Your mood is influenced by many things â the good, as well as the bad. Spending time with a loved one or friend can improve it. Sitting in an hour of unexpected traffic can ruin it.
But your mood is more complicated than the situations and environments you encounter. There’s brain chemistry to consider, too.
In between sensing a situation and responding to it, chemicals called neurotransmitters and hormones help your brain understand, evaluate and communicate what you’re experiencing. These various neurotransmitters and hormones have specific jobs â each being activated in a certain way, signaling certain emotions and stimulating certain areas of your brain.
When it comes to happiness, in particular, the primary signaling chemicals include:
Holly Butcher posted her advice to the world, 24 hours before she died of cancer. This was her message…
A bit of life advice from Holly B:
âItâs a strange thing to realize and accept your mortality at 26 years young. Itâs just one of those things you ignore. The days tick by and you just expect they will keep on coming; Until the unexpected happens. I always imagined myself growing old, wrinkled and grey- most likely caused by the beautiful family (lots of kiddies) I planned on building with the love of my life. I want that so bad it hurts.
Thatâs the thing about life; It is fragile, precious and unpredictable and each day is a gift, not a given right.
Iâm 27 now. I donât want to go. I love my life. I am happy.. I owe that to my loved ones. But the control is out of my hands.
I havenât started this ânote before I dieâ so that death is feared â I like the fact that we are mostly ignorant to itâs inevitability.. Except when I want to talk about it and it is treated like a âtabooâ topic that will never happen to any of us.. Thatâs been a bit tough. I just want people to stop worrying so much about the small, meaningless stresses in life and try to remember that we all have the same fate after it all so do what you can to make your time feel worthy and great, minus the bullshit.
I have dropped lots of my thoughts below as I have had a lot of time to ponder life these last few months. Of course itâs the middle of the night when these random things pop in my head most!
1) Those times you are whining about ridiculous things (something I have noticed so much these past few months), just think about someone who is really facing a problem. Be grateful for your minor issue and get over it. Itâs okay to acknowledge that something is annoying but try not to carry on about it and negatively effect other peopleâs days.
2) Once you do that, get out there and take a freaking big breath of that fresh air deep in your lungs, look at how blue the sky is and how green the trees are; It is so beautiful. Think how lucky you are to be able to do just that â breathe.
3) You might have got caught in bad traffic today, or had a bad sleep because your beautiful babies kept you awake, or your hairdresser cut your hair too short. Your new fake nails might have got a chip, your boobs are too small, or you have cellulite on your arse and your belly is wobbling. Let all that shit go.. I swear you will not be thinking of those things when it is your turn to go. It is all SO insignificant when you look at life as a whole. Iâm watching my body waste away right before my eyes with nothing I can do about it and all I wish for now is that I could have just one more Birthday or Christmas with my family, or just one more day with my partner and dog. Just one more.
4) I hear people complaining about how terrible work is or about how hard it is to exercise â Be grateful you are physically able to. Work and exercise may seem like such trivial things ⊠until your body doesnât allow you to do either of them. I tried to live a healthy life, in fact, that was probably my major passion. Appreciate your good health and functioning body- even if it isnât your ideal size. Look after it and embrace how amazing it is. Move it and nourish it with fresh food. Donât obsess over it.
5) Remember there are more aspects to good health than the physical body.. work just as hard on finding your mental, emotional and spiritual happiness too. That way you might realize just how insignificant and unimportant having this stupidly portrayed perfect social media body really is.. While on this topic, delete any account that pops up on your news feeds that gives you any sense of feeling shit about yourself. Friend or not.. Be ruthless for your own well-being.
6) Be grateful for each day you donât have pain and even the days where you are unwell with man flu, a sore back or a sprained ankle, accept it is shit but be thankful it isnât life threatening and will go away.
7) Whine less, people! .. And help each other more. Give, give, give. It is true that you gain more happiness doing things for others than doing them for yourself. I wish I did this more. Since I have been sick, I have met the most incredibly giving and kind people and been the receiver of the most thoughtful and loving words and support from my family, friends and strangers; More than I could I ever give in return. I will never forget this and will be forever grateful to all of these people.
9) It is a weird thing having money to spend at the end.. when youâre dying. Itâs not a time you go out and buy material things that you usually would, like a new dress. It makes you think how silly it is that we think it is worth spending so much money on new clothes and âthingsâ in our lives. Buy your friend something kind instead of another dress, beauty product or jewelry for that next wedding. No-one cares if you wear the same thing twice. It feels good. Take them out for a meal, or better yet, cook them a meal. Give/ buy them a plant, a massage or a candle and tell them you love them when you give it to them.
