Hey there, Momma! How are you doing? No, really? Are you happy with your life? Do you wish that there was a book on how to be happy with your life? Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my kids. I love staying home with them and all the opportunities that it affords. But sometimes, especially when they were small, it just seemed like the days blended into sameness. Do you ever yearn for more? You see, I knew that I had a good life and I should be happy. However, I wasn’t enjoying my life as much as I knew I could be. I didn’t want to change my life totally, I just wanted to be able to relax and enjoy it more, to be the Mom I’d always dreamed of being. I wished for a book on how to be happy with your life.
The Book on “How to Be Happy With Your Life” That I Was Searching For
I searched through personal development books. I read some and enjoyed them. The problem that into was that the best personal development books went very in depth, usually talking about a specific topic. If I had all the time in the world, I could have finished it quickly, but as a Mom…. When was the last time you had a day to curl up in a chair and read a book? Ya… I don’t know either. Moms are busy people and that time to myself, I guarded closely. I had to be very mindful how I spent my free time. (Known as “nap time” or “rest time” when the kids were little.) That’s also the time that I would plunder my hidden chocolate stash. It took me an embarrassingly long time to get through a book.
As I scoured the library for the best self-help books searching among all the other self-improvement books, I had a hard time finding one that was like a “quick start guide.” In-depth is great, but what I needed was an overview or a quick start guide with actionable steps that I could start using immediately. I wanted a book that would tell me how to be happy with my life that worked now, not in 5 years from now. Though I learned a lot, I never did find the Christian self-help book that I was searching for. So, I wrote one. It’s called “The Pearl Perspective: How Changing Your Perspective Can Change Your Life.”
What is “The Pearl Perspective” and Does It Tell How to Be Happy With Your Life?
Simply put, “The Pearl Perspective” is the book about how to be happy with your life that I was searching for. It’s meant to be a quick-start guide to start being happy with your life. So often life in life, we lose that spark of enjoyment and happiness. It’s very easy to start just going through the motions while each day blends into the sameness of the next day. It can seem to become an endless, pointless cycle. Life is too short to spend simply going through the motions! I want you to create the life you love and learn how to enjoy your life again. I want you to be happy with the life that you already have while still inspiring you to chase your dreams.
While I was searching for a book that was fun to read and not too long, I learned many secrets to a happy life. I want to share them with you! There are a lot of personal growth books, but none like “The Pearl Perspective.” I wanted a book that would hook the reader, and when you put it down, I want you to feel like you have walked away from a nice chat with a friend.
Real Practical Life Advice to Show You How to Be Happy With Your Life
“The Pearl Perspective” is not just filled with information that I gleaned from reading other books. Much of it I learned as I put into practice in my own personal growth journey. I wanted to learn how to be happy with my life, no matter my circumstances. “Where ever you are planted, bloom with grace.” As a French Proverb says. I wanted to be able to do that, and I knew that happiness had to come from within. Happiness is a personal responsibility.
I spent a lot of time searching for the secrets to a happy life. Not only did I search for the secrets to a happy life, but I also took them for a “test drive,” when I found them. I found out by trial and error what worked for me and what didn’t. I want to save you that time of searching things out on your own with this book about how to be happy with your life.
Everything in “The Pearl Perspective” I have tried. These are the things that have made a difference to me in creating a life that I love, and of loving the life that I am already living. Truth be told, you don’t need a million dollars in the bank to be happy. You can be happy right now with the life you are currently living. I also want to encourage you to chase your dreams. To do that, I have included chapters on goal setting and making good choices. It’s not just about thinking positive, though that is a large part of it. However, you can think all the positive thoughts you want, but if you make consistently bad choices, your life is still not going to be one that you can enjoy.
Funny Stories as Examples (Because Being Happy With Your Life Involves Laughter)
When I am looking for any book, not just a book on how to be happy with your life, I want it to be fun to read. If I am using my valuable free time to read, I want to enjoy it and feel that it has been time well spent. I put a lot of myself into this book. That means that most of the examples are things that have actually happened to me, many of which are funny stories. I want you to be able to visualize the principles that I talk about, so I tried to include all the powerful imagery that I could. Our brains think in pictures, so when you can conjure mental images as you read, it makes the story and the point more impactful.
