Uncoveries

Inspiring You to Uncover and Design a Meaningful Life

Why You’re Not Happy: 7 Myths of Happiness

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Even for the simple things, everyone benefits from a reminder every once in a while.

I’ve found I need to remind myself of certain concepts around happiness, simplicity and mindfulness when I start to feel unbalanced.

This happens when something unexpected throws me off guard. When receiving some bad news. Or perhaps when there’s been a long string of hectic days or weeks.

Sometimes you just feel down. Tired. Frustrated. Or perhaps just plain unmotivated to do anything.

Whatever it is you’re feeling, don’t try to suppress it. It will only make it worse. It’s much more productive to let yourself feel with intention—without any apology, explanations or guilt.

There are too many people who believe if certain things don’t fit this or that, then something is wrong with them and their lives.Continue Reading

5 Lessons I’ve Learned On Dealing With Critics

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I’ve tried to avoid them, but there’s no way around it.

No matter how hard you try or how good you are, you’ll face criticism at some point.

Critics, naysayers and judgers will always be around. And they aren’t just other people; our inner critic is often the most relentless and vicious one of them all.

Criticism isn’t always bad. It’s a natural part of the process.

It comes along when you take a stand for something, do something new or start doing something of significance. If you don’t have any criticism in your life, perhaps you’re playing too small.

Yet it’s tough to deal with any type of criticism. I’ve battled with my internal critic and dealt with a good number of external critics since taking the steps I’ve made in the last year.Continue Reading

4 Reasons To Be A Little Foolish

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Thinking back, I can’t help but shake my head. Wow, was I naïve.

Just 6 months ago, I had idealistic expectations of how being a freelancer and entrepreneur was going to go. I planned out big goals, action steps and milestones. I thought things were going to work out a certain way by this time and that.Continue Reading

The 7 Myths of Happiness, Part 7

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It happens to the best of us.

It’s why Sunday evenings and Monday mornings are mixed with remorse and the first day after a vacation seems to drag on in a funk.

We’re suckers for happy endings that stay that way. After all, the stories we prefer usually end with happily ever after.Continue Reading

The 7 Myths of Happiness, Part 5

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We live in a culture that is conditioned to look outside of ourselves.

It starts when we transition from children into adolescence, when we stop placing the emphasis on what’s true to us—what’s natural to us as children—and turn to external influences and opinions.

We learn that there is a certain look, feel and sound to what’s considered desirable and worthy. We see others looking up to these sources. We begin to tie our values and priorities to external influences.

Sometimes, we look everywhere else but internally for validation, confidence, happiness and the like—things that can only truly come from within. Hence, we have #5 of the myths of happiness:Continue Reading

The 7 Myths of Happiness, Part 4

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At a young age, we’re taught to focus on the goal. Keep your eye on the prize, they say.

So when we want to achieve something, we focus our full attention, put in our best effort and keep track with measures along the way.

For the practical items—from simple tasks to longer-term projects—that’s a proven way to get things done. There’s a checklist, a formula to it.

It’s common sense when it comes to goal setting, but not when it comes to happiness.Continue Reading

The 7 Myths of Happiness, Part 2

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Blame it on advertisements, TV shows or social media, but ultimately the responsibility is yours to detach yourself from the fairest of the myths of happiness.

Perhaps it’s the carefully airbrushed and crafted images of attractive, stylishly dressed celebrities in extravagant settings, giving off an impression of happiness and success, among other desirable aspects. Maybe it’s Instagram, Facebook and other social updates—the manicured snapshots of a second of someone’s life artificially representing a whole.

With these ideals of perfection flashing on multiple screens in your life, it’s reinforced repeatedly, “This is what happiness looks like.”

This leads us to the second of the myths of happiness series.Continue Reading

3 Surprising Benefits of Following Your Passion

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No one said it was easy.

On the contrary, following your passion—whatever is meaningful to you—is likely to be more work than any job. In bringing a meaningful project to life, whether it is building a company, honing a masterpiece or writing a book, there will be many hours, days, weeks, or months, even years that pass before milestones are reached.

During the periods of nose-grinding persistence, there will be a general sense of never enough time, weariness from lack of sleep, wavering moments of doubt, fear from numerous unknown variables, multiple failures and tough lessons.

Yet, there are perks you can look forward to when you’re going through the ditches of meaningful hard work—perks that will keep you going when you would otherwise burn out and quit.Continue Reading