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Happy Spring: 4 Steps to Spring Cleaning Relationships

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Written by:  Lynette Hanover

With the spring season saying hello with lighter brighter days and warmer temperatures many people start their plans of spring cleaning their homes.  Perhaps at the top of the list is cleaning out the garage, purging from closets, or doing a deep clean from the ceiling fans to the baseboards.  Somehow moods are elevated, people seem to smile more, and there is a shift into what’s new and possible.

With the budding of a new season, also comes a perfect time to do some relationship spring cleaning.  This can be one of the most refreshing and beneficial things that you can do for yourself in your life.  Keep in mind that all healthy relationships are about balance.  They are not what is best for one person, it about creating harmony for everyone involved.

Define your values.

Take some time to reflect upon what is most important to you in relationships.  What do you value?  The best first step is to spend quite time reflecting upon your primary values and write them out.  From your list choose between 1 to 5 of them that are the most important to you, the ones that you can’t do without.

Assess your relationships

Think about the relationships that are most important to you such as your closest friends, romantic partner, family members, colleagues, and those in your community groups.  From your top 1-5 values where are you bringing these to your relationships?  If they are missing what can you do to start including them today?  Notice too where you are not receiving your core values.

Have conversations

There have been too many precious relationships that have been lost because people are not willing to communicate.   Generally people who are not having their needs met either leave a relationship or sacrifice themselves to maintain it.  It might not seem easy to have a conversation about what’s important to you, yet it is essential to help nurture a positive relationship.  It is equally important to listen to and honor the needs of the person you are in a relationship with.  Give the relationship time to adjust to the values that you both have agreed to, and maintain open dialogue.  All healthy relationships are in harmony and balance.

Be willing to let go

If there are relationships that are not in harmony with your values even though you have both given it your best be willing to say good-bye.  This might not be easy, yet it is one of the most loving things that you can do both for yourself as well as for the other person.  It is important to not just walk away, take the time to say good-bye with dignity.  What if the person is a family member or someone you are unable to stop seeing?  Set healthy boundaries by letting that person know what your needs are.  When you cleanse toxic unhealthy relationships from your life an opening occurs for more peace, harmony, and joy.  It also opens up opportunities for healthy positive relationships to come in.

Taking action for the best in your relationships will have a positive ripple effect in all areas of your life.  Start today, follow through, and you will start seeing positive life-affirming results.

 

© 2014 Lynette Hanover, Life of Happiness

 

Want to share it?  Awesome, just be sure to include “written by Lynette Hanover” credit and tell your readers to enjoy more at www.lifeofhappiness.com

Comments?  Feel free to post below or write to lynette@lifeofhappiness.com

Lynette Hanover has lead life-affirming workshops in Chicago since 2013, and is available to assist local groups, organizations, and individuals embrace joy in living through a customized approach.  Coaching appointments are available to help clients focus on achieving what is most important in life through self-love, respect, and appreciation.  For inquiries, Lynette can be reached at lynette@lifeofhappiness.com.   Web site:  www.lifeofhappiness.com

 

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Love Everyday

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Written by:  Lynette Hanover

Love Everyday

Yes, this is the message to bring to your life. Love Everyday.

 

 

© 2014 Lynette Hanover, Life of Happiness

 

Want to share it?  Awesome, just be sure to include “written by Lynette Hanover” credit and tell your readers to enjoy more at www.lifeofhappiness.com

Comments?  Feel free to post below or write to lynette@lifeofhappiness.com

Lynette Hanover has lead life-affirming workshops in Chicago since 2013, and is available to assist local groups, organizations, and individuals embrace joy in living through a customized approach.  Coaching appointments are available to help clients focus on achieving what is most important in life through self-love, respect, and appreciation.  For inquiries, Lynette can be reached at lynette@lifeofhappiness.com.   Web site:  www.lifeofhappiness.com

 

 

 

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Shine, Shine, Shine…Let Your Light Shine in 2014

Written by:  Lynette Hanover

Shine, Shine, Shine…Let Your Light Shine in 2014

You are bright, not tarnished.

You are talented, not weak.

You are so much more than you have allowed yourself to believe.

While the world around you seems to have evolved, why have you allowed yourself to be diminished in any way?

