Living a happy, resilient and optimistic life is wonderful, and is also good for your health. Being happy actually protects you from the stresses of life. Stress is linked to top causes of death such as heart disease, cancer and stroke.

One of the better things ever said is - 'The only thing in life that will always remain the same is change', and in our life we have the power to make the necessary changes if we want to. Even if we find ourselves in an unbearable situation we can always find solace in the knowledge that it too would change.

Social networks or relationships are essential to happiness. People are different, accept people for who or what they are, avoid clashes, constant arguments, and let go of all kinds of resentments. If arguments seem unavoidable still try and make an effort to understand the situation and you might just get along with well with

Happiness is actually found in everyone, increasing it is a way to make a life more wonderful and also more healthy.

To be happy is relatively easy, just decide to be a happy person. Abraham Lincoln observed that most people for most of the time can choose how happy or stressed, how relaxed or troubled, how bright or dull their outlook to be. The choice is simple really, choose to be happy.

There are several ways by which you can do this.

Being grateful is a great attitude. We have so much to be thankful for. Thank the taxi driver for bringing you home safely, thank the cook for a wonderful dinner and thank the guy who cleans your windows. Also thank the mailman for bringing you your mails, thank the policeman for making your place safe and thank God for being alive.

News is stressful. Get less of it. Some people just can't start their day without their daily dose of news. Try and think about it, 99% of the news we hear or read is bad news. Starting the day with bad news does not seem to be a sensible thing to do.

A religious connection is also recommended. Being part of a religious group with its singing, sacraments, chanting, prayers and meditations foster inner peace.

Manage your time. Time is invaluable and too important to waste. Time management can be viewed as a list of rules that involves scheduling, setting goals, planning, creating lists of things to do and prioritizing. These are the core basics of time management that should be understood to develop an efficient personal time management skill. These basic skills can be fine tuned further to include the finer points of each skill that can give you that extra reserve to make the results you desire.

Laugh and laugh heartily everyday. Heard a good joke? Tell your friends or family about it. As they also say -'Laughter is the best medicine'.

Express your feelings, affections, friendship and passion to people around you. They will most likely reciprocate your actions. Try not to keep pent up anger of frustrations, this is bad for your health. Instead find ways of expressing them in a way that will not cause more injury or hurt to anyone.

Working hard brings tremendous personal satisfaction. It gives a feeling of being competent in finishing our tasks. Accomplishments are necessary for all of us, they give us a sense of value. Work on things that you feel worthy of your time.

Learning is a joyful exercise. Try and learn something new everyday. Learning also makes us expand and broaden our horizons. And could also give us more opportunities in the future.

Run, jog, walk and do other things that your body was made for. Feel alive.

Avoid exposure to negative elements like loud noises, toxins and hazardous places.

These are the few simple things you can do everyday to be happy.

And always remember the quote from Abraham Lincoln, he says that, "Most people are about as happy as they make up their minds to be."

Happiness and contentment in life differs for all of us, what makes one person happy doesn't necessarily bring contentment to another. Very often we are happy in life but we just don't realize it. Very often the hustle and bustle of life can completely overtake all else and leaves us little time to enjoy the things that make us smile and enjoy life to the fullest. If you stop and sit down and think about what actually makes you happy and feel contented, you might actually find you have those things already around you but you just didn't realize it.

However there are times when we can get into a slump and haven't yet come across the conditions that we regard as bringing happiness and contentment. If this is the case then you have to figure out what changes you need to make, to bring happiness into your life, in most cases it is the smallest of things which bring happiness and you have the power to gain them by working towards them.

Your happiness and contentment depends entirely on you, no one else can give it you, it is something inside you that you have to find and work towards. You can either decide to stop in the rut or to take positive action and make changes to your life or yourself in order to accomplish contentment.

In order to understand what happiness means to you, the first step you should take is looking at your emotions, ask yourself questions such as "if I could be enjoying something in my life, what would it be?" and "what makes me feel contented in my life right now?" Once you understand what your vision of happiness and contentment is you can build on what you have now or focus on changing your life to what you would like it to be.

