Immediate gratification..

I spent the entire day yesterday refining and getting ready to launch my latest group-coaching program, The Happiness Project. I am SO excited about this program and can't wait for the launch later today...but before I get there, I wanted to touch on a somewhat interesting topic - 'immediate gratification'.

In a world that is changing by the day, advancing and developing, and that screams if you want it, you can have it; it's become progressively harder to stay grounded, to keep a balance between feeding the external you with 'stuff' and still maintaining growth on the inside. 

While doing my research for "The Happiness Project", I came across a number of statistics that prove , once again, that your external world/circumstances truly have little value in predicting your long term happiness. I mean we know this right??!!! And yet still we find it easier to spend our money, time and efforts on things that last only a moment, things that provide a taste of happiness but never actually truly fulfill us. 

On a more personal note, I recently started shopping. Now I know that sounds funny, but I've genuinely never been interested in shopping. I hate spending money and so shopping was never a 'thing' for me. But recently I've given into these small pleasures. I have also recently started watching more series. Both of these activities require little effort from my side, but they require both my time and my money..and ultimately the reward, well just say I'm not a better person because of either! Now, I'm not anti-shopping or series-watching, but what I've found is that most of us are more than happy to spend a good chunk of money at 'H and M' on Saturdays, or a good amount of our time watching meaningless series. Both of these activities are likely to only boost your confidence/increase your happiness for a couple of minutes, maybe hours, but yet for some reason, we are still so scared to invest our money in programs that focus on the internal us, instead of the external, things that require commitment, things that yield real results!! By programs I mean studying further, self-help things, joining a Bible study group, doing a coaching course, reading an informative book...basically things that challenge us rather than keep us where we are at.

The Happiness Project is by no means a '10 steps-to-a-Happier-You' type program. That's not the way I work, think or live. Instead, it's about digging deep, setting goals and committing to challenges. It's about spending your time on the things that matter and filling your mind with positive thoughts, and your life with positive actions. And with that, helping you become a better, and hopefully happier, more grateful you!!! A you that starts to see the world for what it is, and doesn't get stuck on focusing on what it isn't. A you that gets excited about being alive today and sees potential in all of mankind.