My dark side and My challenges

Everyone has their challenges and everyone has their obstacles, their hidden secrets, their own family dysfunction... I have mine too. I promise that I am not just a happy, pretty lady who gets everything easy and has never had to lift a finger... I have my challenges and I have a dark side just like everyone else... I promise. Everyday I make the decision to love life, work hard, be grateful, and be happy.

My challenges started young when I was brought up as a poor kid in a rich town... All of my friends were worrying about where to go on their mid-winter break or what kind of car their parents were going to buy for them... I remember eating tuna fish a variety of different ways (tuna sandwich, tuna casserole, etc) and shopping at the good will - pretending it was the cool thing to do... I don’t eat tuna fish as an adult, :-)

Another thing in my childhood... my parents never asked me what I thought. They never encouraged me to have an opinion. When asked my opinion now as an adult, I have to be coerced into it and guided through it. I do have opinions, don't get me wrong. My challenge is voicing them in a way that is acceptable, interesting and well thought out.

When I was 25, I had a HORRIBLE case of acne; in fact you couldn't even see my skin because it was all filled up with cystic acne. After modeling 2 years prior, my beauty was ripped away from me. I had to rebuild my self-esteem and retrain myself to look into the mirror. I learned humility.

Money is still my challenge. It is hard for me to talk about it, to look at it, to think about it. In fact when I am done with graduate school, I will be about $200,000 in debt. Whoa!

We all have our challenges. We are not alone. Some people have different challenges than others, yet we are here to help each other overcome them. No man is an island. We learn from one another…. Happiness is my daily challenge so is self-esteem, self- worth, anything financially related. Plus I am sure there are many more challenges in my dark side that I will learn later, they are yet to come.

The bottom line… we all have something to teach and we all have something to learn. We all have our own obstacles, challenges and dark sides. I am open to learning from those who have conquered the challenges I have yet to conquer.

The thing I have learned lately is to love our challenges because they help us learn and grow. Try to know our dark side so that it comes into the light. These in particular are a great challenge. Believe me!

The Happiness Decision

A few people have told me that I need to blog... that they care about what I think and experience...

I am a crusader: one with a mission! My mission is to help as many people as I can to live happier lives.

First, I will introduce myself... I am generation X, a Reiki Master (Healer), an Organizational Psychology PhD student (emphasis in leadership and positive psychology), a bi-sexual, an ex-wife, a friend, a daughter, a sister, an aspiring TV Hostess for a TV show about happiness, leadership coach, happiness coach, an explorer of the Dark Side, and the California Chapter President of the Happiness Club.

I just met with a woman who came to me because she didn't know where else to go. She has cerebral palsy, she is extremely depressed. Really depressed. After talking for 35 minutes, she left our conversation so she could decide if she wanted to be happy. To decide if she cared enough to make changes in her life, to do the actions required to help herself. I hope she decides it is worth it.

I learned about ten years ago that you can't help people who do not want to be helped. Only you can decide if you are worth it to make the change. Deep inside yourself, is where your happiness is, no where else. No one can give it to you. Happiness is a Decision that you make for yourself. For your own well-being, your own benefit, your own life experience.

Make the Happiness Decision!!!

http://www.happinessclub.com/Decision/decision.htm