The important thing to remember is to examine your feelings by way of the answers you give to your questions, examine them honestly and concentrate on the good or bad feelings that you get from your questions and answers.

There is no magic spell or potion that can bring you contentment and happiness, it is something that is already right there inside of you, you just have to realize what it is and develop and bring it out to start enjoying life. Happiness can be found in family life, work, relationships, nature or a pet, to name just a few, in fact it can be found in anything and any situation if you just know where to look and look in the right direction, the inner you.

When you are dealing with other people, endeavoring magnetically to win them to your wish, you should summon the general magnetic feeling within yourself, will them to do as you desire, and at the same time think of them as already consenting and acting. Your inner condition should be perfectly calm, buoyant, hopeful, whatever the external means employed, your mind should be concentrated upon the thing desired, and its accomplishment should be thought of as now secured. The response of the person may be delayed, but this should not discourage you, for some minds do not take suggestions (those of your unspoken will are referred to) quickly, and they do not act instantly upon their own thought. It is invariably best to induce people to believe that they are acting on their personal impulse or judgment; they should be made to feel perfectly free, not at all coerced, and that they are doing their own will rather than yours simply because they wish so to do.

We may summarize all these suggestions in the words of a distinguished scientific writer:

"Life is not a bully who swaggers out into the open universe, upsetting the laws of energy in all directions, but rather a consummate strategist, who, sitting in his secret chamber over his wires, directs the movements of a great army." This is a good description of magnetism.

The success-magnetism assumption: We are now ready for the great assumption-principle of magnetism in applied life.

Think of every goal as already reached, of every undertaking as already achieved.

If you are happy in life with what you have got regardless of the material possessions that you own or don't own, then you are a very wealthy and successful person indeed. It is very often the smallest things in life which are priceless but are not of any great value other than the particular person who cherishes them for one reason or another, these can be photographs, cards, a song or even memories can be precious to an individual.

In a society where we have been brought up believing material possessions are what is important it can be hard to believe that owning material possessions isn't what makes us happy and brings success, how common it is to hear someone say "if only I had this or that, I would be the happiest person on earth", however should we get what it is we wish for we are never satisfied and only begin to dream and wish we had something better. The newness of having a material possession soon wears off, and this pattern is continued throughout life in the majority of people. This is perhaps easier to realize if you think back to when you were a child, your parents would spend hundreds of dollars on birthdays and Christmas presents because you had to have that "special" toy, but how quickly they were discarded when something new came onto the scene.

The same applies to wealth, it doesn't matter how much money you had, would you really think that you had enough? Would having a bank account with thousands of dollars make such a difference to your life, would it bring you anymore happiness or success than you have now?

We all want to live a comfortable life, without struggling each month to pay bills, that's only natural, but apart from that money doesn't bring true happiness and success, you can have thousands in the bank but if you're alone in life, without real friends and family, without love, then you can never find true happiness and success.

What is success and happiness?

In order to determine actually what success and happiness means you should first ask yourself this

* What is the meaning of success and happiness?

* What would being truly successful and happy mean?

* What do I want out of life?

These are the core questions behind understanding what happiness and success really would mean to you as an individual, for happiness and success means different things to each of us. You can be rich and successful in many more ways than having material possessions and money, think about some of the things you have in your life now, are you one of the richest and most successful people on the earth?

* True friends - if you can count on one hand five true friends who are always there for you through thick and thin then your are rich indeed

* Health - if you have good health through taking care of what you eat, exercising regularly then this is far more valuable than any amount of money in the bank

* A family - if you have a family around you who loves you then you will have a successful, rewarding and very happy life

* A good character - if you are an honest, kind and truthful person in all situations then you have success beyond your wildest dreams.

