How to enjoy life as it is

What do you think is the most important thing for someone to enjoy life?

Is it the uncountable riches? Is it being famous - a celebrity or an icon maybe? Is it to have a mansion in Hollywood or your own private beach in Malibu or Carribean?

What if someone tell you that you can just enjoy your life by being your plain self. Chances are you will laugh and reject the idea, because of the struggles and strive you have with your life to make ends meet. Or the mountain of hardship you need to climb to reach your goal of success.

What have you got to lose? Just read on and give it a chance..

"I asked God for all things , that I might enjoy life. God gave life, that I might enjoy all things."

- Anonymous

10 Secrets To Enjoy Life

1. Be Happy

Happiness is not a result of a situation or happening, whether you got a promotion or just get married. Happiness is a choice we made, no matter what adversities or shortcomings we're facing. By being happy, we're sending positive signal to our entire body to make whatever things we're doing better and more interesting

"Happiness will never come to those who fail to appreciate what they already have. "

- anonymous

"Remember, happiness doesn't depend upon who you are or what you have, it depends solely upon what you think."

- Dale Carnegie (1888-1955)

American writer.

"Success is not the key to happiness. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful."

- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

German theologian, philosopher, and physician.

2. Be Contented

Being contented with what you have doesn't mean you should give up hope and strive. It means to go for your goals and ambitions without neglecting the joy and abundance that you currently have.

To be contented, you need to see those people who are deprived of good things you are enjoying now. To be ambitious, you need to see those who have reached certain achievement that you want but haven't reached there yet.

"True happiness is to enjoy the present, without anxious dependence upon the future, not to amuse ourselves with either hopes or fears but to rest satisfied with what we have, which is sufficient, for he that is so wants nothing. The great blessings of mankind are within us and within our reach. A wise man is content with his lot, whatever it may be, without wishing for what he has not."

- Lucius Annaeus Seneca (4 BC-65)

Roman philosopher and playwright.

3. Be Adventurous

How many times in life when you feel like doing something big, but silently you just say "I don't know, maybe I'll do it later or someday", but in the end you never do it.

Life passes us by without warning or reminder, and before we know it we have lost much of our quality time without doing or accomplishing something good in our life.

Therefore, don't hold back or postpone or hesitate a great idea that you come across your mind to do a new exciting thing in life. Time is an opportunity that is easily missed. So why not take the action now, plan and do something about it!

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."

- Mark Twain (1835-1910)

U.S. humorist, writer, and lecturer.

4. Don't Be Greedy

Greed is an insatiable desire that no matter how much you have, you will not get enough or be satisfied. It is also the urge to have something that nobody else possess, to the extent of making the person(who has it) to lose what he has, just to make you happy. It is a contagious disease consuming you from inside, making you lose whatever you have and making this life miserable to you.

"If your desires be endless, your cares and fears will be so too."

- Thomas Fuller (1608-1661)

British clergyman and author

"Greed is a bottomless pit which exhausts the person in an endless effort to satisfy the need without ever reaching satisfaction."

- Erich Fromm (1900-1980)

American Psychologist

5. Be Helpful

If you think it's just a waste of time and your valuable resources, maybe it's a time to try it. The feeling that you got from it cannot be expressed in words. You can only feel it when you make it a habit and sincerely without expecting anything in return.

"He who helps in the saving of others, Saves himself as well."

- Hartmann Von Aue (1190-1210)

Swabian Knight

"In helping others, we shall help ourselves, for whatever good we give out completes the circle and comes back to us."

- Flora Edwards

6. Care About Others

How many time we care to get to know people that we met in the lobby or on the elevator, at least just to know their names. Do we know the name of the janitor or cleaning lady in our office building or apartment. Sometime we even neglect to look at their name on their uniform (if any).

Give it a try by greeting them and chat a little bit. You will realize that there's so many thing you can know about them and the things they know that will make your life more meaningful, not to mention new friends you will make from different social backgrounds.

"Happiness is an agreeable sensation, arising from contemplating the misery of others."

- Ambrose Bierce (1842-1914)

American newspaperman and short-story writer.

7. Share Joy And Happiness With Others

How many times you just feel like buying a box of chocolate, or buy some hot coffee or some donuts for your friends in the office. The joy and happiness others got from your words or action has a wonderful effect on you that is not detectable by hi-tech gadgets in the world. It's just a feeling deep inside you that has positive impact on your life.

"To have joy one must share it. Happiness was born a twin. "

- Lord Byron (1788-1824)

British poet.

"Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared. "

- Buddha (563 BC-483 BC)

Founder of Buddhism.

8. Appreciate Everybody Around You

Appreciate their existence, that they are not just a coincidence in your life. Value them as being part of your life. Yes, even your enemy or people you hate. Don't you think you will not know how patient or steadfast you are without them? They are also part of the mechanism to check and balance your life to make it better for you.

"Just as the wave cannot exist for itself, but is ever a part of the heaving surface of the ocean, so must I never live my life for itself, but always in the experience which is going on around me."

- Albert Schweitzer (1875-1965)

German theologian, philosopher, and physician.

9. Appreciate Your Existence As A Human Being

This is the most complicated thing to discuss because people have contradicting views of this life. Some people believe in afterlife. Some people think when we die we turn to mud. Some people believe we will be rewarded or penalised in the afterlife for what we did in this mortal life. Some people believe we will be reincarnated in the next life whether in human form, animal form or the elemental form. And so many other versions of belief.

The point is no matter what our belief is, we all share the idea that right now we do exist in this life on earth, and that we can make a difference for ourselves, people around us, and even every living creature on it. So appreciate that fact and do something about it to touch the lives of others.

"As far as we can discern, the sole purpose of human existence is to kindle a light in the darkness of mere being."

- Carl Jung (1875-1961)

Swiss Psychiatrist

10. Be Thankful For Every Single Day Granted In Your Life

What do you feel when you see a doctor today and he told you that you have only 3 days left to live? How do you feel about the three single days left for you? You will focus on the most important things to do for ourselves, for our love ones, for those we neglected or take for granted.

This is actually the most important secret to enjoy life as it is. We need to appreciate and make the most of every single day in our life. We need to be thankful before we shut our eyes to sleep in bed every night for what we are able to accomplish for the day. And that if I can complete another day for tomorrow, it is such a great bonus for me.

"Learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. "

- Anonymous

"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years. "

- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)

Politician. President of the United States.

"Let every dawn of the morning be to you as the beginning of life. And let every setting of the sun be to you as its close. Then let everyone of these short lives leave its sure record of some kindly thing done for others; some good strength of knowledge gained for yourself."

- John Ruskin (1819-1900)

English art critic.

"Dream as if you'll live forever,

live as if you'll die tomorrow."

- James Dean

THE END