Inner Peace and Joy: Joy Defined

When I was a student at the Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta, we always had guest speakers who would come to our center and share their knowledge with us. One particular speaker came and shared with our class the origin of "Yo Momma" jokes and how the slaves used "Yo Momma" jokes as a survival skill to develop tolerance and keep their Joy.


Can Slaves Be Joyful?
If I could read your mind, I bet you are saying "How can slaves be happy when they were subjugated to so much abuse?" Now, I did not say that the slaves were happy in their condition, what I said was that the slaves were taught how to maintain their Joy while they were going through their tribulations.

First let me say that there is a humongous difference between being "Happy" and having "Joy". You see a person can be happy merely because things are going their way or when their surroundings are peaceful but when chaos arises in their lives they lose their happiness and are sad. That is because happiness is conditional and temporary.

On the other hand, when a person has achieved the mental state of Joy they can be cheerful no matter what is going on in their life because that person has learned how to condition their mind to be in a state of Joy. Joy is different from happiness because one is based on what is going on inside of the person's mind and the other is based on what is going on in the person's life.

How Were "Yo Momma" Jokes Used to Help the Slaves to Maintain Joy?
The "Yo Momma" jokes were created as a survival tactic by the elder male slaves to keep the young male slaves alive. The younger male slaves were being killed because they did not tolerate the abusive behaviors of the slave owners.The elder slave men got together and came up with the idea of telling "Yo Momma" jokes to prepare the younger male slaves mentally for the abusive behaviors of the slave owners. The elder slaves knew that if they could get the younger males to tolerate jokes about their mothers and laugh, then the young men would be able to mentally tolerate anything.

The Lesson To Be Learned From Telling "Yo Momma" Jokes
What the elders did was instilled inside of the younger males that the slave owners may have controlled their physical condition but they did not have control over their minds. The elders taught the younger males how to be mentally prepared to maintain their Joy.
Like the younger male slaves, your ability to maintain your mental state of Joy is going to be based on how well you are able to respond to your physical condition. You have to learn how to mentally be prepared to tolerate whatever is going on your life. This process is going to require that you train your mind to work from the inside out

More Useful Tips
Change Your Perspective

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 96: Play the Hand That Life Has Dealt You Like a Winner

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 26-30 for a Spirit Booster!




What Does Being Happy Have To Do With The Card Game Spades?
I am not great at playing cards, in fact some people would say that I am a sore loser, but it is from playing cards that I have learned one of life's most valuable lessons and that is "How to be Happy no Matter What Hand I am Dealt With in Life."

Are you familiar with the card game 'Spades'? Basically, Spades is a game of chance that is played for fun between four people who are paired in two's. The dealer deals each player thirteen cards from a fifty two card deck. You never know which cards you are going to get. You may get a winner's hand or a loser's hand but no matter what hand you get you have to give the impression that you are playing with a winner's hand.

What is A Winner's Hand
When I am dealt a hand that consists of all the high cards and a few low cards, I get excited because I know that I have a winner's hand. As a matter of fact, every one who is playing at the table also knows that I have a winner's hand because my attitude and my emotions change. You can see it written on my face; I get excited and I started talking and playing with confidence.

Now on the other hand if I am dealt a hand with a lot of low cards and a few high cards, immediately I know that I have a loser's hand. Again everyone at the table also knows that I am playing with a loser's hand because my face expression changes and I start frowning. I may even throw in my hand and shuffle all of my cards with every one else cards. Remember, I told you that I am a sore loser.

How to be Happy With the Hand Life Has Dealt You
Life is like playing cards because just like the card game 'Spades' life is a game of chance. Some people have more advantages than others, this is a fact, however if you dwell on that you will never be able to fully live a happy life. Instead of pouting over your hand, you have to take the hand that has been dealt to you and play it to the best of your ability.

