1.   Be contented with what you have

Content makes poor men rich; discontent makes rich men poor. –Benjamin Franklin

We live in the age where wanting something is the basic ground work of every successful economy. Our generation is centered on acquiring possessions and gaining power or recognition, thinking all these are important to a more prosperous life. To many, having one car or one watch isn’t enough and so they continue to work more to acquire more. “Keeping up with the Jones’” or just wanting to look good triggers a chain of actions that slowly build up pressure and the first that usually gets affected is your time. This is followed by the pressure to sustain one’s image and a host of other emotional wants that can spiral to an endless loop of must-haves.

An old but handy timepiece adds no value to ones being other than it in can make you look good – for a little while or until someone comes up with a better looking watch than yours. If we learn to look the other way and appreciate the simplest things that life has provided us, we immediately put ourselves on path out of the ‘rat race’ and moving independently forward to a life where we are truly in control.

2.   Connect With Others

The universal brotherhood of man is our most precious possession –Mark Twain

Humans need another human and apart from it, we are like weeds plucked out from a fertile soil and left to wither. A community group must be spiritually nurturing and supporting. It values our diversity and weaknesses while it takes on it’s strength from its common belief systems. We find comfort by the numbers. We find our courage from the support of others and find wisdom from the experiences other community members make. It is like a strand of fiber, when pulled, it easily breaks but when bundled close and tight , it becomes almost unbreakable.

We can only be as strong or as weak as all the members in our chosen community pulled together.

3.   Spend more time with family

The family is the country of the heart –Giuseppe Mazini

As they always say in church and in many books that, “the best things in life are truly free”. The problem is, we refuse to believe or simply do not believe as our little minds are molded by commercialism that “there is no such thing as free lunch”. The biggest treasures that we have are those people that are waiting for us back home who, just wanting to see and share their time with us.

I realized, despite my very busy schedule, that the more time I spent with my wife and kids, I tend to be less worrisome, calm and I smile or laugh more often. Thinking more about them gives me a special purpose and fulfillment in life which is just about everything I need to be happy.

4.   Serving Others

I don’t know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve. -Albert Schweitzer

Being a Christian obliges me to return all the blessing I receive to others in need. Every chance I get, I share anything that comes abundant to me and give it to anyone who have less. This act always gives me a natural ‘high’ that is beyond anything that I’ve felt in the past. This feeling of helping and serving others relieve me from physical tension brought about by problems at work, a sense of genuine purpose and an enlightened spirit.

To be completely scientific about it, an independent research also indicate that any form of help such as: tithing, volunteer work, donations etc prove beneficial to human bodily functions which significantly help reduce emotional pressures and eventually increases life expectancy.

5.   Exercise Regularly & Eat Healthy and Less Foods

As with any well oiled machine, our bodies need regular tune-up much like that of a car. Things like: changing the oil regularly, replacing the spark plugs, the air filter and etc. Our bodies need proper nutrition to keep its bodily functions working properly. It needs regular exercise to condition our muscles to move and burn away excess calories and prevent storing additional body fats.

Our mental and emotional condition is also affected by the food and exercise it gets. The chemistry derived from different variety of food sources influences our moods which in turn influence the decisions and choices we make every day. Basically, we if we feel good about ourselves from inside-out, our emotions stay uplifted and give a general feeling of happiness.