"C Words from Charlie Chase"

"Be the change that you want to see in the world" -Gandhi

To be happy you need to be growing, and that involves Change. Many people are unhappy with their lives but they don’t want to have to change anything! They remain in the same job, the same house, or maintain the same lifestyle as a way of staying safe because life is predictable and secure that way, but it leads to a Groundhog Day kind of life. Ask yourself, are you willing to grow and change? When the caterpillar is changing to a chrysalis it feels like its whole world has come to an end, when in fact it is a necessary stage in becoming a beautiful butterfly.

Challenge

Everyone needs to have worthwhile meaningful challenges to stretch them in some way, otherwise you won’t grow. Every year I set a new challenge for my self; one year it was learning to sail. Most years I do at least one significant educational course so that I am constantly developing new skills, learning new things, meeting new people and having fun!. What about you? What new challenges can you set for yourself in 2013?

Creative Expression

We are all part of a collective, but at the same time, we are unique. Unfortunately the socialisation process and our education system can often shape us into having a herd or pack mentality. We finish up being overly left brained rational, logical and analytical in how we approach our lives and overlook our creative side. Often this is also because, creative expression involves time. For example, learning to play a musical instrument, or develop a new skill such as writing or painting. We need to be willing to give a certain amount of time to being creative. The reward is that we automatically become happier with ourselves.

Connection

Quantum Physics shows us that we are all in fact interconnected but for the majority of people they have no sense of that connection and in fact feel very lonely, with no sense of belonging to the larger group. As Gandhi says, “Be the change that you want to see in the world”. Reach out to others who may be feeling as you do. Of course you may be reluctant to do that because of a fear of rejection, but in reality, most people don’t reject you. Is it possible for you to begin smiling more at the people you see in your day to day life?

Contribution

We all have a need to make a contribution beyond ourselves whether we realise it or not. We need to feel that we make a difference, that our being here matters, and we can all do that if we choose. Can you decide that you will do at least one kind act of service every day? Try it and see the difference it makes to you and to others.

Consciousness

To be really happy, you have to shift from living your life Unconsciously, just wishing and hoping that happiness will somehow drop from on high, or thinking you are the only one to whom S**t happens. You need to literally switch on to life and recognise that, as Abraham Lincoln says, “Most folk are as happy as they make up their minds to be”. We are on this Earth for a purpose, what is yours?

Written and composed by Charlie Chase.