12 Things Happy People Do Differently 
August 30th, 2011 @ 12:00 am  by: Marc

1. Express gratitude. – When you appreciate what you have, what you have appreciates in value.  Kinda cool right?  So basically, being grateful for the goodness that is already evident in your life will bring you a deeper sense of happiness.  And that’s without having to go out and buy anything.  It makes sense.  We’re gonna have a hard time ever being happy if we aren’t thankful for what we already have.
2. Cultivate optimism. – Winners have the ability to manufacture their own optimism.  No matter what the situation, the successful diva is the chick who will always find a way to put an optimistic spin on it.  She knows failure only as an opportunity to grow and learn a new lesson from life.  People who think optimistically see the world as a place packed with endless opportunities, especially in trying times.
3. Avoid over-thinking and social comparison. – Comparing yourself to someone else can be poisonous.  If we’re somehow ‘better’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, it gives us an unhealthy sense of superiority.  Our ego inflates – KABOOM – our inner Kanye West comes out!  If we’re ‘worse’ than the person that we’re comparing ourselves to, we usually discredit the hard work that we’ve done and dismiss all the progress that we’ve made.  What I’ve found is that the majority of the time this type of social comparison doesn’t stem from a healthy place.  If you feel called to compare yourself to something, compare yourself to an older version of yourself.
4. Practice acts of kindness. – Performing an act of kindness releases serotonin in your brain.  (Serotonin is a substance that has TREMENDOUS health benefits, including making us feel more blissful.)  Selflessly helping someone is a super powerful way to feel good inside.  What’s even cooler about this kindness kick is that not only will you feel better, but so will people watching the act of kindness.  How extraordinary is that?  Bystanders will be blessed with a release of serotonin just by watching what’s going on.  A side note is that the job of most anti-depressants is to release more serotonin.  Move over Pfizer, kindness is kicking ass and taking names.
5. Nurture social relationships. – The happiest people on the planet are the ones who have deep, meaningful relationships.  Did you know studies show that people’s mortality rates are DOUBLED when they’re lonely?  WHOA!  There’s a warm fuzzy feeling that comes from having an active circle of good friends who you can share your experiences with.  We feel connected and a part of something more meaningful than our lonesome existence.
6. Develop strategies for coping. – How you respond to the ‘craptastic’ moments is what shapes your character.  Sometimes crap happens – it’s inevitable.  Forrest Gump knows the deal.  It can be hard to come up with creative solutions in the moment when manure is making its way up toward the fan.  It helps to have healthy strategies for coping pre-rehearsed, on-call, and in your arsenal at your disposal.
7. Learn to forgive. – Harboring feelings of hatred is horrible for your well-being.  You see, your mind doesn’t know the difference between past and present emotion.  When you ‘hate’ someone, and you’re continuously thinking about it, those negative emotions are eating away at your immune system.  You put yourself in a state of suckerism (technical term) and it stays with you throughout your day.
8. Increase flow experiences. – Flow is a state in which it feels like time stands still.  It’s when you’re so focused on what you’re doing that you become one with the task.  Action and awareness are merged.  You’re not hungry, sleepy, or emotional.  You’re just completely engaged in the activity that you’re doing.  Nothing is distracting you or competing for your focus.
9. Savor life’s joys. – Deep happiness cannot exist without slowing down to enjoy the joy.  It’s easy in a world of wild stimuli and omnipresent movement to forget to embrace life’s enjoyable experiences.  When we neglect to appreciate, we rob the moment of its magic.  It’s the simple things in life that can be the most rewarding if we remember to fully experience them.
10. Commit to your goals. – Being wholeheartedly dedicated to doing something comes fully-equipped with an ineffable force.  Magical things start happening when we commit ourselves to doing whatever it takes to get somewhere.  When you’re fully committed to doing something, you have no choice but to do that thing.  Counter-intuitively, having no option – where you can’t change your mind – subconsciously makes humans happier because they know part of their purpose.
11. Practice spirituality. – When we practice spirituality or religion, we recognize that life is bigger than us.  We surrender the silly idea that we are the mightiest thing ever.  It enables us to connect to the source of all creation and embrace a connectedness with everything that exists.  Some of the most accomplished people I know feel that they’re here doing work they’re “called to do.”
12. Take care of your body. – Taking care of your body is crucial to being the happiest person you can be.  If you don’t have your physical energy in good shape, then your mental energy (your focus), your emotional energy (your feelings), and your spiritual energy (your purpose) will all be negatively affected.  Did you know that studies conducted on people who were clinically depressed showed that consistent exercise raises happiness levels just as much as Zoloft?  Not only that, but here’s the double whammy… Six months later, the people who participated in exercise were less likely to relapse because they had a higher sense of self-accomplishment and self-worth.

