Ted Lasso (Jason Sudeikis’ motivational character in the hit Apple TV series of the same name) is famous for saying:

“You know what the happiest animal on earth is?  It’s a goldfish. Y’know why?  It’s got a ten-second memory.  Be a goldfish.”

Forget failure – it’s temporary anyway.  Why hold on to negative self-destructive thoughts when you can refocus on positive ones?

Filmmaker and writer Marlowe Granados (interviewed in Town & Country) says “While the 1960s brought us the exhortation to “turn on, tune in, and drop out” the motto of the roaring 2020s may very well be” “slow down, log off, opt out”.

One of the things we are discovering most since the pandemic started winding down is the need for planned, structured and positive relaxation routines – getting the most out of downtime.

Purposeful relaxation is in your hands – being in the moment, connecting the mind and body and that’s different from bingeing on Netflix, playing video games or taking a nap.

Turn off autopilot, enter the here and now.

Postpone working your to-do list until after you relax as opposed to worrying about it when you’re trying to focus on downtime.

Talk to others 100% focused on them.

Sense your surroundings and enjoy the sensations that have been taken for granted.

Life is tough and rest is necessary but purposeful relaxation is totally in your control.

The best way to gauge whether you had a happy and successful Memorial Day weekend holiday is by the number of minutes you did not spend on mobile devices and in the black hole of social media.

Initiate something new – anything big or small.

Hang with someone different.

Reconnect with nature and those around you face to face.

Spending a holiday weekend without changing your routine is a missed opportunity to discover a new one.

A little infant in our arms brings out the wonder and inhibition of being a child even to the most dignified person.

After all, they are born happy until the real world somehow makes them sadder.

One of many gifts we get from the young is to treat other people in our lives with the animation, smile, laugh and love that is so easy to give a newborn or toddler.

Be the one to light up the face of others and you’ll see (and feel) the difference immediately.

One of my readers, Frank Somma says he gave a personal mission seminar at Collier school in Morganville NJ which is a special school for high school sophomore and juniors  with emotional difficulties – he was talking about the idea of the voice in your head being too harsh.

There was a girl in the seminar all dressed in black with her hood up and face down.

She didn’t appear to be paying attention at all.

At the end of the seminar, she shyly handed Frank a note and left.

When he read it, it said:

 “If you spoke to your friends the way you speak to yourself you would have no friends“.

Be nice to yourself.

A new study shows the average person feels good half the tine  – 2,000 adults polled recently in the UK say they only feel good mentally and physically 47% of the time.

Anxiety and exhaustion are among the culprits.

One in four say they feel anxious once a week.

Only 57% say they rarely feel at the “top of their game”.

Two-thirds are alright with suffering through the bad days, hoping for a better tomorrow.

Improving the chance for feeling better starts with making it a number one priority even over work, taking control of digital devices, social media and the scrolling black hole of apps and the internet.

Studies show it is possible to retrain the brain so consciously working for happier outcomes can become a healthy habit.

Followers will never become leaders.

Leaders will never become followers.

If you can stand the discomfort of being out ahead of the pack, followers will always follow you.

Criticizing yourself with or without the help of others demoralizes, hurts and does nothing to make anything better.

It’s impossible to stop others from criticizing us but we can certainly take a vow to have nothing to do with putting ourselves down.

If we can’t believe in ourselves the way we are and as hard as we try, how can we ask others to?

It’s not just the right emoji or a lot of words, it’s a feeling backed up by evidence.

This is the great and often unseen advantage of texting beyond chatting.

Giving thanks, showing gratitude with evidence to back it up can be a powerful phrase.

Texting unexpected gratitude is the perfect message.