What is holding you back from living the life you want? Is it a lack of confidence, weight-loss, anger & rage, stress or anxiety? Are you sick of experts with their glib, one-size-fits-all 'solutions' that leave you feeling worse than ever? Liam O'Sullivan delivers personalised, made-to-measure solutions for people... people just like you... who are ready to take action to help themselves. Check out his website (www.chilo.org) today!

Isn't it great to be alive

First the bad news… giving out is highly contagious. If you are complaining you attract other moaners to you like moths to a flame. Let’s face it, some people light up a room by entering it – and others do so by leaving. Listening to people giving out all the time is draining. Some people seem to have their own personal dark cloud that follows them around – and it can envelop you too if you are not careful. The good news is that being cheerful can be even more contagious. In fact it can reach epidemic proportions very quickly. Life is all about choices. You can choose to complain or you can choose to say ‘Isn’t it great to be alive?’ Try it. Next time someone around you starts to give out, just say ‘But isn’t it great to be alive’. You are doing three distinct things here. 1. interrupting their flow of negative thoughts 2. deflecting their negativity away from you (This one simple sentence can become like a powerful invisible shield for you). 3. actively engaging in what psychologists call affirmation. This is the power of positive thought. The simple truth is that we project our own destiny. If you wake up and tell yourself ‘This is gonna be another crap day’, guess what? You’ll be right. If you say the opposite, your brain will still find the evidence to prove yourself right. People in the ‘Self-Help’ industry dress this up in psycho-babble to help them sell books and seminars. I like to keep it simple. Why not give it a go? We have nothing to lose but our chains! Next time you meets a neighbour who starts off with ‘Isn’t the weather shocking’ or ‘I never seen the work so bad’ just say ‘But isn’t it great to be alive? Most people will agree with you. If you don’t shift them first time – persevere. They might walk off muttering about how you must be on drugs, but you stay happy and you will have sneakily infected them with your contagious cheerfulness. By thinking cheery things, you attract cheery people. Of course it works in reverse as well, if you dwell on negative thoughts. So today, right now, do you choose happiness or misery? You can’t change the weather, the economy or the ‘youth of today’ but you can choose how you respond to them. After all… isn’t it great to be alive?