Why do we suffer in life? Because in the scheme of nature we are being forced forward in evolution and we lack the spiritual illumination that alone can light the way and enable us to move safely among the obstacles that lie before us. Usually we do not even see or suspect the presence of trouble until it suddenly leaps upon us like a concealed tiger. One day our family circle is complete and happy. A week later death has come and gone and joy is replaced with agony. Today we have a friend. Tomorrow he will be an enemy and we do not know why. A little while ago we had wealth and all material luxuries. There was a sudden change and now we have only poverty and misery and yet we seek in vain for a reason why this should be.

There was a time when we had health and strength; but they have both departed and no trace of a reason appears. Aside from these greater tragedies of life innumerable things of lesser consequence continually bring to us little miseries and minor heartaches. We most earnestly desire to avoid them but we never see them until they strike us, until in the darkness of our ignorance we blunder upon them. The thing we lack is the spiritual illumination that will enable us to look far and wide, finding the hidden causes of human suffering and revealing the method by which they may be avoided; and if we can but reach illumination the evolutionary journey can be made both comfortably and swiftly. It is as though we must pass through a long, dark room filled with furniture promiscuously scattered about. In the darkness our progress would be slow and painful and our bruises many. But if we could press a button that would turn on the electric light we could then make the same journey quickly and with perfect safety and comfort.

The old method of education was to store the mind with as many facts, or supposed facts, as could be accumulated and to give a certain exterior polish to the personality. The theory was that when a man was born he was a completed human being and that all that could be done for him was to load him up with information that would be used with more or less skill, according to the native ability he happened to be born with. The theosophical idea is that the physical man, and all that constitutes his life in the physical world, is but a very partial expression of the self; that in the ego of each there is practically unlimited power and wisdom; that these may be brought through into expression in the physical world as the physical body and its invisible counterparts, which together constitute the complex vehicle of the ego's manifestation, are evolved and adapted to the purpose; and that in exact proportion that conscious effort is given to such self-development will spiritual illumination be achieved and wisdom attained. Thus the light that leads to happiness is kindled from within and the evolutionary journey that all are making may be robbed of its suffering.

Why does death bring misery? Chiefly because it separates us from those we love. The only other reason why death brings grief or fear is because we do not understand it and comprehend the part it plays in human evolution. But the moment our ignorance gives way to comprehension such fear vanishes and a serene happiness takes its place.

Why do we have enemies from whose words or acts we suffer? Because in our limited physical consciousness we do not perceive the unity of all life and realize that our wrong thinking and doing must react upon us through other people a situation from which there is no possible escape except through ceasing to think evil and then patiently awaiting the time when the causes we have already generated are fully exhausted. When spiritual illumination comes, and we no longer stumble in the night of ignorance, the last enemy will disappear and we shall make no more forever.

Why do people suffer from poverty and disease? Only because of our blundering ignorance that makes their existence possible for us, and because we do not comprehend their meaning and their lessons, nor know the attitude to assume toward them. Had we but the wisdom to understand why they come to people, why they are necessary factors in their evolution, they would trouble us no longer. When nature's lesson is fully learned these mute teachers will vanish.

And so it is with all forms of suffering we experience. They are at once reactions from our ignorant blunderings and instructors that point out the better way. When we have comprehended the lessons they teach they are no longer necessary and disappear. It is not by the outward acquirement of facts that men become wise and great. It is by developing the soul from within until it illuminates the brain with that flood of light called genius.

Often, self improvement CDs and tapes are abridged versions of popular self improvement books. Many people simply do not have time to read these days and books on tapes and CDs have become more popular than ever.

Too, many people love the flexibility that self improvement CDs and tapes offer them. They can listen to them during their daily commutes, on their lunch hours and even at the various after school activities their children take part in. Tapes on self improvement make it possible to learn self help methods and tips while doing a variety of other things. And since this is the era of multitasking, tapes on self improvement are vital to finding time to learn self improvement strategies.

And while some self improvement CDs and tapes are from printed books, you can find many others from popular self improvement experts such as Anthony Robbins. Many self improvement experts have their self improvement programs available on tapes and CDs. They will also offer tapes on self improvement seminars that they've held.