• taking a quick photo of which section I parked in at the airport or a sporting event
• backing up my pilot logbook by taking photos of the pages (my iPhone photos are backed up online so it’s a pretty safe backup)
• photographing clothing items I leave in a secondary residence so the next time I go I can quickly reference what items I already have there
• sending a photo of a grocery item to someone to ask if it’s the correct one
• reverse camera on the iPhone to act as a mirror (any spinach in the teeth?)

Hiking in toward the falls

The Last Stretch of the Hike

Arriving at the Top Waterfall

Invigorating

From the San Diego Reader:
“The triple set of waterfalls dubbed the “Three Sisters” is an amazing San Diego County feature not many have seen. In full flood, these cascades put on a show reminiscent of Yosemite’s show stoppers — except at a reduced scale. Since some of the upstream drainage of Boulder Creek comes from Cuyamaca Reservoir, regulated releases of water there can greatly affect the volume of water flowing over the falls.

Although the round-trip hike measures only four miles from the nearest road, visiting the falls is a task for expert hikers, not beginners. Take along drinking water, and be prepared for some strenuous climbing, both up and down, on marginal pathways and on no trail at all near the falls themselves.

To get to the trailhead from San Diego, exit Interstate 8 at Highway 79 (Descanso exit) and drive north. After 1.3 miles turn left on Riverside Drive. Continue 0.6 mile to the main crossroads (post office, etc.) of the hamlet of Descanso. From there take Oak Grove Drive 1.6 miles to the intersection of Boulder Creek Road on the right. Follow Boulder Creek Road north for 13.0 miles (first half paved, then dirt) to a hairpin turn where unpaved Cedar Creek Road joins from the west. Park there, taking care not to block traffic, and post a National Forest Adventure Pass on your car (the parking area and falls lie in Cleveland National Forest territory).

On foot now, follow the remains of an old ranch road (not Cedar Creek Road) due west for 0.7 mile to a saddle, where an old mining road on the left slants southeast and descends into Sheep Camp Creek. You can both see and hear the falls from this saddle.

Descend southwest on the mining road for 0.4 mile, cross Sheep Camp Creek, and switch back onto a narrow path cut into the south slope. After about 0.3 mile, the trail veers sharply left and passes over a saddle in the divide between Sheep Camp Creek and Boulder Creek.

Next, you negotiate an abrupt drop of 500 vertical feet through chaparral on a primitive — and in places excessively steep and slippery — trail cut by hikers’ footsteps. At the bottom you can either forge a route through the brush and angular rocks along the left side of the creek or (if the water level is not too high) rock hop and wade toward the falls. Great masses of poison oak, intermixed with wild grape vines, lie along the banks. Be very cautious of slippery rocks.

When you reach the base of the waterfalls, all the previous thrashing about will have been worth it. The “middle sister” is impressive, with water sliding 50 feet down a smooth channel worn in the bedrock into a kidney shaped pool about 80 feet long and at least 10 feet deep. Watch your footing — it’s deceptively easy to slip on the smooth rock and perhaps be seriously injured. It’s difficult and dangerous to climb up to the uppermost waterfall, though some agile climbers have done it.

This article contains information about a publicly owned recreation or wilderness area. Trails and pathways are not necessarily marked. Conditions can change rapidly. Hikers should be properly equipped and have safety and navigational skills. The Reader and Jerry Schad assume no responsibility for any adverse experience.”

There is no such thing as the perfect person. So many people want perfect parents when they themselves are far from perfect children. Others desire perfect jobs yet their work is uninspired. Our teachers demand perfection yet they too can be sloppy. Let us stop our quest for perfection in others. Rather let us learn to look inward for perfection before seeking its manifestation elsewhere.

