15 Things You Should Give
Up To Be Happy
1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so
many of us who can’t stand the idea of being wrong –
wanting to always be right – even at the risk of ending
great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain,
for us and for others. It’s just not worth it. Whenever you
feel the ‘urgent’ need to jump into a fight over who
is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question:
“Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind?”
Wayne Dyer. What difference will that make? Is your ego really
that big?
2. Give up your need for control. Be
willing to give up your need to always control everything that
happens to you and around you – situations, events, people,
etc. Whether they are loved ones, coworkers, or just strangers
you meet on the street – just allow them to be. Allow
everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see
how much better will that make you feel.
“By letting it go it all gets done. The world is won by
those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is
beyond winning.” Lao Tzu
3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to
blame others for what you have or don’t have, for what you
feel or don’t feel. Stop giving your powers away and start
taking responsibility for your life.4. Give up your
self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting
themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive
self-defeating mindset? Don’t believe everything that your
mind is telling you – especially if it’s negative and
self-defeating. You are better than that.
“The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used
wrongly, however, it becomes very
destructive.” Eckhart Tolle
5. Give up your limiting beliefs about what you can
or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From
now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to
keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!
“A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea
that holds the mind” Elly Roselle
6. Give up complaining. Give up your
constant need to complain about those many, many, maaany things
– people, situations, events that make you unhappy, sad and
depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy, no situation can make you
sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It’s not the
situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose
to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive
thinking.
7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your
need to criticize things, events or people that are different
than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all
want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all
want to be understood. We all want something, and something is
wished by us all.
8. Give up your need to impress
others. Stop trying so hard to be something that
you’re not just to make others like you. It doesn’t
work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something
that you’re not, the moment you take of all your masks, the
moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people
will be drawn to you, effortlessly.
9. Give up your resistance to
change. Change is good. Change will help you move
from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life
and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss,
embrace change – don’t resist it.
“Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors for you
where there were only walls” Joseph Campbell
10. Give up labels. Stop labeling those things,
people or events that you don’t understand as being weird
or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds
only work when open. “The highest form of ignorance is
when you reject something you don’t know anything
about.” Wayne Dyer
11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an
illusion, it doesn’t exist – you created it.
It’s all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside
will fall into place.
“The only thing we have to fear, is fear
itself.” Franklin D. Roosevelt
12. Give up your excuses. Send them packing
and tell them they’re fired. You no longer need them. A lot
of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use.
Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our
lives, we get stuck, lying to ourselves, using all kind of
excuses – excuses that 99.9% of the time are not even
real.
13. Give up the past. I know, I know.
It’s hard. Especially when the past looks so much better
than the present and the future looks so frightening, but you
have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment
is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now
longing for – the past that you are now dreaming about
– was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding
yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life. After
all life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for
the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the
now.
14. Give up attachment. This is a concept
that, for most of us is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you
that it was for me too, (it still is) but it’s not
something impossible. You get better and better at with time and
practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things, (and
that doesn’t mean you give up your love for them –
because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another,
attachment comes from a place of fear, while love…
well, real love is pure, kind, and self less, where there is love
there can’t be fear, and because of that, attachment and
love cannot coexist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so
kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be
able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond
words.
15. Give up living your life to other people’s
expectations. Way too many people are living a life
that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to
what others think is best for them, they live their lives
according to what their parents think is best for them, to what
their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government
and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner
voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing
everybody, with living up to other people’s expectations,
that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes
them happy, what they want, what they need….and eventually
they forget about themselves. You have one life –
this one right now – you must live it, own it, and
especially don’t let other people’s opinions distract
you from your path.