The wonderful thing about life is, nobody knows your hand. Think about it, nobody would ever know how well or how bad things are going in your life unless you tell them, give it away with your emotions or you display it with your attitude.

3 Tips for Playing Like a Winner

• Keep a straight face: Try to try not to show too much emotions. You do not want to come across as too happy or too unhappy. The best way that you can live your life like a winner is to try to be calm and relaxed at all times.

• Have a positive attitude: You will be a lot happier if you focus on the good things about your life instead of complaining about all of the things that are not right. If you do not like the hand that life has dealt you, do something about it but complaining is not going to make it any better.
  

• Dress like a winner: Always try to dress your best and keep your hygiene up to par. When people see you they should see a winner. You clothes should be ironed and your shirt should be tucked in.

More Useful Tips:
Dress Your Best
Maintain a Positive Self-Image

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 88 : Play Board Games

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 141-145 for a Spirit Booster!





Ways To Calm Your Mind
An important step when you are working on maintaining your Inner Peace and living your life full of joy is being able to calm your mind. Let's say that you are experiencing a situation such as being concerned about your finances, your family members or your future. How are you going to calm your mind if you are anxious or worried for long periods of time? How are you going to calm your mind if you are confused? It is not going to just happen by itself, you are going to have to take action to refocus and regain your Inner Peace.

• One way that you can calm your mind and return your focus back to a state of Inner Peace is by playing board games.

Why Board Games?
You are probably asking, "Why would I want to play Monopoly, Bingo or any other type of board game when I do not know where my child is, when I am trying to figure out how in the world I am going to save my house from going into foreclosure, or when I am trying to figure out my future outcome?"

Well, the reason why you would want to play a board game when you are working on maintaining your Inner Peace while you are going through a stressful situation is because when you are worried, you are not helping the situation by worrying. In fact, you are just placing more stress on your mind and body. Also when you are worried you will not be able to focus on the real issues because you are not in your right mind.

Board Games, Stress and Inner Peace
What you need to do when you are under stress is to get your mind off of the stressful situation and focus on something that will calm your mind. Playing a board game with a family member, friends or even yourself for about an hour or so will help you to take your mind off of your situation.
Board Games will also:
1. Give you a chance to relax and get your mind off of what is going on with you.
2. If you are frustrated, playing the board game will buy you enough time to calm down
3. If you are stressed, playing a board game will help you to let go and laugh

More Useful Tips
Journal
Relax

Inner Peace Tip # 72 : See Only The Good

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 46-50 for a Spirit Booster!

When you are working on maintaining your Inner Peace and living your life full of joy it is going to be important that you see only the good in every situation.

Today is Thanksgiving and my day did not start out too great mainly because I am missing my sisters. I went to work today with a slight attitude and my attitude could have remained negative all day long but I was able to recognize my emotional signals and turn my mood around.

The skill that I used to turn my negative mood around and to get centered back on my mental state of peace was to focus on what I have to be thankful for.

By the time I finished giving thanks for all of my many blessings, not only was I thankful to have a source of income I was glad to be able to be at work and share the love that God placed in me with others who are less fortunate.

The good that I was able to see in my situation was God thought enough of me to place me in the care of His youth and I am going to use this opportunity to allow God's love to beam through me.

You are in control of your emotions and you get to decide how you are going to respond in every situation. Decide beforehand that you are only going to see the good because when you focus on the good your emotional response will be positive and peaceful



How do you turn yourself around and refocus when you are in a not so favorable situation?

More Useful Tips
Change Your Attitude
Control Your Emotions

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 71: Listen to Music

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 41-45 for a Spirit Booster!


A great tip for helping you to calm down when you are agitated is listen to music.

I like to listen to the jazz station when I am riding home from work because instrumental sounds calms me down and it helps me to release and relax.

I also noticed that when I listen to loud music or music with negative lyrics, I have to work extra hard on maintaining my Inner Peace.

