A lot has changed in 10 years, but how we move forward toward happiness/success hasn’t?

I was cleaning out some drawers in my almost 84 year old mother’s house last week, a habit that I have decided to do each time I visit.

She is a depression era baby after all. A penny saved is a penny earned. Read every spec of every periodical ever received and clip those great articles. She even still mashes up pieces of old bars of soap and makes her own soft soap.

My goal is not to simply throw away her cherished keepsakes, but rather to thin them respectfully and organize them so that IF she ever wants to find things, she actually can. A little paper does not take that much space after all.

One of her drawers in her living room is the home for several types of clippings and I found an article written by Dr. Joyce Brothers for Parade Magazine in October 2000….yes, coincidentally 10 years ago. So, as we embark on a “new” decade…that is one which starts with a year ending in “0”, I found this article refreshing and a good reminder of some basic tenets for living a more successful/happier life really don’t change.

Maybe, just maybe, as we midlife entrepreneurs embark on this next decade, we should take our new tools, technology, learnings, and simply apply them along with some basic, previously discussed techniques as we aim for that happy, successful life.

And because we will EXCEL when we do work we love, AND when we feel good about our lives, Dr. Brother's thoughts about happiness and joy can really be the backbone for life success…with our businesses and our personal lives….right?

I found Dr. Brother’s analysis and reminders consistent with my own thoughts about success….not that I actually yet have achieved DOING all the things she professes…but I certainly do aspire to do them!

Here are a few of her thoughts:

“True happiness is what makes life worthwhile. Yet happiness can be elusive – despite the fact that we seem to b wired for it. After all, we’ve got five senses, a stupendously beautiful planet and the wonders of nature all around. No wonder the poet Alexander Pope called happiness “our being’s end and aim.”

…Many factors associated with happiness—wealth, fame, good fortune—aren’t really connected to it. … In the United States and Europe, the wealthiest portions of the globe, researchers have found little correlation between income and happiness—in fact, almost none. …As the psychologist David G. Myers notes in his book “The American Paradox: Spiritual Hunger in an Age of Plenty,” “When sailing on the Titanic, even first class cannot get you where you want to go.””

“The capacity to be joyful seems to be influenced by biology and genetics. Studies have shown that the greater the electrical activity produced by the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, the happier a person is likely to be. In studies of identical twins, it was discovered that each of us has a natural “set-point” for happiness and that a person’s average level is almost always inherited. But that doesn’t mean we’re stuck with the levels nature gave us. We can rise above our set-points by acting in ways that encourage happiness and discourage unhappiness.”

Here are a few steps that Dr. Brother’s suggests to “rise above our set-points”:

1. Start Today
2. Aim to be Happy
3. Take a Gratitude Inventory
4. Know What to Change
5. Pursue Your Interests
6. Reach Out to Others
7. Explore Your Spirituality
8. Keep Fit
9. Seize the Sunny Side
10. Like Yourself

I know that as I embark on this next decade, I will be pondering these steps, expanding on them and will be sharing some of my thoughts and research as we go.

Have a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Your comments are welcome and desired as always!!!!

Barb