Photo Courtesy of Gilesclement

This Post by Justin Dixon

The first of the Four Noble Truth‘s in Buddhism states that life is suffering. But if that is the case, why do Buddhist leaders such as the Dalai Lama seem to have so much joy everywhere they go? Wouldn’t they be sad if they knew that there whole life was going to be difficult? Not necessarily.

The truth is that in assuming life can come in easy we do three very negative things:

We create a false hope that some day we are going to just make it, and that things will be so easy.

We can begin to envy those who have an “easy” life.

We get the idea that there is always an easy way out. This allows our mind to make excuses for not doing what we know to be our best.

So am I saying that your dreams won’t happen and that you will never succeed. Not at all. You can very much succeed at attaining wealth, simplifying your life, and a whole number of things. I encourage you to dream big and to go after big things, just don’t expect the attainment of your goal to take away all the challenges of life. No matter who you are you will face challenges.

But what about the rich or those “greedy” corporation owners? Don’t they have an easy life? Business men and women have empires to run, if you think that is easy than start one yourself and make it successful. If you think that money made all of their problems go away think again. How many of their friends are genuine compared to the number of people that only want money or power? How do they feel about themselves? What is their spiritual life like? If they make a bad decision even once how many newspapers and magazines is it going to end up in? Money makes some things easier, but when you imagine that those who make lots of money have no struggles of there own you are fooling yourself. I won’t blame you if you want to have lots of money, I would like that myself, but I will caution you against expecting money to make life easy, it won’t, it will make some things easy, and other things more difficult.

Shouldn’t we look for an easy way to do things? I will always praise looking for a better way to do something, but even when you find that your challenges will not be over. With this bit though comes the very best news of all. If you are going to have to face hardship and challenges no matter how you live life, than what on earth is keeping you from your dreams? Yeah you may have to face different kinds of difficulties but in all honesty if no matter what you do you have to face difficulty than do what you want. Do what you mean to, set your own standard and never let difficulty stand in the way. There is no way that is not difficult so its up to you to do things that are worth their difficulty, and in that you can find much joy.

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Photo Courtesy of Joshuahoffmanphoto

This Post by Justin Dixon

One of the key points of AlittleBetter.net is that good habits, and personal development don’t happen all at once. These things need time that we are willing and able to invest in. Unfortunately this can be on short order sometimes. What if you are working two jobs, and just hoping that will be enough to make ends meat? Its tough and these types of things do happen even to the best of us, but what about that time we need? We have to move forward so that we can be in better solutions, but we have to have time to do this. What options are there?

Use your time wisely.
In cases like this we must apply the principles of minimalism to our schedule. We have to decide for ourselves what is and is not worth our time. Time is limited and by this point you are likely painfully aware of this. So whenever you are about to do something ask yourself if this is the best use of your time, if it is not, than ask yourself what is. Do that.

Let some things go. (they aren’t going anywhere)
It is okay if the dishes don’t get done this second, you can load them, and set them to wash later. So what if the room gets a little messy? Make sure that what you need to take care of most for that day is taken care of.

Find moments for reflection in the everyday.
Please note when I say reflection that I do not mean going over how hard things are or what you could have done better in the past. I mean taking time to look at what you can do now, what can make you less stressed, what thoughts will make you smile, what is the most peaceful thing you can think of? You can even meditate for a few minutes by letting your mind drift and focus on simply being. You can do this while waiting on an elevator, stuck in traffic, on the bus, in the line at the grocery store, and even while working. This act of reflection on what action you can take and on finding joy in all places is self-improvement.

Keep an eye open for opportunities to change things.
Be this through splitting tasks with your partner or changing your work schedule around always look for solutions. Not every solution you try will work, but all of the solutions you don’t try absolutely won’t work.

Keep your chin up.
No matter what hard times are keeping your schedule hectic don’t let it get you down. You are already a marvelous being. Do your best, and keep pushing forward. You’ll make it through, even if these changes go slowly.

Ask for help.
Maybe a friend can watch the kids so you have a moment of quiet in the house. Maybe someone you know will know of a job opportunity that will ease the stress up a bit, after all more jobs are found through networking these days than any other method.

The biggest point is that gradual improvement does not necessarily mean that you are running an iron man everyday or meditating for an hour straight. Often its as simple as choosing to always look for a solution when you don’t know what else to do, or taking a deep breath while you wait for the elevator. There is always something know matter what is going on around you.

What about you? What things have you found extremely useful during times when your schedule seemed out of control? How do you find time to do the things that are important to you?

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