The goal should not be perfection. We should merely work to the best of our abilities, remembering that the art is in the trying.

Let us try to be kinder. Let us try to be friendlier. Let us try to see each person as someone else’s beloved child. Someone whose birth gave great joy and whose passing will for some leave an unfillable gap.

That truck driver is somebody’s Daddy far from home. Wave him on. Let him pass safely. Somewhere there is a loving wife who does not sleep peacefully until he turns the key.

That sales person is trying to earn a living just like you and I. You don’t have to buy, but treat all who ply an honest trade with dignity. Return their calls and hear them out. Theirs is a hard furrow to hoe and without them the world might have been a darker place. Who else would have sold us a light bulb?

Be enchanted more and grumble less. The gift of waking each day midst good health cannot be surpassed by the brightest of jewels. Enjoy your children unashamedly. They are the best high interest loan you will ever get.

Do not envy. Other people’s shoes pinch and those who have borrowed soles are well pleased to return them to their rightful owners.

Salute today and worry less about tomorrow. Read to the blind and talk to the deaf. There but for the luck of the draw go you.

Slander not. Nothing is what it seems and few of us know the full story. Those who stoop low succeed only in toppling themselves. Heed well those who have learned from the school of Life. There are few things less bearable, and nothing less scholarly, than an educated ignoramus.

Whatever your burden, you are not alone. Bear it with courage knowing that which goes around turns around.

Place on the Human Agenda the care of the Earth and the care of the animals. We are their custodians but never their owners.

Protect from confusion and mockery those who do not speak our language. Respect their feelings and aspirations which differ very little from yours. Treat them as you yourself would want to be treated in a land of strangers.

Put compassion back on its throne. Bequeath it to our children’s children least it become extinct. We are temporary and should ensure the permanence of all that is good even if we don’t always succeed in practicing it.

Let us wipe each other’s tears, and help birth smiles. They are the essence of the human condition and inevitably they follow each other as the dawn does the night.

Let us be midwives to compromise. It is a struggling orphan midst the excitement of technology’s children.

The human agenda is the mirror of us all. Tarnish your portion and each sees less. Polish it, and you help renew the secret hopes which we all carry in our hearts.

At the end of the day you are but a modest reflection of all you do, not what others think you do. If you achieve but a modest fraction of what this is about, you will have mustered your fair share of rent for your earthly room.

I began working on my pilot’s license in June, 2010. At first I was completely overwhelmed. After every lesson, I needed a nap to recuperate. Still, the allure of the freedom of flight, and the challenge of learning something new, kept me going. As a form of motivation, I made a collage of the places I want to fly when I get my license. They include: Santa Barbara, Catalina, and Mammoth.

Slowly, things have been becoming more automatic and less overwhelming. My instructor, Ronnie Greathouse, is a wonderful guy, which makes the process more fun, and less pressured. I love the school I attend, Coast Flight Training. Everyone is really professional, service-oriented and kind. Attending Coast feels like being part of a big family, and I have made special friends through the process.

After about 75 hours of practice, I did my first solo at Brown Field. Ronnie and I flew there, we practiced some landings, and then he got out and I did three landings by myself. It was a thrill!

My First Solo, September 8, 2010

The theory portions of my study have involved learning about weather, the mechanics of the plane, emergency procedures, radio communication, basic principles of aerodynamics, the biomedical effects of flying on humans, and much more.

Since my initial solo, I have done a cross-country solo, meaning that I left my home airport and flew at least 50 miles to another airport, landed, and then came back. For that I went to Chino (CNO). In the course of my training I have landed at many different airports including Torrance, French Valley, Palomar, Ramona, Oceanside, Las Vegas McCarran, and others accross the U.S. when I flew to an airshow in Wisconsin.

Recently my brother finished his Private Pilot Licence and will begin doing his instrument rating. He is also training in Cirrus Aircraft at Coast, and it’s been such fun to share the experience with him. He’s a superior pilot and grasps the information easily, so he has generously tutored and coached me along the way.

My next steps are to take a 2-stop cross country trip, to review, practice and prepare, and then to schedule my oral and practical exams with the FAA (I’ve already taken the written exam).

I’ve loved the rain and clouds this past week; but I’ve missed being able to get up in the air!