Having any of these tapes and CDs on self improvement tape or CD further makes it possible for you to listen to over and over as you want. A particular portion of the self improvement tape may have special meaning for the self help issue you're struggling with or earnestly want to improve. Tapes and CDs make it easy to return again and again to self improvement techniques and information as often as you like. In many cases, repetition is vital to ensuring that you, indeed, make the changes necessary for self improvement of any kind.

So don't delay. Make it a point to find some tapes and CDs today on the self improvement topic you'd like to learn more about. When it comes to self improvement, there's no time like the present, so the sooner you get started the better!

1. Pay close attention to the name of a person at the time of introduction, as attention helps you remember. At the same time, study the person, particularly the person's facial features, the eyes, the nose, the brow etc., so that your memory can store the image of the person along with the name. This will help you establish a bond between the name and face. If you don't do this, you may remember one but not the other.

2. Ask for the correct spelling and pronunciation, especially if it is an unusual or foreign name. If you are offered the person's business card, you may take a close look at the spelling. Ask how the person would like to be addressed, if appropriate. You may ask the person to say the name again, in case you could not catch it initially. Generally, people don't like their names misspelled or mispronounced. Better safe than sorry.

3. Repeat using the name on every possible situation that requires your interaction with that person. For example, you will want to repeat the name back to the person as soon as they say it. Then, use their name when greeting or leaving them. This manner of repetition will help you memorize the name.

4. Associating the name of a person with something more familiar to you is a very good trick used for remembering it. Connecting a name with some hobby, job or profession, or something you find interesting, funny or unforgettable is another method that works for your memory. Establishing links between the unknown and the known things is a way of transforming the unknown into the known and storing it in one's memory.

5. Use mnemonics or memory clues. You can perhaps remember a person's long name by shortening it or forming another word from the initials. The shortened version of the name may be easier to remember. Likewise, the new word formed from the initials may stay put in your memory. As acronyms are generally easy to remember, they will help you remember the original names.

If you want to navigate yourself successfully through social or business or professional situations, you must remember the names of the people you meet. Otherwise, expect to be given the cold shoulder. However, if you put these 5 tips into practice, you will begin remembering names and avoiding the embarrassment.

1. Always let the person who is talking finish what they are saying before you speak, if you speak before they have had their say then you could miss a valuable point, if you break into their conversation it also shows that you think what you have to say matters more than what they do and is extremely bad manners.

2. Listen intently to what the other person is saying to you, if all you are doing is thinking of how you are going to reply to the person then your full attention isn't focused on what they are saying and you could miss something important.

3. Always stay focused on the present and never bring up past issues, however related it may seem. This only cloud the present issues and can make the conversation difficult and even more confusing.

4. Really listen to what the other is saying to you, it is so easy to drift away with thoughts of your own especially if you don't agree with what the person is saying to you, try not to get defensive and don't interrupt them before they have made their point.

5. Instead of trying to win an argument or conflict try to reason and find a solution that is agreeable to both parties, this is a much more effective way to communicate than trying to battle it out just for the sake of winning, this way no one is the loser.

6.ff Take a break if you cannot come to a reasonable agreement in a conversation when at odds, taking a break will allow you to cool down and gather your thoughts before communicating again.

7. Try to see the others point of view and don't just stick with what you have in mind, talk over the ins and outs and explain simply and fully why you don't think their idea is a good one while making suggestions of your own, but don't be too quick to dismiss the others idea until you have the full picture.

8. Even if you don't like what other person is saying try to be respectful of their opinion and do listen to what they have to say even if you don't necessarily agree with them.

9. Don't blow things out of proportion while conversing, if possible avoid starting sentences with "you always" or "you never", always think about what you are saying and make sure that what you are saying is true, blowing things out of proportion, blaming and bringing up the past only creates more negativity.

10. Don't always put all the blame on the other, sometimes we handle conflicts by blaming things entirely on the other and criticizing, try to analyze the situation objectively to find a solution.

Many people may desire to be leaders because that will make other people follow them or for whatever other reasons like that will boost the leader's pride, spirit and ego.