10) Value other peopleâs time. Donât keep them waiting because you are shit at being on time. Get ready earlier if you are one of those people and appreciate that your friends want to share their time with you, not sit by themselves, waiting on you. You will gain respect too! Amen sister.
11) This year, our family agreed to do no presents and despite the tree looking rather sad and empty (I nearly cracked Christmas Eve!), it was so nice because people didnât have the pressure of shopping and the effort went into writing a nice card for each other. Plus imagine my family trying to buy me a present knowing they would probably end up with it themselves.. strange! It might seem lame but those cards mean more to me than any impulse purchase could. Mind you, it was also easier to do in our house because we had no little kiddies there. Anyway, moral of the story- presents are not needed for a meaningful Christmas.
12) Use your money on experiences.. Or at least donât miss out on experiences because you spent all your money on material shit.
13) Put in the effort to do that day trip to the beach you keep putting off. Dip your feet in the water and dig your toes in the sand. Wet your face with salt water.
14) Get amongst nature.
15) Try just enjoying and being in moments rather than capturing them through the screen of your phone. Life isnât meant to be lived through a screen nor is it about getting the perfect photo.. enjoy the moment, people! Stop trying to capture it for everyone else.
16) Get up early sometimes and listen to the birds while you watch the beautiful colors the sun makes as it rises.
17) Listen to music.. really listen. Music is therapy. Old is best.
18) Cuddle your dog. I will miss that.
19) Talk to your friends. Put down your phone. Are they doing okay?
20) Travel if itâs your desire, donât if itâs not.
21) Work to live, donât live to work.
Seriously, do what makes your heart feel happy.
22) Eat the cake. Zero guilt.
23) Say no to things you really donât want to do.
24) Donât feel pressured to do what other people might think is a fulfilling life.. you might want a mediocre life and that is so okay.
25) Tell your loved ones you love them every time you get the chance and love them with everything you have.
26) Also, remember if something is making you miserable, you do have the power to change it â in work or love or whatever it may be. Have the guts to change. You donât know how much time youâve got on this earth so donât waste it being miserable. I know that is said all the time but it couldnât be more true.
Anyway, thatâs just this one young gals life advice. Take it or leave it, I donât mind!
Here is a list of reasons for why you probably feel tired today.
1.) You Donât Drink Enough Fluid /Water This is so common. Men need to drink about 13 cups per day and women 9 cups per day. All drinks count with the exception of alcohol. Yes you can include your caffeinated beverages too.
2.) You Backlog Your Calories /Calorie Timing When people try to diet or have no idea how much food they need each day they tend to consume very little in the morning and then overload at dinner. This is a terrible strategy. It doesnât work for weight loss because youâll end up binge eating or over eating and youâll feel tired during the day. Eat your calories when you need them to help you fuel your most productive times of the day.
3.) Lack of Sleep Chronic sleep loss will make you feel tired and grouchy and effect brain functioning. Most people need about 7 to 9 hours of sleep per day and athletes need about 9 to 10. When you sleep more you will function better and probably get more done. Plus youâll feel a lot better.
If you do move from one shiny object to another, you’ll slowly discover a fundamental truth. Chaos. Disunity. Lack of direction.
We live in an age of distraction. Never-ending notifications, instantaneous communication, and easy access to endless information. Fear of missing out moves us motivates us to try to do everything that our minds and hearts desire. Keep your phone on the table so that you can instantly check the super-important messages that come in every 7 minutes. Walk to work so fast you overtake peaceful joggers. Tell your mama youâll definitely visit next week. Oh, and, God forbid you donât have 18 certificates on your Linkedin page and five urgent projects to attend to. The list goes on and on.
Having a lot of irons in the fire may sound like a smart plan, but given the distractions of technology and communications, it is easier than ever to fall victim to the temptations of trying to do too many things â and accomplishing none of them.
In comes Steve Jobs 30% Rule:
âWe examined the future product roadmap. Not the products weâre shipping today, the future product line. And what we found was that 30% of them were incredibly good, and about 70% of them were either âpretty goodâ or things that we didnât really need to be doing. Businesses we didnât really need to be in.â
Focus on the 30% of âincredibly goodâ stuff in your life.
Just ask yourself:
If you had to end 70% of your relationships, which would they be?
If you had to quit 70% of your projects, which ones would you choose?
If you had to cut your time off by 70%, what would you leave?
Just by honestly answering these questions you can identify more clearly which parts of your life deliver the most value.
Minimalism begins with elimination â once you get rid of the stuff that slows you down, you can start replacing it with stuff that helps you grow. The hard part is being able to let go of things that are âpretty goodâ in your life â perhaps even things youâve grown to love.
Cover your refrigerator shelves with saran wrap press and seal. Then when the shelves get dirty you can peel and throw away and just apply a new piece. Voila đđ§Œ
Sleep 
Plan Act Win 