Exercise: Build A List of Calm Music

1. Start paying attention to how the music you listen to affects your mood
2. Check your mood before you begin listening, while you are listening and after you listen to the music
3. Make a list of all of the music that you listen to that is calm and relaxing
   
4. Upload those songs on your Ipod or make a CD

Whenever you are having a chaotic day or if you need to just release and relax, you can take a few minutes and listen to your "calm" music to regain your mental state of peace.

How do you calm down?

More Useful Tips
Count Slowly
Relax

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 70: Live in the Now

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 36-40 for a Spirit Booster!




A key factor in working towards maintaining your Inner Peace and living your life full of Joy is going to be how well you are able to stay focused and live in the present.

Have you ever come in contact with a person who is upset with someone else and they are venting with you about the person whom they are upset with? Normally the person whom you are talking to is crying or really angry.

When I run across this particular scenario, I normally let the person who is upset vent but if they are still upset after they vent,I ask them a very important question, "Is anybody is hurting you right now?" If the person is slow to respond, I ask them to look around and see who is in the room with right now. The expected answer is that we are the only two people who are in the room right now and nobody is hurting them, or arguing with them or causing them to be upset at this exact moment.

Once I get the person to realize that it is just me and them in the room and no one is hurting them right now, the next step is to get the person to realize that they are carrying their emotional pain in their head.

To help prove my point, I say to them "I am not experiencing any emotional pain and I am in the room with you. If it were raining, we both would experience the wet feeling of the rain drops because that is external. The reason why I am not experiencing the hurt and pain that you are experiencing is because it is internal and you are carrying those feelings over from another incident. Those emotions are occurring in your head and not in this room."

The final step is to get the person to focus on what is happening in the room right now. Usually if I can get the person to grasp hold to the concept that in the present moment they are not in danger then I can get them to focus on living in the moment. At that point they will be able to experience a calm and peaceful state of being.

More Useful Tips
Create Your Mental Garden
Count Slowly

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 65: Peel Back the Onion

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Psalms will uplift your soul. Read Psalms chapters 11-15 for a Spirit Booster!




Do You Let People Take Your Inner Peace and Joy?
"Have you ever found yourself in a situation in which you allowed a person's behavior to result in you losing your mental state of peace?" How about this one, "Have you ever dreaded going some place because you knew that once you arrived, you were going to be around people whose behaviors irked you?"

If you have, then this blog is for you! This blog post will show you how to dig deep inside of yourself and conquer any negative emotions that you have attached to certain behaviors which may be prohibiting you from maintaining your inner peace and living your life full of joy.

Figure Out the "Why"
When you find yourself around people who are really irking you, ask yourself "Which behaviors in particular are annoying you?" It is going to be important that you realize that it is not the person who is irking you, it is their behavior.

After you figure out which behaviors in other people are annoying you, the next thing you are going to need to do is ask yourself "Why are you associating negative emotions with certain behaviors?"

How I Peeled Back the Layers of My Life
For myself, I had to peel back the onion all the way back to my childhood. The behavior which annoys me the most is "disrespect." I figured out that the reason why disrespect annoys me so much is because my mother was a single parent and the community frowned upon her and her lifestyle. I grew up having to learn how to give a blind eye to negative gestures and a deaf ear to ill comments.

I thought that I had buried all of the pain that I felt when I was growing up but what was actually happening was those feelings were resurrected ever time that I came in contact with some one whom I felt like was disrespecting me.

I didn't realize it but I was actually associating my pain of being disrespected as a child with the behavior of disrespect that I felt when I came in contact with others.

Now What?
Once, I peeled back my onion, I was able to recognize my true cause of being annoyed when I was disrespected. I was able to conquer disrespect by recognizing the root and forgiving my past. Now, when I am in a disrespectful situation it does not bother me because I no longer hold on to the feelings of my past.