What about you? You might like to be known as a leader while at work, at home and at play unless you have George Bush as your boss, Britney Spears as your wife and a Doberman-Pit Bull cross breed as your playing companion.

Well, here are some leadership basics you must get a handle on:

1. Develop a vision and formulate a strategy around it.

2. Communicate your vision and strategy clearly: For example, "Guys, we're going out for beer tomorrow night, so no one eat or drink anything till then because tomorrow night, we're gonna have a food and drink fest!" may be an effective way of communicating your vision and strategy to certain interest groups. Remember, good, unambiguous and clear communication is one of the key psychological assets of a leader.

3. Create a coalition of people who agree with your thoughts. Words such as "Guys, we're going to have a beer and food party right now and I'm going to pick up the tab for everyone, so follow me all ye who want to!" may get you a great coalition of followers but something tells us they're going to stick with you till you stop picking up those tabs. A good leader always creates a coalition of people by the way he talks and influences, by the thought process behind his ideas and by the way he lays out his plans. Remember - never bribe anyone because you want him or her to join your coalition!

4. Now that you have a group rooting for you, establish a sense of urgency. Powerful dialogues such as: "Guys, as your well-architected, interactively-positive exclusive leader, I have to inform you that if we don't get out of this beer bar RIGHT now, the coppers will arrest us!" can always establish a sense of urgency. Survey the surroundings for competitive realities and potential crises before you go verbose.

5. Now, having identified the problems and obstacles that stand in the way of your goals, start removing them: "Guys, a swift karate chop on the coppers' Adam's apples will disable them from following us!" would be a great line to say to your coalition in the aforesaid scenario. This would remove all obstacles in your immediate goal of escaping from the beer bar too.

6. Having removed the obstacles, you are now ready to consolidate and promote/improve people from your coalition and delegate authority. "Klutz Kramer will now always compulsorily carry a knuckleduster each time we go to a beer bar because his karate chops are no good! Slimy Krontz is hereby promoted - he need not carry his Aussie Beer Can Mortar machine to any beer bar in the future!" Delegation of authority can create a feeling of pride and importance among the good performers in your coalition.

7. Reward people. A job well done deserves something more than mere applause.

8. Now introduce new themes or identify new problems and follow the same leadership strategies outline in 1-6 above and you will taste success as a leader!

Remember, in the end a leader is different from an authoritative figure such as a manager. A manager or any authoritative figure can do things right, while a leader always does the right things. So, go ahead, become a leader - just don't let it go to your head.

Some disappointment in life can be good for us because it allows us to grow and develop and practice thinking positively, going through disappointment and coming out the other side still wearing a smile makes us realize that no matter what life throws at us we can overcome it. Here are some tips to help you deal with and overcome disappointment when it rears its head.

* Realize that grief, stress, anxiety, fear, pain and suffering are just a natural part of life that we have to go through, it's how we deal with it and come out the other side that matters.

* If family members or loved ones are causing you disappointments remember that no one is invulnerable, you cannot always live up to your expectations or yourself so how can you expect others to be perfect.

* When faced with disappointment instead of looking at it as though it is a bad thing, welcome it and think of it as a test or challenge.

* When things go wrong analyze the situation, see what you can learn from it and then let it go.

* If you are constantly running into a brick wall when trying to reach long term goals, remember there cannot be failure unless you give up, so keep trying until you get there.

* If you run into a dead end turn around and go another way, by staying flexible you are able to obtain your goal any way you can.

* Don't except anything more from life than what you are willing to put in, if you don't expect anything more, you won't be disappointed.

* If you are having a particularly bad time overcoming disappointment it can help to talk about it, by talking about it and letting it out you realize that you are not alone when it comes to suffering disappointment.

* Patience can really be a blessing when it comes to dealing with disappointment, just simply let the feelings pass over you and disappear and get back on the right track.

* Don't be conned by foolish and unreasonable expectations about life, if you are constantly looking for perfection then you will be disappointed for sure.