The Road to a Happier Life: Part 3 - You’re Facing Forward, But Your Heart is Looking Back

We’ve talked about forgiveness and why it plays such an important role in living a life without anything holding us back. We’ve discussed how to apologize and its importance in amending the wrongs we have done to others. But then what? You’ve either forgiven a person, or been forgiven, and now you’re here - but where exactly is “here”? Have you actually let the issue go, or are you still holding animosity in your heart? For most people, it is the latter half. Even though what’s done is done, and we have dealt with the situation head on, we still can’t seem to move past it. We just can’t seem to let go of what happened. Now, I am not saying we should necessarily forget it - because that is close to impossible to do without orthodox means - but being able to move past the event is like getting those soothing additional 5 minutes of sleep before you get up - it’s the finishing touch that plays a significant role in attaining satisfaction.

The Road to a Happier Life: Part 2 - Apologize? Where They Do That At?

I. Hate. Apologizing. And I hate it for two reasons. The first reason being it means I am admitting I am wrong. The second reason being that I feel that it means I have fallen short as a friend, sibling, coworker, or whomever I am in that situation. And let’s be real, you’re not sorry either fam. You’re not. If you’re second guessing the sincerity of your apologies, or people aren’t accepting your apologies; or maybe, they’re even calling you out on your BS. If any of these apply to you, then trust me, you are not sorry.  Regardless of the reason, I’m sure we have all found ourselves in a situation where we have committed some sort of wrong against done some wrong to someone and it is our responsibility to make it right. Hopefully, with the help of this post, you’ll learn to apologize with sincerity.

The Road to a Happier Life: Part 1 - You Mad or Nah?

Could you forgive someone who cheated on you? Or better yet - could you forgive someone who hurt your family (God forbid)? As impossible as it may sound, there are people who have. To others, they could never imagine doing such a thing to someone who cut them so deeply - and I don’t blame them. The crazy thing is, despite knowing why forgiveness is important, I still find it difficult to answer those questions. Forgiveness has to be one of the toughest challenges in life - right up there with patience, staying awake in late night 2.5 hour class, and dieting. But it is also one of the factors of life that hold most of us back. Absolving someone of the wrong they did you - relieving yourself of that resentment, anger, and even hatred you may feel toward them - though hard, is the best thing you could do for yourself. You may think removing that person from your life completely is the best decision you could make for the benefit of your future - but you’d be wrong. Although it may feel like the right decision now, it is only going to create a void within you that will only give way to sadness, and overall, an empty feeling inside. You may not notice it, or understand where it is coming from, but more often than not, that void is created because of these kinds of situations - situations where we just can not let go of what someone has done to us. But what we fail to realize is that in the end, we are only hurting ourselves.

Gone Too Soon

We all have loved ones. We'd be lying if we said we didn't. They are the ones we hold closest to us, and that mean more to us than anything. Usually these are your direct family members, the people who have been in your life since you took your first breath. Then there are your blood relatives, close relatives, family friends, and so on. But loved ones aren't just family, they are our friends, best friends, bffs, bffls, boyfriends, girlfriends, and others we have encountered in our lives with whom we have formed a special, unbreakable bond. These connections that we share with those special individuals are not only what make us human, but also make the world an easier place to live in.