Increase your sense of wellbeing in three simple steps
6 Comments Published by Andrew Leigh May 7th, 2008 in Happiness, Success, Uncategorized.| Creative Development for Artists, Writers and all Artistic Creativity |
I’ve been doing a lot of reading about attaining enhanced wellbeing – about what brings people a sense of fulfilment, meaning and peace. All at once my thoughts crystallized into this simple formula that cuts to the essence of how to increase your sense of lifelong wellbeing.
Despite its extreme brevity is not meant to be flippant. It is simple, obvious yet profound. Here it is.
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The pursuit of wealth and fame for their own sake do not bring a sense of wellbeing to your life. In fact they can make it harder to attain. Do not make these goals your main, or only, focus.
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Clearly identify the people and activities that you value in your life. Spend more time with the people and do more of these activities.
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Clearly identify the people and activities that bring unhappiness, stress and anxiety to your life. Either – spend less time with the people and less time on these activities – or – find different ways of dealing with them.
Even small steps in the directions above will move you away from illbeing and towards wellbeing. Make it a gradual but constant process – it could well be the most important project of your life.
Find your own sense of wellbeing.
Hi Andy
Have you noticed that not only do people (especially kids) state that they want to be “famous” but that they also can’t answer the question: “what do you want to be famous for?” It is as though it doesn’t matter and fame itself has become the goal.
Figuring out what you are truly passionate about is surely a better proposition? If you can do that, and set in train the actions to live that way, then you may become rich and famous for what you really love doing. What could be better than that for a sense of wellbeing?
Hope all is well with you!
Jerry
Hi Jerry
I think it’s a symptom of the media age that some (especially younger people) can only imagine success as being something that makes you visible through our media. People in this frame of mind seem blinded to any other idea of success and don’t seem to recognise the cost of this kind of success – which is often a complete lack of wellbeing.
See Find Your Definition of Creative Success for more about this.
I totally agree with Andy Leigh and Jerry Smith on the issue of fame. The media influence people’s perception of wealth and happiness, by the constant stream of celebrities and their high-flying life style. many of these celebrities, resort to drugs and alcohol to prop up their lack of self-esteem, trading in their self-worth for a pretty picture in a magazine. Some, even though they already have millions, become addicted to money, where their only salvation is to make more money. They cannot know who their true friends are, for they could be ‘in it for the money’, and if the money went, they would soon follow.
I saw a sign somehere that said, ‘No amount of money in the world can buy you a true friend, nor the loss of one!’
I believe, you must start and love yourself, for what you represent in terms of trust, honesty and that greed is something that lesser mortals aspire to.
When you’ve achieved that, you and the friends you have chosen will grow in an esteem, that will be envied.
March !2th, 2009 at 11:30pm
Kenneth – an awful lot of wisdom there. Thank you.
Andrew – I’m doing a Creative Writing Course, but contains much more than writing. I,m not much into blogging, usually, but your site both gives and receives some fine inspiration and is a lot more than idle chat!
You fools. Everyone knows that money is the root of all happiness.