Inspiration Report

I’m going to let this video speak for itself. Never give up. Just don’t.

Learn more about Arthur at Team DDP.

Today’s guest blog comes from Marney K. Makridakis, author of Creating Time. She founded the Artella online community for creators of all kinds and the print magazine Artella. A popular speaker and workshop leader, she created the ARTbundance approach of self-discovery through art. She lives in Dallas, Texas. Visit her online at www.artellaland.com.

One of the most prevalent comments I’ve heard about time is the idea that we need to “balance our time” to live a more “balanced” life. I think the concept of balance is, sadly, often misunderstood. We often feel that if we are focused and disciplined, upbeat and positive, loving and generous, healthy and energetic…then we will be “balanced people.” And if the pie chart of our daily life has just the right ratios of work, life, family, health, spirituality, and service, then our time will be “balanced.”

The problem with striving for balance is that most people’s understanding of this state swerves away from what balance actually is! Balance is not about walking around with a bunch of “positive,” happy qualities; it’s about walking the tightrope between the poles within us and the circumstances outside of us. True balance, ironically, means that we accept the parts of ourselves that can be pretty lopsided. Balance means we can embrace and love the most topsy-turvy parts because they offer gifts for full, authentic living.

Even though we measure time in a linear way, time is and always will be asymmetrical. One moment is not like another, just as each day is different and each tide that rolls in is different from the next. This is why it is impossible to “balance our time” by some objective pie-chart formula in a time management book. Exploring nonlinear, asymmetrical time allows us to move in tandem with an inherently lopsided time and thus regain our relative balance. If we stop constantly measuring ourselves against the standards of linear time, we can accept ourselves more fully. New possibilities emerge as we tango with tenacity and disco with uncertainty.

Based on the book Creating Time: Using Creativity to Reinvent the Clock and Reclaim Your Life ©2012 by Marney Makridakis. Published with permission of New World Library www.newworldlibrary.com

Can you tell I’ve been on a TedTalk kick lately? I love these mini-lectures. So full of wisdom…

This one by Jane Fonda is particularly insightful. As you age, know that the third act of your life can be the best. You can right wrongs. Change your mind and change your course. It’s never too late. In fact, you’re right on time to be everything you ever wanted to be. Enjoy.

I’ve been your faithful Beliefnet editor and Inspiration blogger for more than a year now. Whenever people ask me what I do, I tell them that I write about how to be happy. Almost immediately, their next question is, “So what’s the secret to happiness?”

When I first started this job, I used to say things like “Be yourself”, “Love Yourself” and of course good ol’ fashioned gratitude. And yeah, that’s still true. But now that I’ve had some interesting times and have been forced to put all my “feel-good” advice to the test, my response has changed.

It’s the way you look at life. Your perception can turn stress into a challenge, choose love over fear and make good days out of any day. Your brain is a marvelous machine. It can take anything around you and turn it into whatever you want. So little of life is what happens to you. Everything hinges on what you think.

You can be happy whenever and for however long you want to simply by deciding that happy is what you want to be. When you make that choice, you seek out whatever makes you happy and you naturally avoid what deflates you. You’ll change that sad monologue in your head that recites all your problems; you’ll put a muzzle on your inner critic.

And yes, it’s true that life just sucks sometimes, and despite your best efforts, bad things will definitely happen to you. But there is a tremendous amount of truth in the whole “making lemonade out of lemons” concept. It mostly starts with you deciding, come hell or high water, you’re going to be happy. Then acting accordingly.

This video was so good that I watched it twice. Listen to what psychologist Shawn Anchor has to say in this Ted Talk about what it means to have a brain wired for happiness.