How to Have the Best Day Ever

Another week has come and gone and another chance at having the best week ever. And EVERY week is the best week ever because every week is another chance to love, laugh, live and breathe. But it takes work! Effort must be made every day to make it the best day in order to live your best life.

Have you taken the Friday Happy Hour Challenge? I think everyone could use a little nudge, so today I am introducing “Best Day Ever”. These are six simple things to make your day a better day. If you have a happy day today, by the end of the week you’ll have a bunch of happy days and end up having the best week ever. Soon you will find you’ve had a few great weeks and before you know it you’ll have the happy life you’ve been looking for all along….simple mathematics.

But it starts with just one day. Let’s start today, Okay?

1. Be in the moment. 
Every morning is an opportunity to wake with a fresh start. Let go of yesterday’s mistakes and tomorrow’s worries; you have a chance to get it right today. This is a new day full of possibilities – be present for it.

2. Approach others with objectivity. 
Scientists are responsible for putting aside their biases and beliefs to see the world as it really is. Rather than being irritated, easily offended or judging others, choose open mindedness. Aren’t we all just trying to make our way through a chaotic world?

3. Accomplish something meaningful. 
You’ll feel better when you cross at least one thing off your to-do list and even better about the day if you make it meaningful. If you have goals and dreams, see yourself closer to them by doing something with purpose today.

4. Share the love. 
Take time to connect with the people in your life. The more love you give, the more love you have.

5. Go with gratitude. 
Say thank you, thank you, thank you for this day. When you focus all your thoughts on what’s right, even if it’s the smallest of goodness to be found, you cannot help changing your whole outlook. Gratitude will create a beautiful life.

6. Laugh often. 
Laugh out loud. Laugh until you can’t breathe. And don’t forget to smile while you’re at it….

This was the best week ever. So many laughs and things to be grateful for. Did you have a great week? Did you have the best day ever?  Thank you for joining me on this great journey!

Friday Happy Hour: Share the Love

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Every week is the best week ever at My Life With Monkeys (even when it's not). Last week I called on you to take action for yourself and join the HappyHour Challenge! This week I am calling on you to join my site and share the message with everyone you know! These images are for you to copy, paste, post and put out into the world.

Paste them on Facebook! Tweet them! Pin them! Link them! Stumble, Tumble, Reddit, Google+ it! Print them and put them up around town! Just share the love!

Before you know it we will have a Happy Hour revolution. Not necessarily the drinking kind, but the feeling good about life kind that can spread like a wild fire and make everyone a little happier. The more followers that join me, the more the idea will spread that everyone can have "the best week ever".

Here is to another great week. Another best week ever! Are you with me?

 

 

 

Friday Happy Hour: It's Your Turn!

It’s finally the end of the week. Finally Friday. It’s time to shed the week’s work and take a breather. If you are just joining this regularly scheduled post, I have to inform you that it is less about half price well drinks and more about celebrating a happy life. You see, for me, it’s always “the best week ever” no matter what the week brought. Some weeks this is not an easy task, but I drive on with purpose because I know there is only one way to look at the days I have been given. Attitude is everything.

Find great examples of Friday Happy Hour Posts of the past HERE or HERE or HERE.

Today I turn it over to you! Today I am asking you to do more than read my thoughts every Friday, but start staking your claim in a happier life with this one simple action: Take the Friday Happy Hour Challenge with me and see if you can’t make every week the best week ever, too.

Step One:

Breathe. Take a big breath and let it all go. You know, the frustrations, the disappointments, the things that got you riled up and anything else that did not serve you well. Go on, take a second breath if you have to!

Step Two:

Reflect. This is the moment when you review all the big and little things that made you smile this week. Some weeks we have to look harder than others. Do you need to meditate? Pray? Go for a run? Listen to music? Take a nap? Employ whatever method works for you, but now is the time to focus on what really matters in your life. I have no doubt that something good happened this week!

Step Three:

Write. Now you get to make a list. The physical act of writing down all the wonderful things in your life can transform the way you think. There it is staring right back at you – proof positive that something good happened. Irrevocable evidence that you are having the best week ever. Are you having a challenge looking for the positive? If you are stuck, here are a few questions you can ask yourself to fetter out those important moments?