This is your year to shine.

What is it that you have been hiding from the world or even yourself that you tucked away, and is so excited to finally get out?  Is it your joy of dance, your passion for science, your thrill in cooking?  Open the passion that you naturally have and give yourself permission and a big time “YES” for bringing it into your life on a daily basis.

Too busy?  Unsure of yourself?  Start small and build it up from there.  Today do at least one simple thing to let your light shine.  It could be as easy as writing 5 sentences about how incredible your passion makes you feel, creating a schedule to include your talent this coming week, or talking to a friend about what your passion is.  Tomorrow do one more simple thing in your area of joy, then the next day, and the day after that, and keep going and don’t look back as you build your positive momentum.

Before you realize it your light will be shining brighter and brighter.  This will enhance your joy of living and bring you an enriched experience of life. It will also make the world a more glorious place for all.

 

© 2014 Lynette Hanover, Life of Happiness

 

Want to share it?  Awesome, just be sure to include “written by Lynette Hanover” credit and tell your readers to enjoy more at www.lifeofhappiness.com

Comments?  Feel free to post below or write to lynette@lifeofhappiness.com

Lynette Hanover has lead life-affirming workshops in Chicago since 2013, and is available to assist local groups, organizations, and individuals embrace joy in living through a customized approach.  Coaching appointments are available to help clients focus on achieving what is most important in life through self-love, respect, and appreciation.  For inquiries, Lynette can be reached at lynette@lifeofhappiness.com.   Web site:  www.lifeofhappiness.com

 

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How To Be Happy During The Holidays

 

festive decorations

 

Written by:  Lynette Hanover

It’s the holiday season.  Time for cheer, holiday parties, shopping, and feeling festive.  Not so much in a festive mood?  You are not alone.  So many people feel the overwhelm of the season rather than the joy and merriment the ideal image conjures up in our imaginations.  On top of busy schedules of work, kids, volunteering, and other activities we are now putting up Christmas Trees, enjoyed a wonderful Hanukkah celebration, and prepare for Kwanzaa.  How do we release the stresses of the season and enjoy the spirit of the season?

It is about the “spirit” of the season and not the “doing” of the season.  

First I congratulate you on all that you have and will accomplish this holiday season.  Aunt Millie’s specialty tea pot gift, Joey’s Wii, the decorations, the cookies, the parties.  These help bring joy to everyone, including yourself.  The best advice I can give here is to be kind to you.  Don’t over-push yourself with busy times that you miss out on the magic.  It really is ok that you don’t make the 12th batch of cookies, or instead of going to 5 holiday parties, perhaps go to 3.  Take some quiet time to listen to holiday music, watch a favorite Christmas classic, drive around looking at holiday decorations, and spend time with those you love.  Slow down a bit to capture the essence and joy of the season.

Make a holiday bucket list. 

This list is not about writing down everything that you need to do.  This is your dream list. Take a moment to think about the holiday happenings and activities that bring you the most joy and create a list.  From this list pick out your top three and put them in your schedule.  If you have more than three favorites pick out your next top two and add them in.  As you do this take other things out of your schedule that are not the “must” dos as well as anything that can wait until 2014.   This is not about doing more…this is about including the things that make you the happiest in your life.

Enjoy each day.  

Today is the perfect day to feel festive and embrace the holidays.  Whatever yesterday was or wasn’t and whatever tomorrow may or may not be, today is the day to take it one moment at a time.  Take a few minutes right now to remember a time when you felt joy-filled about the holidays.  Close your eyes, visualize, and truly feel how that time felt.  Even when we are distracted or reactive to a situation, all we are to do is to stop…release what isn’t working and embrace the feeling that we would like to carry forward. Feeling festive can be created to help fully embrace the joy of the season.

Relationships are number one. 

The most important aspect of the holiday season and our lives are the relationships we share.  For some reason people create that the holidays are a time for us to come together as we enjoy the beauty of the season.  Yet, relationships are so much more than just around the holidays.  This season we have the opportunity to get closer, love, forgive as we need to, and carry with us positive momentum to have lasting, loving, and healthy relationships for the rest of our lives.

