Life Learnings

It is not what happens to us that upsets us, it is what we tell ourselves about what happens to us that causes our feelings. We all interpret the events that happen to us according to our beliefs and attitudes about ourselves, others and the world. So each person's experience is different from any other's experience. We learn how to interpret the world -- from our parents, from our teachers, but most of all from our observations. And from those observations, we make assumptions about what things mean to us.

What is upsetting to one may make another person happy. The rain that cancels one person's picnic makes the farmer happy. And what is upsetting to you today could, with a change in your beliefs, not bother you tomorrow.

25 Resolutions for Happiness: What I’ve Learned…So Far
by Molly Stranahan, Psy.D.

At some stress-filled moment, have you had the experience of realizing you had forgotten what you learned in the past, the self-knowledge that healed and brought joy or just got you through a tough time? The anniversary theme of Life Lessons created an excuse to write down the lessons I have learned, but sometimes forget to use. I’m pledging to renew my commitment to living them, and offer them in the hopes they might help you, or they might inspire you to remember your greatest life lessons.

Even though I’m a psychologist, I’ve learned more of life’s lessons through personal experience than through my formal education. Many of my lessons have come from hearing (or reading) the transformational moments of others — their own life lessons — which they were generous enough to share. And the most important lessons I’ve learned are those that have led me out of pain and into happiness.  Complete Article on Soulful Living Website