The whole key to happiness can be summed up in one sentence…

Understand what and who you are and truly express that in every context you find yourself in.

So here’s a few questions to get you to start probing the dark corners of your mind and getting clearer on who you are, which will then start to help guide your decision making on what actions to take in different situations.

Most people are so focused on what they dislike about where they are, that they wish they were starting from somewhere else. 

But where you are, is where you are!

Knowing where you are is the starting place to getting to where you want to be.

So this questionnaire is designed to raise your awareness of where you are so you can get to where you want to be.

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These questions are designed to get what is already in your head, probably often without you paying much attention to them, onto paper where you can begin to deal with them.

You can print out these questions or answer them online and have your responses emailed to you, by going to the following links. To ensure your email response doesn’t get blocked by an over-aggressive spam-filter add coachingtohappiness.com to your safe list.

http://www.coachingtohappiness.com/where-are-you-now.html

http://www.coachingtohappiness.com/who-am-i.html

http://www.coachingtohappiness.com/hows-your-relationship.html

http://www.coachingtohappiness.com/creating-your-vision-for-life.html

Next week, once you’ve worked out where you are and where you want to be, we’ll get to work on how to get there.

In the form below you’ll find the Rosenberg’s Self-Esteem Scale. 

As you surf the internet you’ll come across many psychometric tests. Many are there for fun, or to get across a message from their Creator. 

I prefer to use tests which have been through rigorous Psychological Testing. This way you know that;

  1. The test is measuring what it claims to be measuring and…

  2. It is measuring something enduring – a part of you – rather than just a momentary mood.

It has been slightly modified for the internet, but only with minor changes in wording to make automated scoring possible.

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Meditation. It’s up there with goal setting and affirmations as something everyone agrees is essential to personal growth. And like them it’s something that I think is widely misunderstood.

Yes, meditation is extremely valuable. It will calm you down. It will make you feel more relaxed. It will give you the inner peace that you are able to find your own answers and chart your own path.

But…

Very few people can do it.

And the reason they can’t is because their minds are so unfocused… so undisciplined… and so weak. 

Life happens to them… rather than them determining what happens in their life. 

Which is why they are stressed… frustrated… overwhelmed… anxious and unhappy.

Which is why they become attracted to meditation in the first place.

So meditation is a tool that can help you in enhancing your life. But it would be just as effective to work at stemming the sources of stress, frustration, overwhelm, anxiety and unhappiness. Ideally you want to work on both at the same time.

If you are going to meditate, which I would recommend then here’s a shortcut I would encourage you to try out. It is a tool that can put you in a deeper state of relaxation saving you years of time strengthening your mind. 

You’ll still need to build your mental framework for how you want your life to go, but it will save you time and put you in better shape.

Affirmation is another way of referring to self-talk. In other words the things that you say to yourself. 

Obviously if you criticize yourself, you’ll feel bad. Whereas if you praise yourself, you’ll feel good.

In my opinion a lot of stuff written about affirmations is total nonsense. They are not essential. And they won’t solve every problem.

But they may just help you. They may help you make the jump up a level or two to be in a more sound emotional basis. They probably will help you to feel better. And help you to get in touch with the way you talk and think about yourself.

So like anything, affirmations are a tool. And no one tool will work for everyone. Yet all will work for some. It isn’t that the tool doesn’t work. It is your readiness, openness and belief in the tool that creates change. So most important is where you are and where you want to be.

You could work and do these yourself… or you could automate the process.