“it’s just me and my puppy
together were so very happy
and a bit of world won’t bring us down
i’m looking on the bright side of things”
  ~Lissie~

A study made by the University of Yale shows that optimism can grow your life expectancy with at least seven years. Optimism decreases the effects stress has on people and improves their balance, both physically and mentally. And changing your mood is not difficult at all!
1. Chat! Gossip can prove to be very useful in some situations. Chatting with your friends and family helps you create a “social web”. Studies show that sociable people are more likely to live happily ever after. Phone chats have useful effects on brain activity and blood circulation. A long-lasting friendship can worth as much as not smoking or being active. It’s also important to meet your friends in person. Phone calls are useful, but not enough!
2. Dear diary…The benefits of keeping a diary are well-known. It’s important not only to talk about what makes you unhappy, but also about the good moments, even about the small pleasures of life. Studies show that the people who are grateful for everything that happens to them are more satisfied and tend to be physically stronger. You can write in your diary once a week or just from time to time. What is important is not to regard this as another duty.
3. Be generous! Generosity increases the level of happiness hormones. You don’t have to give valuable items, just make unplanned surprises to acquaintances and to strangers. Offer your bus seat or give some food to a hungry homeless man. You will feel much better about yourself and the others’ gratefulness will make you feel appreciated. “Generosity has therapeutical effects” as scientists often claim. So why not help yourself by helping the others?
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I heard this old story before
Where the people keep on playing for their metaphors
But don’t leave much up to the imagination[…]
Never knowing
Shocking but we’re nothing
We’re just moments, we’re clever but we’re clueless
~Jack Johnson~

Photo by msoubhagya
One of my favorite quotes is (I’m not sure exactly how it is) “life is happening while you are too busy planning your future”. A whole lot of people get bored, or just miss out on some very important things just because they don’t know what to seek for in other activities. Let me put this in a different way: If you were to watch a movie, a very fascinating movie, and you are kept tense, you’re imagining varios possible scenarious, trying to find explications, the tension and imagining of scenarios will probably last a while after the movie. If you are trying to find motivations in the protagonists’ actions, you will probably stumble on to a piece of thought which will be useful, or at least interesting for you.

Even if the movie is not very serious, you can use your own mind to extrapolate the situations, to picture yourself as the main actor, and other things similar to those; this kind of activity will help you make 110% of that movie, literally. Have you ever wondered why some movies, or songs, or books are great, while others are just incredibly great? It’s because there is something about them which just makes you go to a certain place, they say something to you. If you listen to such a song, you almost certainly have a favorite lyric, which you just feel great saying, or the melodic line gets stuck in your head. This is the subconscious at work for you, sticking on to what it thinks is more important, even when you think you enjoy another tune more.

Photo by nicky’s_eye_view

Which takes us to the initial quote; while you’re expecting for a song to come next in the playlist, another just pops in and makes you feel better than the one you were expecting for would have. This could happen in some cases. You should stop and feel the moment; get caught in the music, just by listening to it! Stop thinking about your day to day problems, just try to make the most out of your relaxation time. Find your inspiration from a fragment of a lyric, from a line in a tv show, or from the plot of a cinematographic mastermind, or even from a character within a book. Also, inspiration doesn’t have to come from certain places, it could come from everywhere, even from reading this!

Let’s take the music of Jack Johnson, for example (if you haven’t listened to his stuff, you really should). I don’t know about you, but whenever I listen to it, it just takes me to a special place; it gives me a certain special feeling, and charges me with a positive energy, its effect is very calming and soothing. It may not do the same thing for you, but definetly there is some kind of music that has the same effect. Try to think and feel the music, don’t let it just pass through you! It’s very important, in virtually everything, from music and movies, to life itself. Feel life, instead of letting it feel you. Try to be aware about everything that happens to you, because if you do this, not only will you accumulate numerous ideas that will help you and feelings that will make you feel better, but just by paying attention to some small things in life, you will see things in a way that you probably never imagined before.

                                                               Photo by nature55

Photo by DreamValley
Most of us (if not all) have felt at some point that the routine of the daily life is suffocating and even further, we wanted to get away from it; and it’s not necessarily that what you do is boring, even a 
skydiver could feel caught up. But that’s not as easy as it seems, because vacation days are rare and it seems there never is enough time. But still, there are simple things you can do which can make all the difference in the world.

Learn new things. If you keep doing the same things it will be harder and harder to escape from the routine. Instead, try to learn something new everyday of your life; learn from everything, even the smallest of beings and remember that nature is an endless pool of knowledge. During the process of learning, try to apply some of the things you’ve learnt; and try to travel, visit new places, you definetly have some place you would want to visit, so go for it.

Of course, this would involve taking some chances. In fact, taking chances is the next important step in your victory over monotony in your life. Remember, the things which you don’t say are lost, so whenever you want to say something, say it. Hey, now if you want to swear a policeman or something, that wouldn’t be good. I’m talking about things such as telling a friend how much you appreciate him or her, asking that girl you can’t look enough at out, and that kind of things. You know better what you need to say, so quit sitting there, go out and do it!

Photo by Conundrum37
If things don’t go your way, just start from there. Don’t be upset because you made a mistake, learn from that and keep walking and don’t resign yourself with everything, believe in yourself and believe in the fact that you can do better. In fact, getting away from the daily routine means changing your life for the better, and if you truly believe that you can do that, you have already done half the job.