by Olivia Emisar

Created on: November 18, 2009

How to love your life

The key to the title of this article is the word "your". The people who find the most satisfaction with their lives are those who have the maximum control over their destiny and life trajectory. At the other end of the spectrum are those people who have no control over the basic things in their lives, let alone the superfluous and expensive ones.

The happiest people we all know have had their share of misery and adversity, and yet, they are happier than those who have always had everything handed to them, or are able to take for granted those things that make life worth living. One of the keys to the door of happiness is to value those things that make life worth living and not taking them for granted.

*Adversity

Those who make lemonade out of lemons have a unique gift for putting crisis and downturns into perspective. This are the people who know the answer to "How do you eat an elephant?", they practice the art of managing the big distressing items into smaller pieces while maintaining all that is good in their lives upfront and center. These people have the ability to be grateful for the good things in their lives and not taking them for granted, these people love their lives despite the challenges they must strive to overcome.

*Simplification

It is the sauce of fables that a poor man is happier than a wealthy one and even though, this sauce has been stretched to limits that are often hard to swallow, the fact is that someone who has a solid grasp of the difference between "wants" and "needs" are typically happier with owning and caring for less "stuff" than those that are constantly chasing the newest, fastest, shiniest item to add to an ever growing collection of "stuff". Eventually the "stuff" takes over every square inch of living space necessitating larger living quarters for overly crowded spaces. "Stuff" overwhelms the senses and clouds judgment, a wonderful tribute to Madison Avenue advertising companies but detrimental to the average person. "Stuff" does not enhance quality of life, it just provides the illusion of doing so and it is short lived, just like anything that is not real or solid, so is the fantasy of owning "stuff".

People who have simplified their lives have been able to ride out the economic conditions that have plagued our country for the past few years. Who would not be happy knowing that there is no chance of them loosing their home, that their savings have grown at a steady pace, or their 15

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