3 Keys to Having a Blissful Life Ever gone through times where you get down due to circumstances outside your control? Well, you should not allow that to happen, at least for very long! This article is meant to help condition your mind to no longer allow those forces outside your control to affect you emotionally in a negative way. Key number one is eliminating your perception of entitlement. Have you ever asked a favor of a friend or associate only to be sorely disappointed by their reaction or response? Did you find yourself thinking, “Wow, I have done so much for that person(s), I can’t believe they would turn around and treat me that way”? Chances are that you have been in that situation before but, you should NOT allow yourself to stay in that state. If you help people solely in the hope of actually helping them rather than in the swap of favors or to receive some reciprocate action, and then you will never be disappointed! One thing that you should know is people have a very short memory of where you have helped them but we have a very long memory of where we have helped others. What do you do if someone you have helped out or supported acts in a selfish or disappointing manner? Offer to help them more! As strange as that sounds, life is about managing your state of mind, not the minds of other people. If you can walk around with the knowledge that you are a helper of others, you will be able to maintain happiness in your mind, which, should be the goal! Key number two is know that is it much better to be happy than to be right. And rare is the occasion that you can be both! If someone is arguing with you and you know that they are dead wrong…STOP ARGUING! Choose to be happy rather than try to be right. This is good for two reasons, 1) They may actually be right and you may be missing facts and 2) the more you put yourself in a negative or combative state, the greater chance you have to attract more things to be negative or combative about. Another benefit of having this mindset is that a lot of times those people will learn that they were wrong and then they will admire you for not trying to argue with them being that you were right. Key number three is if you have a thought that does not serve you, throw it away! All of us have negative thoughts creep in our mind but it is our choice to accept them, dwell on them or say “I don’t think so” and throw them away. You will never be able to eliminate the possibility of having fleeting negative thoughts but you can eliminate the length of time you spend keeping those thoughts in your mind. If you cannot think of something positive to think, just remember some of these phrases; everything is alright, I feel Fantastic or I am so happy and excited to have so many good things coming to me right now! Just saying those statements will make you feel better than you were prior to thinking positively. Are you, like so many others out there, searching for your life’s purpose, thinking it is one specific something you’re destined to do and that once you figure it out you’ll be flooded with relief, happiness, and fulfillment? Here’s a tip: Purpose is a state of being, not a state of doing. Your Soul Purpose is bigger than your life purpose, which we’ve mistakenly learned to associate with vocation, and your Soul is whispering it to you in the course of your everyday activities through the feelings you experience. Joseph Campbell, the great mythologist, summarized everything you need to know about your purpose in one simple and beautiful phrase: Follow your Bliss. Find out what moves you to a state of joy and follow that thing unswervingly. What moves you will always be changing--as you are an ever-expanding, ever-evolving being. Which is why, if you are searching for your “certain destiny” you just won’t find it. You need only find, and claim, your joy. Joy is the code that your Soul and you agreed to before you incarnated into physical form. The feeling of joy is your Soul telling you that you’re “on track.” Your Soul communicates with you through emotions. That’s the language you agreed to use before being born. They allow you to communicate with the nonphysical part of you while you’re out here in physical space and time. Isn’t that fabulous? You have an inner guide with you always, telling you if you’re off course or on course by the way that you feel. When you feel good in all its forms--from contentment to appreciation to bliss--that’s your Soul telling you, “Yes! You’re on purpose.” When you feel bad in all its forms--from insecurity to rage to boredom--that’s your Soul telling you, “You are way off-track here.” Most of us don’t use our emotions as they were meant to be used, as messages from Soul designed to keep us on track before we end up creating something we don’t want. Instead, we use our emotions as after-the-fact indicators to tell us whether what we’ve just experienced is pleasing to us or not. Emotions aren’t meant to be used to react to experience, they’re meant to create our experience. Knowing this truth can change your life. If you’ll pay attention to the way you feel, and choose to focus only on what causes you to feel good, you’ll always create what you want in your life. It’s that simple. Your life isn’t meant to happen willy-nilly and it’s not meant to be beyond your control. You have the power to create whatever experiences you want through the power of your emotions. You are here as an emissary of your Soul, endowed with all the qualities and creative powers that it possesses. While you are here, you’re always in communication with your nonphysical Self via your emotions. In your pursuit of joy, you will naturally and effortlessly fulfill your mission.