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I remember a story I heard once of a prison warden who worked tirelessly to rehabilitate the men in his prison. One day someone told him to stop doing this because “leopards just don’t change their spots!”

The warden responded with something to the effect of,

“Leopards don’t change their spots. But I don’t work with leopards. I work with men, and men change every day.”

I firmly believe in the power of human growth, human change, and that we can and should be constantly revising and improving ourselves.

It takes a lot of conditioning and hard work to change ourselves, to fix our weaknesses but I also believe we have all the resources inside of us to do so, especially when we stack the cards in our favor…

These are the 5 strategies I’ve found to transform weaknesses into strengths…

Read More: https://medium.com/the-positopian/5-fascinating-ways-to-transform-your-weaknesses-into-strengths-ab78862cfeb7

 

It’s hard to believe that on one day out of the year people in various countries like America flip social standards on their head.

On Halloween it is completely acceptable and encouraged to:

• Take candy from people you don’t know. Especially if you’re a child.
• Embrace demons, witches, and other taboos related to concepts of evil/death.
• Pay for candy. Then give it all out for free.
• Open your door to strangers.
• Show as much skin as you care to. Have less people judge.
• Watch movies and events that may give you a heart attack.

I love Halloween. This bizarre holiday that gave me a pillowcase full of free candy as a child and an opportunity to dress like a weirdo at work as an adult. A holiday where people who have No Soliciting signs on their front doors generously give out a variety of sweets and smiles to anyone who rings their doorbell.

One night. All the rules change.

Why?

Read More: https://medium.com/@mandydchew/candy-from-strangers-c966add0de85

Since the earliest days of civilizations we’ve sought after it.

Inscribed on the Temple of Apollo at Delphi in Ancient Greece were the words,

“Know thyself.”

We all deserve to be satisfied, to know who we are in this world and to feel content with that.

And we are all born with the tools to make that possible…

These are 7 suggestions for living a more satisfied and fulfilling life through the enriching lens of self-worth…

Read More:

https://medium.com/the-positopian/the-secret-sauce-to-self-worth-58648dd50df1

I was fortunate enough to attend an amazing talk by Joan Shafer on the topic of The Power of Positivity a week ago. At the seminar she told us that Positive Psychology is not just an approach to life, it’s a science.

Joan explained that all emotions have a purpose.

Just as fear is a protection mechanism/an emotional response to survival,positive emotions have a purpose too (beyond just putting a smile on our face.)

Read More:

https://medium.com/the-positopian/10-positive-ways-to-improve-your-life-6d8ba6f64445

When I first started writing this article, the title I had in mind was 15 Positive Methods to Make Your Life More Meaningful.

I dove into my usual research and found myself focusing on one aspect and one aspect alone, so much so that I decided this one aspect just needed one article of its own!

The topic?

Giving.

I separated the articles into two, realizing that serving others held the key toa lot more in life than just meaning.

Service not only allows us to live a worthwhile life, it unlocks superhuman powers within us as well…

Read More:

https://medium.com/the-mission/the-incredible-power-of-giving-4bc22dbccfcb

 

5. Remove The Batteries from Your TV Remote

“Habits are like financial capital — forming one today is an investment that will automatically give out returns for years to come.” — Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage

In one section of his book The Happiness Advantage, Shawn Achor recounts his struggles to learn to play the guitar. Shawn had tried countless methods to get himself to play the instrument more, from creating goal sheets and schedules to placing his music stand in the middle of his room.

Finally, something worked…

Shawn disabled all the shortcuts for the one thing that distracted him most in life:

the television.

Shawn took the batteries out of his TV remote, and placed them about 20 seconds away from the couch, making it a little more difficult to slip into his favorite guilty habit of watching television.

“The less energy it takes to kick-start a positive habit, the more likely that habit will stick.” — Shawn Achor, The Happiness Advantage

When it comes to habits, every little bit counts. Especially if you stack the odds in your favor.

I believe forming positive habits is essential to our well-being and happiness. We just have to put in a little extra effort to make sure they come to fruition.Nothing helps us to conquer life more than when we are in control of our time, rather than it controlling us…

Read More:

https://medium.com/the-positopian/5-weird-ways-to-increase-your-happiness-d5b5966d1d95

Tired Tom was always a sleepy head. He was just one of those birds that could never (for the life of him) wake up early, pull himself out of his warm cozy nest, and get the good first catches of worms.

His friend Mary Mournins always had a cheer about her. She wasn’t necessarily the earliest bird that got up, but even if she did wake up late, she was always filled with joy and had a smile on her face.

On one particularly late morning, Tom was grumpier than ever. He flew out to the nearby field and searched and searched, but there were NO worms to be found and thus he had to go the entire morning without eating any breakfast.

He spotted Mary chatting with some other birds and tidying her nest and decided to go over and see what she was talking about, and maybe what her secret was to always staying so chipper.

“…yes, and if I hadn’t changed my morning routine… and the questions I asked myself when I got up… I would have continued being my same old tired self…” Tom overheard her say.

“Oh really?!” said one of her friends, “Can you tell us what the questions are that you first ask yourself?”

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Read More:

https://betterhumans.coach.me/the-parable-of-the-joyful-early-bird-7f9f2ce89d0e

Sometimes in life you have to appreciate the little things…

…even if they’re like, really little…

12. Waking up Before your Alarm

It always feel great when you can start off the day totally in control of what’s ahead! When I have small victories against my alarm I feel like I have seized not just the day, but my life!

11. Coloring Inside the Lines

There’s something about pressing a crayon or pencil perfectly to a line and seeing the color fit inside the design so simply, but beautifully. And then getting to pat yourself on the back for not going outside the lines on the page…Sometimes it feels like you just accomplished the most particularly difficult task in the world…

Read More:

https://medium.com/@mandydchew/12-oddly-satisfying-things-in-life-160304788f57

 

A few nights ago, I attended a talk given by Christopher Voss, former international FBI hostage negotiator for 24 years, in which he described several of his kidnapping stories and how his entire mission in life was to help people and save lives.

Needless to say, he was the real deal. This guy is what all the characters in the movies are based on.

He talked about some of the principles of being a good negotiator in any field, whether in business or in your own personal life.

To top that all off, he wrote a book about it called Never Split the Difference which can be summed up by the following:

Life is a series of negotiations you should be prepared for: buying a car, negotiating a salary, buying a home, renegotiating rent, deliberating with your partner. Taking emotional intelligence and intuition to the next level, Never Split the Difference gives you the competitive edge in any discussion.
In fact he was saying that the Director of Product Growth at Slack, Merci Grace, gave it to ALL her girlfriends, husbands and boyfriends because it helped not only in her professional life, but in her relationship with her fiancé and family.

Right off the bat, he had an air about him that just showed his gravitas and how he could keep his cool during intense high-stakes situations.

Read More:
How to be a World-Class Negotiator