 

© 2013 Lynette Hanover, Life of Happiness

 

Want to share it?  Awesome, just be sure to include “written by Lynette Hanover” credit and tell your readers to enjoy more at www.lifeofhappiness.com

Comments?  Feel free to post below or write to lynette@lifeofhappiness.com

Lynette Hanover has lead life-affirming workshops in Chicago since 2013, and is available to assist local groups, organizations, and individuals embrace joy in living through a customized approach.  Coaching appointments are available to help clients focus on achieving what is most important in life through self-love, respect, and appreciation.  For inquiries, Lynette can be reached at lynette@lifeofhappiness.com.   Web site:  www.lifeofhappiness.com

 

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Stuck? No way! Best Ideas for How to Get Unstuck

How to get unstuck. Stuck? No way!

Written by:  Lynette Hanover

Was there ever a time in your life when you wished that something was different from the way it was?  Perhaps you wanted things to change at work?   Maybe you were in a relationship that brought you down more than it brought you up?  It could be that you didn’t like something about your body?  Did you ever feel as tough you were stuck with no way out?  You wonder how to get unstuck.

How to Get Unstuck

All of us at one time or another had something that we simply were not happy with about ourselves or the circumstances taking place in our lives.  We complained.  We whined.  We cried.  We felt distraught.  We felt helpless.  We felt angry.  We felt like victims.  We felt unfulfilled.  We felt ashamed.  We felt many emotions that contradict what life is truly about.

Life is about feeling good.  Feeling happy and fulfilled about how we live as individuals as well as how we share our lives with others.  It is true that we sometimes have hardships and obstacles that we are to acknowledge and work through.  Yet there are times when we as individuals allow negative circumstances in our lives to perpetuate to the point where they are consuming our lives.  This is not healthy nor is it meant for our lives to be this way.

There are some people who “tolerate” the life they have.  I believe that this is a default way of life, rather than a life that is created based on a person’s deep down desires.   It’s true that many people fear change, others don’t know what to do or even how to begin, and sadly others don’t even know that something can be done for a better life.  Things simply are the way they are.  For so many people around the world being comfortable in the routine of being unhappy is simply easier than taking that one first small step in creating something new.

Overcoming fear of change is not always easy yet it is something that you can do.  Even when all the signs are pointing to 100% yes for something positive often times we freeze in the spotlight of fear.  What drives this fear and how can we overcome it?  Some say that just making the change regardless of how you feel is the way to go.  Yet I know people who just don’t have it in them to do this.  So I suggest that you start asking questions, as more information can often bring about more comfort and security in releasing the not so good and reaching for the good.  Ask your questions of people who you would like to emulate.  Seek out experts, mentors, spiritual leaders, friends, and colleagues.  It’s best to avoid asking the pessimist for advice, as this may have you feeling even worse off than when you started.   Seek out those who have moved forward and accomplished what you are looking to accomplish as well as those who will offer encouragement, support, and ideas as you are making positive changes in your life.

If it is not fear that keeps you in a situation where you don’t want to be then perhaps it is simply not having the information on how to get out, or worse yet not thinking you can’t make changes.   It is always easier to run towards something rather than running away from something.  Take a moment to write down and visualize your ideal life.  Express to someone who is trusted about your intention to make a change and what you would like to see happen.  Then start moving towards what it is that you want. Even one little action a day will eventually lead to your dreams.

Don’t get in your own way.  Know that you deserve the best in life, and when it comes…welcome it and enjoy.

Thank you for reading my Love Blog, and I welcome your comments.

 

Love & Happiness…

Lynette

 

© 2013 Lynette Hanover, Life of Happiness

 

Want to share it?  Awesome, just be sure to include “written by Lynette Hanover” credit and tell your readers to enjoy more at www.lifeofhappiness.com

Comments?  Feel free to post below or write to lynette@lifeofhappiness.com

Lynette Hanover has lead life-affirming workshops in Chicago since 2013, and is available to assist local groups, organizations, and individuals embrace joy in living through a customized approach.  Coaching appointments are available to help clients focus on achieving what is most important in life through self-love, respect, and appreciation.  For inquiries, Lynette can be reached at lynette@lifeofhappiness.com.   Web site:  www.lifeofhappiness.com