are You Leaning Into Growth or Stepping Back into Safety?

safe1 “You will either step forward into growth or you will step back into safety.” – Abraham Maslow

The Comfort Zone

The Comfort Zone is more than just an idea. It is a physical feeling for us all. We feel a particular way – call it comfortable – when we are in the comfort zone; and uncomfortable when we step outside of it. But here is the thing. The opposite of the comfort zone is not the uncomfortable zone. The opposite of the comfort zone is growth, opportunity, increased potential, deeper relationships, adventure, excitement, possibility, greater success, deeper happiness, etc.

The Discomfort Zone is not everything outside of the comfort zone. The discomfort zone is a little ring around the comfort zone that you need to pass through in order to get to the growth zone. The discomfort does not last forever. It dissipates when you move against it and through it. And when you do that, you arrive in the Growth Zone. Plus the other cool thing is that now the comfort zone expands out to meet you.

Categories
Happiness Tips Videos

How to Get Out of A Funky Mood

funkyToday I (Carl) woke up a little bit flat…

I did my usual stretches in bed after I woke up. Then focused on what i wanted in my day. Followed by a big glass of water with a dash of apple cider vinegar (my morning alkaline and hydration fix). Then ablutions, which I will spare you from. Next was about 30 mins of meditation and still I was feeling uninspired. Also known as feeling like c-r-a-p (added the hyphens to slip past the company firewalls that don’t like swear words – what has the world come to???).

So then I did my energization exercises…still feeling like p-o-o-p.

Followed by some tapping (emotional freedom technique)…still not there.

And then I remembered one simple technique I teach others and that I picked up from Brain Johnson, who picked it up from someone else. And that is what I share in the video below.

Categories
Goal Setting Tips Happiness Tips

The 6 Essential Steps to ELITE Goal Setting by Carl Massy

Blog-8Too often we get caught up in the questions of ‘how are we going to achieve our goals’ before we have completed the most fundamental and important steps – which are the things that will actually enable us to achieve our goal; but even more so, they will lead us to goals that will actually make us happy. Now there is a novel idea. Choosing goals that will actually make us happy – not stressed, not overwhelmed, not left thinking ‘is this it?’, but HAPPY. I like it!

Do you remember the newsletter where I wrote about goals being responsible for 50% of our happiness (Discover what 50% of the happiness equation depends on)? It makes sense doesn’t it. If we have no goals we flounder. If we have crap goes we are very likely to be unfulfilled and wonder if this is all there is. But if we have deeply meaningful goals then we are on the right track and will feel pretty damn good about ourselves and our lives.

So for me the two biggest things to nail in the whole goal setting and creating the life you want dealio is to figure out what your goal is, and then make sure you have really powerful reasons (and meaning) for why you want this goal.

Categories
Happiness Tips Relationship

Did Charles Darwin have it right when he put Competition over Cooperation?

competitionLet’s kick this little Tip off with a quote and then I will suggest what I believe this means for us as individuals and our happiness, fulfillment and joy in life.

Greg Bradden tells us in his great book Deep Truth: Igniting the Memory of Our Origin, History, Destiny, and Fate; ‘According to prestigious journals such as Nature and New Scientist, cooperation always benefits individuals and society. In the April 2008 edition of New Scientist, Michael Le Page says this very clearly. He says, “What we see in the wild is not every animal for itself. . . . Cooperation is an incredibly successful survival strategy. When cooperation breaks down, the results can be disastrous.” Le Page is one member of the scientific community now sharing the new discoveries that show us the Darwinian idea, survival of the strongest, is not the rule of nature. It may happen sometimes, but it is not the rule. It is not the law that life is based on.’

Did Darwin have it right (or wrong)?

So the latest peer-reviewed scientific papers are suggesting that maybe Darwin didn’t have it entirely right. Maybe some species evolve by force (like the  old saying ‘survival of the fittest / strongest’ implies) but this is the exception and not necessarily true for humanity. The challenge is that the old saying and belief system associated with it, leads individuals, organizations and industries to believe that if they are not climbing for the top, often at the expense of the apparent ‘weak’, then they will not survive. It turns out that it is cooperation is the key to success and the fruitful evolution of us humans. And this applies at all levels.

Categories
Happiness Tips

Carl Massy’s Three Big Pieces to the Happiness Puzzle

puzzle  Hi there.

I know your time is short, so I will not say much here. I will let you watch the 5 min video below to get a better sense about what I believe are the three big areas we need to be working on if we want to experience more happiness, success and abundance in life.

Let me know if you have any comments or questions as a result. Just post them at the bottom of the page. And if you like what I am saying, please share. Sharing is caring, after all.

Cheers

Carl

Categories
Gratitude Happiness Tips

3 Ways to Invest In Yourself to Create An Abundant Life

abundantInvesting in yourself is the best investment you will ever make. it will not only improve your life, it will improve the lives of all those around you.’ – Robin Sharma (Executive Coach & Author)

This is just one of many quotes I was able to find on the importance of investing in yourself. In fact here is another quote from bygone days, that still remains valid.

Take a coin from your purse and invest it in your mind. It will come pouring out of your mind and overflow your purse. – Benjamin Franklin.

Investing in yourself not only leads to a financial increase (like when you learn new skills that are more valuable to your employer or enable you to create your own business), but it leads to an increase in the quality of your relationships, the level of your health, and the joy you get to experience in life. So where investing in the share market may increase your financial worth it does not directly impact the quality of your relationships, your health or your daily happiness. That is the realm of ‘self investment’.

Categories
Book Happiness Tips

Happiness is the journey…Enjoy it! A Guidebook to Happiness

journeyby Poonam Sagar

Carl Massy is a Happiness Strategist, living in Bali, who has combined 20 years of international strategic planning with over a decade of training, research and experience in the personal development and Neuro Linguistics Programming (NLP) fields. His two burning question have always been, ‘What can we do, or stop doing to, increase our happiness?’ and ‘What happiness strategies have the highest happiness return on investment?’

Carl has been a regular contributor to Indoindians.com with his Happiness Tips and has recently published his book – The Guidebook to Happiness. This book is available at Periplus in Indonesia and also on Amazon. It is a guidebook to take you in the right direction with INFORMATIVE, INSIGHTFUL, FUN and prompt you to take specific ACTIONS towards your desired life.

I had the pleasure of doing a Skype interview with Carl on his book. We had planned it to be just 5 mins long but it was so much fun that we did spilled it over two parts of 5 mins each.

Categories
Goal Setting Tips Gratitude Happiness Tips Life Coaching Relationship

The Happiness Class with Damo and Carl is going to be AWESOME!!

Damo & Carl have teamed up to take The Happiness Class (& YOUR Happiness) to a whole new level!!

Keep an eye out for details of when they will be coming near you.

THC D&Clogo

In Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Byron Bay (Australia) in September 2013. Looking forward to seeing you there. For more details check out The Happiness Class!!

For more details on Damien (Damo) Meldrum and Carl Massy just click on their names.