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Gary airborneSome people love their lives and wake up every morning raring to start the day. Others have a lacklustre life with no energy to get up and start living.

Which group do you belong to? I’ve belonged to both at different points of my life, and highly recommend loving your life!

Here are four areas you may want to start thinking about. Once these four ‘legs’ of your life are in place, you can enjoy the stability of a life you love everyday, or at least most days.

Feel free to read the posts below to get you started. Or get free updates by RSS or email to start the journey to a life you love.

photo credit: TheNickster

Getting your finances under control

A large part of unhappiness is due to worries about money. When you have to worry about paying the bills, there is little energy left to focus on intangibles like relationships, health, and joy.

The only reason to pay attention to money in the beginning is so that you can get money worries out of the way for good. Here are a few posts to get you started.

Doing work that you enjoy

The happiest people I know are those who enjoy what they do, are good at it, and can make a living from it. Once you find this combination, be thankful that you have a treasure that few people ever discover.

What if you have not found this work? Start with the work you have today and begin to transform this work into something meaningful. Your attitude and results will in turn open doors to better opportunities.

Building your relationships

Most people are happier when they are enveloped in loving relationships with family and friends. Research suggests that those in happy relationships live longer.

Building relationships takes time and effort. I’m still working on my own relationships, and am far from a guru. Here are some thoughts.

Growing as a person

Once your finances, work and relationships are in order and you have a life others envy, you’ll find that something else is still lacking. This is because we are born to grow, and when you stop growing, there is an emptiness inside.

So the path to joyful days never ends, because the joy (along with some angst) is in the growing. That is why I blog. Most of what I write is to help me grow as a person.

If you’d like to join in the journey, get free updates via RSS or email. You can also email me to let me know about yourself and what topics you’d like me to address.

Thank you for visiting today!



  • Comments by Readers

  • Beaulotus: Hi Daphne, it’s precisely that – that they didn’t have anything better to do with their time and lives. Those few mums...
  • Beaulotus: Daphne, it was interesting reading this wonderful post. As you may know, I socialise alot in our expat community and we have mothers...
  • