I never heard anybody pretending being happy an entire life. Moments yes, but not a lifetime. Perhaps that’s because happiness is such an intense feeling that no human body can sustain it for so long. I don’t know. Nevertheless, I think I found a few simple rules for lots of happy life moments:

1. Take the others as they are. Don’t try to change people around you, because nobody ever changes, unless they feel like doing so. Instead of making your friends unhappy because they are not able to live up to your standards, try to adjust your way of looking at them, try to accept their way, and enjoy the good things you saw in them from the very beginning (before becoming friends, there was a kind of attraction between you, wasn’t it?)
2. Indulge yourself. I know people who wouldn’t forgive themselves for making even the smallest mistake. They think and re-think the moments, blaming themselves, getting angry and frustrated, thus not being able to enjoy the present moment. The frustration comes from the fact that they cannot travel back in time to do things right. If you cannot fix things anyway, what’s the use of accusing yourself and punishing you ever and ever again? Get over the past and live your life!
3. Smile. Research has shown that smiling and feeling good work both ways. If you feel good, you’ll smile, right? Well, our body is strange, it seems that it has the power to influence the mind: so, if you smile, you’ll immediately feel better. Besides, you’ll have a positive effect on people around you: seeing you smiling, they will tend to smile back to you, thus contributing to a good atmosphere.
4. Respect yourself. You are your most valuable asset, so make sure you take good care of your soul. Don’t do things which don’t fit into your life philosophy. Don’t give you reasons to hate yourself later on.
5. Respect the others. It is not always true that you get what you give, but if you give lack of respect, you’ll get it back for sure.
6. Live the moment. Don’t wait for the most proper time to do something you wish to. Do it now, because the proper moment never comes. There is always something more to wait for, so you’ll end up old or dead and burried before you even notice that your moment never came. Do you want to learn how to play the piano? Don’t wait until you’ll have more time. Make yourself some time, find a place in your schedule and go take piano classes. Do you want to write in your blog every day? Just sit down and write. You’ll see that time will be there for you when you need it.
7. Give. Whatever you can, be it knowledge, money, old clothes or even a phone call to a lonely person, just make sure you give something every day. This will make you feel like a good person. Helping is in the human nature, so why not following our giving impulse? There are many people who are in need for your help, that you’ll never be refused if you know how to look for those people.

Each of us is unique, but I believe we all share some things, and seeking happiness is one of them. Which is your way of seeking happiness? How do you know when you found it?

Once you get to know so many things, you feel like giving back to the community, so I found myself wishing to teach and train other people, but I seldom had the chance to do it. In those times, I would have given anything to get a job as a trainer with a good company. This never happened, and now I have other plans, as I see working from home as the most suitable for me.

Last week, this strage thing happened: I got contacted by a big training company, which offered me a senior trainer position. Believe it or not, although it sounded so interesting, when I pictured myself spending three hours per day driving to and from the office, I was not able to convince myself it is worth accepting. So, despite my interest in the offer, I had to turn it down, because there was no possibility of working part time.

I’m still thinking how strange life can be sometimes. I ended the week with this thought that there is a time in life for all things, and that even the most attractive dream can look like a nightmare from a few years’ distance.

I remembered this on the occasion of a recently made discovery: The Lifestyle Quotient (LQ). Coined by Tim Ferriss and based on the number of hours you work per week and the number of vacation days you take in a year, LQ is an index which gives indication about your lifestyle:

The lower your LQ, the higher your lifestyle IQ. Novice Lifestyle Designers can get to an LQ of 25-30 within 2-4 weeks, and experienced Lifestyle Designers are in the 0-5 LQ range. A 0 LQ means that income is 100% automated.

I tried the tool. According to Tim Ferriss, I’m an experienced Lifestyle Designer, because I got a LQ of 4. It means my income is almost 100% automated, which is great. The bad news is that I barely had any income last year, as a result of my lifestyle design, so I almost managed to automate the big zero :)
I feel like there is something missing in this LQ formula: it would have been more relevant if we divided the LQ index by the amount earned last year, thus leaving aside the zero income case, which would make the equation impossible.

What do you think? What is your LQ? Did you read Tim’s book, The 4-Hours Workweek? I read some reviews about it, and I visited Tim’s website: he has an interesting point of view, and I’m sure what he says is completely feasable. Yet, I can’t say that my big wish in life is to wander around the globe from one place to another, while outsourcing all things in my life that can be done by somebody else on my behalf.

But, who knows? Maybe I should give it a try.

Reliable sources of inspiration, be it for design and advertising, will sometimes wait for you at the top of a ladder, where even frustration becomes a source of inspiration, and a graphic designer’s snapshots of inspiration can help you get your creativity back the old fashion way, even if all you needed were a few sources of inspiration for a young blogger.

If you are not afraid to meet the storyteller’s muse, she’ll tell you more about what inspires a graphic designer, she’ll help you defining inspiration on your quest for sources of inspiration for observers, making you wish to bring a tribute to all mothers, even though sometimes they cannot mix Teaching, Inspiration, and Rock‘n Roll, to keep their children happy along the way.

Coming back to sources of inspiration from DailyBlogTips, keep in mind that inspiration from your future self can easily become the root of inspiration. Inspired to write, by one minute miracle, you’ll feel the urge to cry please God, bless the mess, whenever you’ll be too busy or too lazy to sort it out.

The true motivation and inspiration for a hobbyist can reside in the postcards of inspiration which can mark down as milestones the little successes along the way, always subject to the really simple domino effect, thus leading you to questioning inspiration and ask yourself like Hamlet of Denmark: Inspiration or Despair That is the Question!

How can you possibly find sources of inspiration for writing, while living the life on Hysteria Lane and letting yourself inspired by people because they showed you how to find release?

In this crazy wisdom inspiration race, 37 people gave their best thoughts on sources of inspiration for life and blogging, in this wonderful group writing project called Sources of Inspiration, from which we also learned What Inspires A Poet like ebele:

What inspires me? Creativity. It’s my No1 religion. It has saved me MANY times - whether it’s writing a poem, taking a picture or painting - doesn’t matter how ‘good’ it is. Recently, I had a lot on my mind, was feeling extremely frustrated, couldn’t sleep, refused to sleep - at 3am, I turned my back on my computer (which was also playing up, by the way), sat down on the floor & started drawing with colouring pencils. 5 minutes into it, the stress had lifted. Creativity & being creative is my life-blood. I don’t know who or where I’d be without it.

Instructions for use (excerpt from the Female Freedom website):

1.2.3. 4. (words are useless)

There are a lot of product benefits listed on the P-Mate website:

• The P-Mate is a revolutionary way for women to pee discreetly without having to pull down their pants and squat.
• The P-Mate allows women to pee standing up.
• The P-Mate is the most amazing female urinary device.
• The P-Mate gives women the freedom to pee like men.
• The P-Mate is clean and hygienic.
• The P-Mate is covered with a 4-leaf clover design as it is good luck to have one with you when you are in need.
• The P-Mate does NOT get all wet and soggy after use. You can easily slip it back into a pocket or bag for later disposal if you are outdoors where there is no garbage can.

The 4-leaf clover design is definitely the best reason to buy some P-Mates and try to be free like a man.

Easy, convenient and sanitary, the P-Mate is all women still needed to behave like men in every situation (although I will probably never understand why men don’t sit when they pee: it’s much more convenient, you can relax and there is no way to aim your shoes or the toilet cover).

Hey, girls, what do you think? Would you buy this product?

With this last phrase, you are invited to join a new group writing project: “Sources of Inspiration”, hosted by InspirationBit.
My inspiration sources are described below. I’m looking forward to read your entries, and get some more sources to keep the inspiration flow growing.

1. Internal dialogue

For a moment, just try to shut down your connections with the outside world: close your eyes and ears, and shift your attention towards your mind. Do you hear the dialogue you’re having with yourself? What are you saying? Take a snapshot of an idea, write it down and start thinking consciously about it. Now you see how important that thought was to you? Do you see how easy it is to write about things that really matter? This is why I sometimes write about love and friendship, or about places I’ve been, or about feelings and choices.

2. Surmounted challenges

Think backwards in time, and try to pick a moment, let’s say, from your teens. What comes to your mind? A common day or a milestone? The typical wake-up – go to school – play – eat - watch TV - sleep day, or that amazing moment when you … (please fill in the blanks and you’ll see my point). This is why I write about using macros in MS Excel, or about Wordpress tricks.

3. Poetry

I’m sure you all have read books that made a difference in your life. Paragraphs that kept you awake and thinking for a whole night are now forgotten. All you are left with is the wisdom and the feeling that they contributed to changing your life, which is actually quite a big deal. Yet, poetry was invented for the human mind to be able to remember those bits of inspiration, across the wisdom of different ages.

4. Love

You may now say that this is a cliché. Maybe it is, but who cares about that, when being in love makes everything brighter?

5. Children

Watch children playing. Do you see how serious they are? How they just do things that cross their minds, without any sign of procrastination? At what moment in life do we learn to procrastinate so well? Can’t we just skip that lesson that’s so hard to unlearn afterwards?

6. Interaction

Be it that I read your blog, or I read the comments you leave here, interaction always ignites the inspiration spark.

What do you think? What are your inspiration sources? Tell us about your muse!

Neena’s blog, A mom’s life, gravitates around children (see posts like Allowance and Kids or Healthy Kids and Sweet Treats), but not only. As a gadget collector, Neena blogs about technology, computers, or internet. Did you think that’s all? Not a chance! Not before you try the Awesome Salad Recipe she’s so proud of, or you read about her ultimate choice of cookware.

Briefly, although new, A mom’s life is already a must read and a help for new (and future) mothers. I’m the proud “mother” of a kitten, and yet I found a very useful article about poisonous plants.

Good luck Neena, and congratulations for the balance you found for your life and for the way you raise your children. I’m sure they will be so proud of their mother!

You can take your Rolling Blogroll badge and display it on you blog if you wish.

Amongst the lots of blogs which help you make money online (a Google search will return about 2 million results), there is one which cannot be found on the first page. That’s only because it is very new. Otherwise, Jason, the author of Ja Kel Daily Dot Com, has already published a lot of useful information on how to make money with a lasting first impression, or how to triple your AdSense earnings, or about the secret of sucessful headline titles.

Already father of two lovely children, Jason writes about parenting from a father’s perspective, thinking also of their future, and starting already to take care of their further needs, by establishing trust funds for both of them, although they are very young.

Written by an IT specialist, Ja Kel Daily Dot Com covers topics from the technology category, or the net. If you didn’t know already, you will find out that Alexa rankings are rubbish, being easy to game by almost anybody who has a bunch of friends.

Last, but not least, take a look at the marvellous photos from a Maldives vacation, inspirational for all of you who seek making money online. And don’t forget to visit the forum, where you can discuss about everything that goes on your mind: Sex, Health, Dating, Singles, Self Improvement, Finance, Technology, Family, Cars, The Net, Fashion, Celebrity, Entertainment, Media and News.

Congratulations, Jason, for the good ratings achieved by your blog in such a short time, and good luck to you and your wife Kelly (hey, you my dear reader, check out also Kelly’s blog about celebrities, gossip and fashion - you’ll love it).

This post is part of the Rolling Blogroll series.

Step 1: measure the area you want to cover with grass
Step 2: buy some ready-made grass and earth “carpets”

Step 3: make sure the future lawn surface is flat
Step 4: cover the ground with the grass carpets

Step 5: step on them to make them uniform

Step 6: wet the lawn. In a few days, it will look like the naturally grown ones.
You can cut the lawn pieces in round shape from place to place, and you can plant some flowers in the obtained circles. The effect is guaranteed.

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