Month: October 2022

10 Self-Improvement Habits to Make You Happier

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Background: It is my pleasure to have Davis return as a guest blogger for the third time. You may remember him from his first and second guest post appearances in July 2022 and September 2022. Davis has two previous blog posts that you might be interested in and you can read them here and here for some insightful advice on how to improve yourself!

Disclaimer: Davis runs a blog called https://businessisfun.net that I highly recommend you check out and follow him if you haven’t done so already. Since Davis wrote the following guest post, I cannot take credit for it. While you are here, I would love to hear your thoughts about this article. Let’s get started, shall we?

Image via https://www.pexels.com/

There are many things you can do to make your life better, and the good news is that itโ€™s never too late to begin. In today’s article, Davis shares ten things you can start doing today to improve your life and make yourself happier. Whether you want to feel better about yourself or your career, or you are just looking for some inspiration in everyday life, these tips will help guide the way.

10 Self-Improvement Habits to Make You Happier

1. Start a Morning Routine. Sticking to aโ€ฏmorning routine can help you start each day with greater focus and productivity, ensuring that you begin the day right. 

2. Journal Each Day. People who journal have increased happiness and lower levels of stress. By putting down on paper all your anxieties and worries from your day, you take some power back from those worries โ€” and gain perspective, too. 

3. Exercise Regularly. Daily exercise improves your mood and gives you extra energy to tackle tasks. Psychology Today notes that exercise is a natural antidepressantโ€ฏand can make a huge difference in your happiness quotient by easing stress, relaxing tense muscles, and helping you sleep better. 

4. Set a Fitness Goal. If you have a fitness goal in mind, it’s easier to start and stay on track. Set your fitness goals with a coach or trainer as they can help keep you accountable for your workouts and ensure you use proper form. Once you hit a milestone, such as running your first 5K, you may consider a nutrition plan to further enhance your health. 

5. Spend Time in Nature. Cornell University cites research showing that spending time in nature reduces stress and anxiety, lowers blood pressure and heart rate, improves mood, boosts your immune system, and helps prevent dementia. Try to spend some time each day walking around Midvale, Utah, or sitting near a window with a view of trees or other greenery.โ€ฏ 

6. Take Regular Breaks. Taking breaks throughout your day, even if just 5 minutes long, can help improve productivity and decrease stress. 

7. Remove Toxic People From Your Life. Some people bring a sense of harmony to your life, while others cause discord and unhappiness. Find out which kind youโ€™re dealing with, and start changing your social circle. By removing toxic people from your life, you can reduce stress and increase happiness. 

8. Organize Your Home. Remove negative energy from your home by having a deep cleaning and decluttering session. Not only will it look much better, but youโ€™ll also feel more relaxed and stress-free.โ€ฏ 

9. Start a Business. Starting your own business can be scary, but it also has many benefits. Youโ€™ll learn new skills, set your own hours, and gain the freedom to make decisions as you see fit. If you’re looking to change your life for the better, starting a business is worth serious consideration. Online resources, such as website builders, and templates for invoices and business cards, can all be a big help. 

Starting a business doesnโ€™t have to be an overwhelming endeavor, because you have a lot of resources at your disposal. For example, if you want to learn about content marketing (a specialized area of advertising), check out CornerstoneContent.com. Or, you can reference DreamHost.com for a complete guide on how to launch a business, including what goes into a business plan.  

10. Get the Right Amount of Sleep. When youโ€™re well-rested, you can concentrate better and see situations clearly. Less sleep impairs concentration and memory, making it harder to problem-solve and think critically when issues arise. 

And most importantly…..


โ–‘Eโ–‘nโ–‘jโ–‘oโ–‘yโ–‘ โ–‘yโ–‘oโ–‘uโ–‘rโ–‘ โ–‘nโ–‘eโ–‘wโ–‘ โ–‘lโ–‘iโ–‘fโ–‘eโ–‘!โ–‘

Good habits are essential for self-improvement and it can be tough to build them up, but all it takes is a small change and even one small, permanent change can make a huge difference in your life. Why not challenge yourself this month to start using your new habits and see how you feel?

If youโ€™ve enjoyed this article and would like to read more posts from this blogger, you can visit their website at https://businessisfun.net. Finally, if you learned something new from this blog post, feel free to join the conversation by leaving a comment below โ†“ Interested in writing a guest post for www.sereneluna.net? If you would like to write a guest post, please email me your idea by filling out this form.