·         Did you share a meal with someone and enjoy either the meal or the company?

·         Who did you meet along the way that shared a big smile with you? (the grocer, someone on the street, your baby, a client?)

·         When did you laugh? A funny show or commercial? Your pets (kids) acting silly?

·         Did you look up at the sky and wonder? Big clouds, stars, a full moon, a sunset?

·         What task did you cross of your list that relieved your burden? Pay a debt? Clean a toilet? Write your novel or paint a masterpiece?

·         Who did you take the time to help?

·         When did you learn something new? In the news, in a book, about a loved one, at an event, on the radio, etc.

·         Where did you go and what did you see?

Step Four:

Repeat. Now do it every week. You’ll notice before long that you are making the list before Friday ever arrives. That it becomes second nature to look at every week as the “best week ever” because it serves you well to be a positive thinker.

So, are you in? Will you have the BEST WEEK EVER?

Are you going to take the FRIDAY HAPPY HOUR CHALLENGE with me?

I’m so excited to have you onboard and I hope you will connect with me on FACEBOOK because I’d like to know you better.

And I hope you SHARE this message with your friends and family. They’d like to have a better week, too!

Friday Happy Hour: At the End of the Day

The days zip by us so fast. One more wake up and one more sunset. One more chance to do it all. One more chance to sit back and soak it all in. Morning is filled with possibility. But when night falls, it’s only the hours that remain behind us. What have we done? Where did we spend our time? Who did we love? Who did we forgive? What did we let go? When did we give thanks for all that we have?

The sun is setting. It’s one more perfect day. We breathed. We laughed. We cried. We held on tight. We sat idly and rushed around like mad. We learned something new. We spent time caring for others. We shared a bit of ourselves with someone else. We created something that brings a little more joy to this life. When the sun slips out of view tonight will we be grateful for all we have? Good, bad, and all the little moments in between?

The view from here is spectacular. I have seen it with my own eyes. I have been lucky enough to enjoy another day. And tomorrow is another chance to begin anew and make right anything that fell between the cracks today. There is something glorious in these final moments of the day, knowing I am part of something larger than myself and yet these simple few minutes I have are significant enough to last a lifetime. I am humbled. I am grateful. I am blessed.

This was the best week ever. I lived a full and wonderful life. How was this your best week ever? When the sun sets tonight will you remember to be grateful for one more amazing day?

What Do I Stand For?

When I shoved off into this world, I left with little knowledge of who I was and what I wanted. It was a chaotic time and much of what I had learned about life up to that point I was ready to challenge or dismiss altogether. The branches holding the family nest seemed to be breaking and all that I once knew to be true was unraveling. I had always identified myself through religious dogma, sibling bonds and family life and now it was pushed to the back of my heart as I relearned all that I valued and all that I believed. It was up to me to decide where my moral compass would take me.

Flash forward twenty years later. All that I thought was insignificant or unrelated to my step into adulthood turned out to be the very foundation of who I am turning out to be. Words like integrity and good works meant little to my inexperienced thirteen year old self, but real world experience changes Sunday School rhetoric from formulaic learning into something real and important. The world is vast and complex and navigating life means digging in with all your acquired knowledge, all the lessons you’ve learned along the way just to keep from sinking to the bottom.

The most important things I learned in childhood came around full circle and presented itself to me again this summer. I surprised my family by showing up to the family reunion at the last minute when I had thought all along I would not be able to attend. The day before we were to meet I woke up with a feeling that was like no other; a deep need to be there for this once in a lifetime opportunity. This was a chance for seven of eight siblings to be together in one place for the first time ever. So I bought a plane ticket, told no one and showed up the next day.

All I know about life I felt in these two minutes:

(Forgive the poor quality and odd angles, it's the moment that counts!)

I am part of a family and our bonds cannot be broken. Not with time, distance, hardship, or major misdeeds and wrongdoings. These are the people that planted the first seeds of my life. This is where I started.  This is how I grew up to learn the most important lessons in life. This is how I know that what I feel for my husband and children is an even deeper love. This is the reason I continue to grow. This is my history and this is what I stand for.

What do you stand for?