You have to do the same thing and find out which feelings you are attaching to certain behaviors that are distracting you from being able to maintain your mental state of peace. This process may require that you dig deep in order to identify the root cause. The way that you are going to be able to conquer the emotions that you are associating with certain behaviors is by releasing the negative feelings. You can practice release through forgiveness.

Leave a comment and share with me the behaviors that you need to conquer.

More Useful Tips
Be True To Yourself

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 55: Honest Work

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 24, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life.

"You can have what ever you want if you just plan and work for it!"
Have you ever seen something that you wanted and just day dreamed about having it? You may have even said something like "Boy, I wish I had that..." If you continue to dwell on wanting to possess that particular thing, you will eventually start to feel deprived and that feeling of deprivation will keep you from maintaining your inner peace. What if I told you, you can have what you want if you just work for it.

Honest Work vs. Dishonest Work
When you do honest work to get what you want, it gives you a sense of accomplishment and you feel good about yourself. You can look at your possessions and say I earned these things with the fruit of my labor.

When you get what you want by conniving, cheating and stealing from people, you are not going to have inner peace because your ways are dishonest.

Here is How it Works
Your thoughts are going to be equivalent to you actions so if you have right thoughts you will take right actions. If you follow this formula, when you do the right thing, you will have inner peace. The opposite works if you are dishonest. If you are constantly entertaining thoughts about how you are going to do people wrong, you can not expect to have inner peace because your thoughts are disturbing.

When you work and take right actions you can have inner peace because you are not doing anything wrong to get what you want.

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #49: Be Joyful

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 18, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to you life.



It Is Easy To Be Happy When Everything Is Going Well...
I was meditating on the thought that "it is easy to be happy when everything is going well but what about when things are not?

When I am full, I am plenty happy but when I am hungry it is a different story.

When I am comfortable with my weight, then I am happy but when I am overweight I look in the mirror and I do not like the person that I see.

When my money is alright, then so am I but when my money is funny there is nothing to laugh about.

When I am in a loving relationship, the world is mine but when I am single my world has fallen.


Do you get the point that I am making?

Joy vs. Happiness

There is a difference between being Happy and having Joy. Happiness is temporal and it is based on emotions, conditions and circumstances whereas Joy is a mental state of being.

You can have a joyful life once you make up your mind that you are going to be joyful regardless of what is going on in your life. After you make up your mind then you have to work at maintaining your Joy.

I had a conversation with a teenaged girl and during the course of our conversation she said to me "I love myself."

The next thing that she did was showed me the flap under her arms and then she shook each of her arms until the flap waved back and forth in the air.

She then said, I know that I am fat but I still love myself. I just need to lose weight.

Lesson Learned
I learned a valuable lesson from a teenaged girl. The lesson that I learned is that despite it all, I am going to have joy.

My joy is based on my attitude and not on if things are going good or bad.

My joy is based on my attitude and it is not conditioned on if I am full of if I am hungry.

My joy is based on my attitude and it has nothing to do with my weight. I am joyful when my weight is normal and when I am under or over weight.

My joy is based on my attitude and not on the amount of money that I have or do not have.

I am joyful when I am in a relationship and I am joyful when I am not because my joy is not something that is based on my relationship status.

Do you get the picture?

More Useful Tips:
Control Your Emotions
Be Slow To Anger
Pay Attention To Your Thoughts

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 39: Admit Your Mistakes

Inner Peace and Joy Daily and Meditation Tip: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 8, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply it to your life


Have you ever heard the saying "If I had it to do it over again, I would not change a thing."

Although you are not able to change the past, you can change your future. In fact, maintaining your Inner Peace and living a life full of joy depends on it.

Your Inner Peace and Joy begins when you can recognize your mistakes, repent and do things differently.

When you recognize that things are going wrong in your life, you have the choice to make changes. Inner Peace and Right living are intertwined.

