find inner peace

As all of us go through life completing our goals and checking off lists it is important to remember this.

In other words, honor the fact that life is a journey and not a destination.

So I am still plugging away at Authentic Happiness. I have too many “things” going at once I think, but that is okay. Seligman, the author of the book, suggests that a good life can be built around polishing and deploying your strengths, then using them to buffer against your weaknesses.

There is a free test you can take online to find your signature strengths at the book’s website: http://www.authentichappiness.sas.upenn.edu

Also reached a cheers milestone – 500, yeah!

So I received my first acupuncture treatment today. It went well and I liked the experience. It definitely had a calming effect. The therapist wanted me to keep one of the needles in my ear. It was a small needle attached to a small band-aid and I guess the idea is to push on it every time I feel stress. I told her maybe next week on that one. Also I hope to be done with Authentic Happiness this weekend so I can report on that as well.

The main thing stopping me from inner peace is ANTs. I will be the first to admit I have had a pretty charmed life. I have gotten to travel quite a bit. For the most part I am happy. My life is challenging in a good way. However, I am plagued by what psychologists call automatic negative thoughts or ANTs for short. I am not really one for talk therapy or other such remedies. I did try for awhile and the therapist had me wear a rubber band around my wrist and snap it everytime ANTs would come up. It didn’t really work though. So I keep searching…

I got my 100th cheer today. I don’t know if that really gives me “inner peace” per se but it makes me feel good none-the-less.

I tried acupressure yesterday in an attempt to relieve some of my anxiety. The jury is still out if it did anything. It was definitely relaxing but I have such a skeptical western mind that the whole time I was sort of questioning the situation. I really would like to try acupuncture next. If I do I will post my thoughts on that experience. I am also reading another book Authentic Happiness in the hopes of getting closer to inner peace. What a journey!

I have read this book and it helped a little, I still have a long way to go. I do suggest the book however; here is the Amazon link if you are interested… The Power of Now