Top 3 Tips from “The Pearl Perspective” On How to be Happy With Your Life
When you start on a personal development journey, there are things that you need to cling to and keep, and other things that you must let go. It’s much like decluttering your house. Somethings are good and bring you joy, while others just take up valuable space. It’s also beneficial to bring in some new things that help to enhance the enjoyment that you are getting out of your life as well. I’d like to share 3 of my top tips on how to be happy with your life from my book, “The Pearl Perspective.”
Tip 1 on How to be Happy With Your Life: Be Mindful
Mindfulness is one of the best steps you can take towards becoming happy with your life. It can be summed up with the phrase “living in the present moment.” I have been guilty of taking the kids to the park and instead of watching them play and interacting with them, my mind is a million miles away and I am distracted. Worrying about things and thinking about your to-do list is not going to help if you are at the park with the kids. It will kill your enjoyment of it and you will walk away no more relaxed than you were before you left the house.
When I had children, my Mom told me “the days are long, but the years are short.” It made no sense at the time because the kids were little. Now, less than an hour ago, I watched as they boarded a big yellow bus and went off to school. I realize how quickly that time is passing. It goes away before you know it. Don’t miss out on a park trip because your mind is a million miles away, or you are checking email or social media on your phone. Be fully present. The other stuff can wait.
Tip 2 on How to be Happy With Your Life: Exchange Worry for Concern
Worry is one of the things holding you back from being happy with your life. I used to hold the not so proud title of “Master What-Iffer.” What is a “What-iffer?” Maybe it will sound more familiar this way. “What if I don’t get x done.. what if he/she thinks…. what if I can’t handle…” Now does it make more sense?
My favorite definition of worry comes from Dr. Joe Luciani in his book “The Power of Self-Coaching” He says that “Worry is the habit of anticipating chaos.” Stop and ask yourself if you can take any action about what you are worried about. Is this something that you can control or is it outside of your control. You can show concern, which is fact-based and is constructive. With concern, the emotion is proportional to the problem. Stop and ask yourself if you can take action to solve the problem or situation that you are worried about. If so, then make a plan. If you can’t, then let it go.
Tip 3 on How to Be Happy With Your Life: Stop Comparing Yourself to Others
There was a time in my life that I became very unsatisfied with my life. When my days were blending into sameness, it was because I was too busy looking at what other people were doing to fully appreciate the life that I had. I needed to get my nose back into my own business. While I was busy admiring what they had, I forgot about my own blessings. When you compare yourself to others, there is something you don’t see…. their mosquitos.
Let me explain what I mean by “mosquitos.” We went camping this past summer at an absolutely beautiful lake. It looked picturesque. When we are comparing ourselves to others, their lives look just as beautiful and flawless as this lake did to us. However, what we did not see were all the mosquitos! They drove us nuts! Those little tiny creatures that we could not see caused us huge discomforts and remain the defining memory when we think back to that camping trip.
When we compare ourselves to others, it robs us of happiness with our own lives and we do not see the invisible little things that are driving the other families nuts! They may be plagued with bills, they may battle anxiety or depression, they may be struggling with something that we know nothing about. No one has the same journey as another. That’s part of what makes us all unique. No one else has the same gifts that you have. No one else’s life and challenges are the same as yours. Those are all personal. Focus on your own life and improving it. That’s when you will see progress in both your life and your happiness level.
Conclusion
You are amazing, you are unique, you are beautiful, and you are valuable. I want you to realize that. You are a pearl. That’s what “The Pearl Perspective” is all about – how to be happy with your life. No one can tell the story that you can. Your gifts are unique to you. Whether you realize it or not, you make a difference every single day in the lives of those that you love. All the little things add up into big things. If you are not where you want to be right now, that’s ok. It takes time to create a life you love.
In the meantime, I hope that you can learn (or have already learned) how to be happy with your life right now. Feel free to reach out to me. We all need support from time to time. No one is meant to go through this life alone. We all need a tribe behind us to support us. Sometimes it’s hard to believe in ourselves, but I have found that when self-doubts creep in and I start to stumble and fall, someone is there to cheer me on, pick me up, and believe in me even when I don’t believe in myself. I believe in you. You can and will do amazing things!
Jennifer is a former teacher turned wife and stay at home mom. She blogs at contentmentquesting.com and loves inspiring people to chase their dreams because we all need a bit of encouragement every now and then. You can learn more about “The Pearl Perspective: How Changing Your Perspective Can Change Your Life” and get the first two chapters free in her Freebie Library.