Your Rights:
You have the Right to Change: Change For the Benefit of Maintaining Inner Peace and living a joyful life

Change Your Mind-If you made a decision and later on you find that the decision was made in haste or in error, change your mind

Change Your Attitude-It's never too late to change your attitude and be more positive, more kind to others and to have more compassion towards others

Change Your Relationships-If the company you keep is negative, you can change. Remove them from your life

Change Your Career- You are not obligated to spend your life in the same career, if you do not like your circumstance change it

Admitting that you have made a mistake is a crucial part in maintaining your inner peace because it lets you know that you are not stuck in a situation or condemned to your past. You can ask God, yourself and others for forgiveness for past mistakes and move on


More Useful Tips
How To Make Wise Choices
Tips For Having a Positive Attitude
Surround Yourself Around People Who Mean You Good

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #37: Know Yourself

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation Tip: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 6, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life.

Who Are You?
Before you can expect to experience inner peace and a lifetime of joy, you must first "Know Yourself"

Who Are You?
Some would answer this question by saying "I am a Mother, Father, Sister or Brother, I am an Executive, a School Teacher...
I do not mean your title.

Who Are You?
What are your values?
What is your character?
What do you like or dislike?
How do others view you?
Does Your lifestyle Represent Who You Say That You Are?
If you do not know who you are, then it is going to be difficult to experience inner peace because you are lost.

The way that you are going to know who you are is by spending time with yourself and getting to know "You"

More Useful Tips:
Celebrate You
Count Your Blessings
Love the Skin That You are In

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #24: Laugh, Laugh and then Laugh some more

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 24, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life

You can tell a joyful person just by observing them in action. Joyful people find every opportunity to laugh at the little things in life. A part of maintaining your inner joy is laughing. Here are some suggestion:

Get with some good friends and laugh about old times and new times.

Look at the funnies in the newspaper

Watch a comedy movie

Tell a joke

Go to a comedy show

Watch the cartoons

This is something to make you Laugh

A man was being tailgated by a stressed-out woman on a busy boulevard. Suddenly, the light turned yellow just in front of him. He did the right thing, stopping at the crosswalk, even though he could have beaten the red light by accelerating through the intersection.

The tailgating woman was furious and honked her horn, screaming in frustration, as she missed her chance to get through the intersection, dropping her cell phone and makeup.
As she was still in mid-rant, she heard a tap on her window and looked up into the face of a very serious police officer

The officer ordered her to exit her car with her hands up. He took her to the police station where she was searched, fingerprinted, photographed, and placed in a holding cell.After a couple of hours, a policeman approached the cell and opened the door. She was escorted back to the booking desk where the arresting officer was waiting with her personal effects.

He said, 'I'm very sorry for this mistake.
You see, I pulled up behind your car while you were blowing your horn, flipping off the guy in front of you, and cussing a blue streak at him.'
I noticed the 'What Would Jesus Do bumper sticker,
the 'Choose Life' license plate holder,
the 'Follow Me to Sunday-School' bumper sticker,
and the chrome-plated Christian fish emblem on the trunk.

Naturally....I assumed you had stolen the car.' Priceless

Author Unknown

More Useful Tips:
Pay attention to your thoughts
Stay away from negative people
Smile more

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 23: Control Your Emotions

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 23, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life

The way that you are going to experience a life of inner peace and joy is by controlling your emotions.

You can not let your emotions go haywire and expect to experience peace and joy. Here are some tips for helping you to control your emotions.

Tip:Control Your Temper

You have to learn to take control of your temper. Everyday you are not going to wake up and be peaceful and joyful. There are certain things and actions that you must take in order to maintain an inner state of peace and joy. You must Decide every morning to Be Peaceful and Joyful.

Tip "Don't Be Wishy Washy":You should not be perceived as moody; one moment you are smiling and then the next moment people have to walk on egg shells just to keep from upsetting you. Instead people should love to see you coming because every time that they see you, they can see your inner glow and say "You are always smiling". Inner Peace starts from within, You have to decide that regardless of your outside circumstances you are still going to maintain a state of inner peace and joy.

