15 Things to give up to be Happy

This is indeed a brilliant article and needs to be read again and again

The following article was written by one of very own Mind valley Team members, and is a piece from the heart. After receiving an astounding 318,000 shares it was only fair to share this with you so you too can identify the 15 practices, beliefs and habits that may be preventing you from being happy. The article is a little longer than usual but it is seasoned with powerful insights and peppered with inspirational quotes. Enjoy!

Here is a list of 15 things, which, if you give up on them, will make your life a lot easier and you'll feel much, much happier. We hold on to so many things that cause us a great deal of pain, stress and suffering and instead of letting those all go and allowing ourselves to be stress-free and happy, we cling on to them.

Well, not anymore. Starting today, we will give up on all those things that no longer serve us, and we will embrace change. Ready? Here we go!

1. Give up your need to always be right. There are so many of us who can't stand the idea of being wrong, wanting to always be right, even at the risk of ending great relationships or causing a great deal of stress and pain for us and for others. It's just not worth it. Whenever you feel the urgent need to jump into a fight over who is right and who is wrong, ask yourself this question from Dr. Wayne Dyer: Would I rather be right, or would I rather be kind? What difference will that make? Is your ego really that big?

2. Give up your need for control. Be willing to give up your need to always control everything that happens to you and around you ì situations, events, people, etc. Whether they are loved ones, co-workers, or just strangers you meet on the street ì just allow them to be. Allow everything and everyone to be just as they are and you will see how much better will that make you feel.

By letting it go, it all gets done. The world is won by those who let it go. But when you try and try. The world is beyond winning. Lao Tzu

3. Give up on blame. Give up on your need to blame others for what you have or don't have, for what you feel or don't feel. Stop giving your powers away and start taking responsibility for your life.

4. Give up your self-defeating self-talk. Oh my. How many people are hurting themselves because of their negative, polluted and repetitive self-defeating mindset? Don't believe everything that your mind is telling you, especially if it's negative and self-defeating. You are better than that.

The mind is a superb instrument if used rightly. Used wrongly, however, it becomes very destructive. Eckhart Tolle

5. Give up your limiting beliefs. About what you can or cannot do, about what is possible or impossible. From now on, you are no longer going to allow your limiting beliefs to keep you stuck in the wrong place. Spread your wings and fly!

A belief is not an idea held by the mind, it is an idea that holds the mind. Elly Roselle

6. Give up complaining. Give up your constant need to complain about those many, many, many things, people, situations and events that make you unhappy, sad and depressed. Nobody can make you unhappy; no situation can make you sad or miserable unless you allow it to. It's not the situation that triggers those feelings in you, but how you choose to look at it. Never underestimate the power of positive thinking.

7. Give up the luxury of criticism. Give up your need to criticize things, events or people that are different than you. We are all different, yet we are all the same. We all want to be happy, we all want to love and be loved and we all want to be understood. We all want something, and something is wished by us all.

8. Give up your need to impress others. Stop trying so hard to be something that you're not just to make others like you. It doesn't work this way. The moment you stop trying so hard to be something that you're not, the moment you take of all your masks, the moment you accept and embrace the real you, you will find people will be drawn to you, effortlessly.

9. Give up your resistance to change. Change is good. Change will help you move from A to B. Change will help you make improvements in your life and also the lives of those around you. Follow your bliss, embrace change, and don’t resist it.

Follow your bliss and the Universes will open doors for you where there were only walls. -Joseph Campbell

10. Give up labels. Stop labeling the things, people or events that you don't understand as being weird or different and try opening your mind, little by little. Minds only work when open. 

The highest form of ignorance is when you reject something you don't know anything about. Dr. Wayne Dyer

11. Give up on your fears. Fear is just an illusion, it doesn't exist, and you created it. It's all in your mind. Correct the inside and the outside will fall into place.

The only thing we have to fear is fear itself. Franklin D. Roosevelt

12. Give up your excuses. A lot of times we limit ourselves because of the many excuses we use. Instead of growing and working on improving ourselves and our lives, we get stuck and lie to ourselves, using all kind of excuses I excuses that 99.9% of the time, are not even real.

13. Give up the past. I know, I know. This one's hard. Especially when the past looks so much better than the present and the future looks so frightening. But, you have to take into consideration the fact that the present moment is all you have and all you will ever have. The past you are now longing for, the past that you are now dreaming about, was ignored by you when it was present. Stop deluding yourself. Be present in everything you do and enjoy life.

After all, life is a journey not a destination. Have a clear vision for the future, prepare yourself, but always be present in the now.

14. Give up attachment. This is a concept that, for most of us, is so hard to grasp and I have to tell you that it was for me too (it still is), but it's not impossible. You get better and better at it with time and practice. The moment you detach yourself from all things (and that doesn't mean you give up your love for them ì because love and attachment have nothing to do with one another. Attachment comes from a place of fear, while love well, real love is pure, kind, and selfless; where there is love there can't be fear, and because of that, attachment and love cannot co-exist) you become so peaceful, so tolerant, so kind, and so serene. You will get to a place where you will be able to understand all things without even trying. A state beyond words

15. Give up living your life to other people's expectations. Way too many people are living a life that is not theirs to live. They live their lives according to what others think is best for them; they live their lives according to what their parents think is best for them; to what their friends, their enemies and their teachers, their government and the media think is best for them. They ignore their inner voice, that inner calling. They are so busy with pleasing everybody, with living up to other people's expectations, that they lose control over their lives. They forget what makes them happy, what they want, what they need and eventually, they forget about themselves. You have one life, this one right now, you must live it, own it, and especially don't let other people's opinions distract you from your path.