Thanks for stopping by!

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A Tribute to Zoรซ

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หšสšโ™กษžหš ๐•พ๐–Š๐–Š ๐–ž๐–”๐–š ๐–”๐–“ ๐–™๐–๐–Š ๐–”๐–™๐–๐–Š๐–— ๐–˜๐–Ž๐–‰๐–Š ๐–”๐–‹ ๐–™๐–๐–Š ๐–—๐–†๐–Ž๐–“๐–‡๐–”๐–œ ๐–‡๐–—๐–Ž๐–‰๐–Œ๐–Š, ๐–•๐–š๐–•๐–•๐–ž ๐–Œ๐–Ž๐–—๐–‘. 09.25.09 – 09.26.22 หšสšโ™กษžหš

โ™ก Photo taken Summer 2021

I am crying as I write this. My beautiful little pug girl crossed the rainbow bridge last Monday and I’m finding it hard to put into words how I’m feeling. She was not just a dog. She was a friend and a member of the family. My parents grew to like her so much that they kept her after I moved across the country.

Sadly, I didnโ€™t spend that much time living with my dog under the same roof. I went off to university the year after we got her and I lived on campus for the next four years. I would occasionally visit my parents on weekends. Fast forward to the year 2014 when I moved out of the house and moved across the country to a new province. Since then, I saw my dog very little – a couple times a year at most. Every time that I visited her, she had aged even more with grey hairs on her chin. But she was exactly the same, sweet and loving as I always knew.

Then I blinked, and it was her 13th birthday last month. By then her health had greatly deteriorated and I was lucky to spend one final summer with her last year, even though it was only a few days. By Spring 2022, she became completely deaf and was diagnosed with diabetes. Since April of that year, her diabetes had not been well managed since she was severely hyperglycemic and insulin resistant. She seemed old, but it was probably diabetes and not old age that made her decline faster than we had thought. It was just two weeks ago when she was not only deaf, but she was also blind, disoriented, and anxious. My last request to my parents was that they let her live until her 13th birthday, which they honored on September 25, 2022. On September 26th, 2022, she crossed the rainbow bridge. ๐ŸŒˆ

It’s a Beautiful Life

Zoรซ (spelled Zoey according to my dad) had a great life living with my parents and she often spent weekends with my dad on his sailboat. But I knew something was very wrong when she slipped off the dock and fell head-first into the water two days before her 13th birthday. My dad rescued her in time, but she was disoriented and scared. Prior to the incident, my parents tried a new trial medication to preserve her vision, but it was ineffective. When they told me she was having a hard time due to her old age, and that her time was coming to an end, I accepted it because I knew she had lived such a good and fulfilling life. But when the vet put her down last Monday, it was so difficult for me.

Last week, I was going through an intense period of grief and sadness after the sudden loss of my dog. While it is normal to feel this way and many people will identify with what I went through, I am still feeling very sad. However, the only thing that I can do is take things day by day. These are lyrics from a Korean song called Beautiful Day by Crush. It was playing on Spotify during my morning walk, which reminded me of Zoรซ.

Her Memory Lives On ๐Ÿพ

My parents want to plant a tree in their yard and I want to put a memorial rock by the red oak tree where Zoรซ’s spot will be. The painted rock that I have would be great for that. I’ve had this rock for a while now. I got it from one of my friends in the U.S. before the pandemic happened. The plan was for me to hide in Canada, but I couldn’t do it. The game “Hide or Keep” is a lot like Geocaching because it incorporates the thrill of hunting for hidden rocks in various outdoor areas.

I intended to hide this painted rock somewhere on campus, but before I could, the pandemic happened. Also, there was major construction going on, so I was unable to find the time. That being said, I have kept the rock with me all this time, but it’s time for me to pass it on. I think I will place the rock next to the red oak tree in my parents’ front yard. This will become Zoรซ’s spot.

โ™ก Photo by Pixabay: https://www.pexels.com/photo/green-tree-268533/

โ€œIf having a soul means being able to feel love and loyalty and gratitude, then animals are better off than a lot of humans.โ€ โ€”James Herriot

P.S. This blog post was inspired by Jenny from Jenny in Neverland. To read her beautiful tribute to her dog, Rory, you can check out her heartwarming post here.

Thanks for stopping by! โค