Tip: Leave Your Baggage at the Front Door

Let's face it, everyday is not going to be sunshine. You are going to have some days when you are challenged to maintain your state of inner peace and joy. If you are not having a good day, please do not subject others to your pain. Instead, leave your baggage at the front door and suck it up. Whatever happened before you got to work does not concern the people that you are encountering now. Decide before you enter the door that you are going to be a " Beacon of Light" and that you are going to "Uplift someone's spirits today"

More Useful Tips:

Smile more
Have a positive attitude

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #22: Make Your Haters Your Motivators!

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets, Read Proverbs 22, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life


Maintaining your mental state of inner peace and living a life full of joy is going to be partly based on how you deal with negative people. Let's face it, negative people are in the world and there is no getting around them . Your mental state of inner peace is going to be based on how you respond to negative people.

Hater/ By Maya Angelou

A hater is someone who is jealous and envious and spends all their time trying to make you look small so they can look tall. They are very negative people to say the least. Nothing is ever good enough!


When you make your mark, you will always attract some haters... That's why you have to be careful with whom you share your blessings and your dreams, because some folk can't handle seeing you blessed... It's dangerous to be like somebody else... If God wanted you to be like somebody else, He would have given you what He gave them! Right?


You never know what people have gone through to get what they have. The problem I have with haters is that they see my glory, but they don't know my story. If the grass looks greener on the other side of the fence, you can rest assured that the water bill is higher there too!


We've all got some haters among us! Some people envy you because you can: a) Have a relationship with God b) Light up a room when you walk in c) Start your own business d) Tell a man / woman to hit the curb (if he / she isn't about the right thing) e) Raise your children without both parents being in the home Haters can't stand to see you happy.Haters will never want to see you succeed. Most of our haters are people who are supposed to be on our side.


How do you handle your undercover haters? You can handle these haters by: 1. Knowing who you are & who your true friends are *(VERY IMPORTANT!!) 2.. Having a purpose to your life: Purpose does not mean having a job. You can have a job and still be unfulfilled. A purpose is having a clear sense of what God has called you to be.. Your purpose is not defined by what others think about you. 3. By remembering what you have is by divine prerogative and not human manipulation.


Fulfill your dreams! You only have one life to live...when its yourtime to leave this earth, you 'want' to be able to say, 'I've lived my life and fulfilled 'my' dreams,... Now I'm ready to go HOME! When God gives you favor, you can tell your haters, 'Don't look at me...Look at Who is in charge of me...'
Maya Angelou

More Useful Tips:
Have a positive attitude
Stay away from negative people

Inner Peace and Joy: Tip #21 Count Your Blessings

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 21, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life

When You are Feeling Down...
If you are feeling the effects of today's economy (downsized job, financial crunch, foreclosed home) you can easily start to focus on everything that is going wrong in the world and in your life instead of things that are going right.

Count Your Blessings

When you focus on the negative things that are going on in your world, it disturbs your inner peace and joy because negative thoughts makes you feel down instead of joyful. The next time you start to focus on the negativity and you start to feel down you should shift your focus and start focusing on positive thoughts . The best remedy for feeling down is, START COUNTING YOUR BLESSINGS

Exercise:

1. Make a list of all the things that you are thankful for. For example: you are thankful for your eyes, for two legs, for your right mind, etc

2. Add to your list daily

3. Review your list often.

When you are focused on your blessings, you can see all of the things that are going right in your world instead of what is going wrong. As long as you can keep your attention focused on what is good, you will be uplifted and joyful.

More Useful Tips:

Read Your Bible Daily
Surround Yourself Around People Who Mean You Good

Inner Peace and Joy : Tip # 20 Tame Your Tongue

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 20, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life

Inner Peace starts with knowing "how to be peaceful". You can practice being peaceful by using restraint with your words. Here are some helpful tips

Tips For Taming Your Tongue
#1 Do not say the first thing that comes to your mind

#2 Think before you speak

#3 You will get your point across better if you speak nicely verses giving people a tongue lashing

#4 Speak to people the way that you want to be spoke to

#5 Respect other people's opinion

#6 If you do not have anything nice to say, do not say anything at all

#7 Do not use profanity to get your point across

# 8 Keep it positive

#9 Do not make promises that you can not keep

#10 Once you open your mouth to speak, people can tell how intelligent you are. If you do not know what you are talking about, do not say anything

More Useful Tips:

Tame Your Tongue

Replace Negative Thoughts With Positive Actions

Know Your Triggers

Inner Peace and Joy Tip # 18: Take Action

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 18, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life

Having several ideas in your head and not knowing what action to take to get the results that you want can be frustrating. The key to being successful and experiencing joy is taking action. You have to start somewhere or you will forever remain in the same state. Here is a quick start guide to help you get started in experiencing the joy that you desire.

Sure Fire Action Tips To Get You The Results That You Desire

1. Ask Yourself Where or What Do You Want To Be Doing 6 Months To A Year From Now
(do you want a new job, new skills, start a new business, travel, etc.)

2. Now, Ask Yourself What Actions Do You Need To Take To Get There

3.Now Take Action!

More Useful Tips:
How to Commit to your Plans
Make a to-do-list
Get Focused

Inner Peace and Joy Tip #16 Make a To- Do- List

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 16, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply it to your life

Your inner peace begins with having order in your day. When you make a To-Do-List, it will help you to manage your day. The more order you have in your day, the more control you will have over your day and the less likely you will be frustrated and stressed out.

Start Your Day Off With A To- Do -List

1. Start your day by making a list of everything you need to do early in the morning
2.Check off what you have accomplished
3. You should attempt to finish everything on your list
4. Transfer what you did not finish onto the list for the following day

Get Disciplined
Get Focused
Take Action

Inner Peace and Joy: Tip #13 Three Things You Need to do to Maintain Inner Peace and Joy

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 13, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply it to your life

Having a mental state of inner peace and joy is a Gift from God but maintaining your gift requires work. Three things that you can do to maintain your mental state of peace and joy is: be focused, committed and disciplined

Focus

You must have a written plan. When you have a written plan you narrow down what it is that you want to do. Your plan is your focus. You may not know everything that you need to put together right away in order to have a full workable plan but you should start where you are at and work towards making additions and removing what is not working.

Commit

You have to commit to your plan. Make sure that you have attainable goals. Your goals should range from short term to long term. If you are not able to commit to your plan, do not abandon it! Your plan is a work in progress, you need to be flexible and make adjustments.

Discipline

Discipline is very important because if you are not disciplined you can easily get distracted. When you are working your plan you have to make sacrifices and you may also have to let things, people and activities go that are not apart of your plan.

More Useful Tips:

Get Focused
Get a Plan

Take Action

Inner Peace and Joy: Tip #11 Know Your Triggers

Inner Peace and Joy Daily Meditation: The Book of Proverbs is loaded with wisdom nuggets. Read Proverbs 11, pull out the wisdom nuggets and apply them to your life

Identify Your Triggers

In order to maintain a mental state of inner peace and joy you first must be able to recognize what things ticks you off. For example: How do you respond when you are in a traffic jam? How do you respond to change? How do you respond to rude people?

Exercise Help You To Identify Your Triggers

1. Keep a journal of all of the things that ticks you off for about a week

2. Each time that you are ticked off, ask yourself "Why do I react negatively when I am in this situation?" "What is it about this particular situation that gets to me in this way?"

3.Write down your thoughts in numerical sequence in your journal.

Once you identify your triggers you can take the next steps to respond positive when you are faced in a trigger situation.

More Useful Tips:

Tame Your Tongue

Make Your Haters Your Motivators

Control Your Emotions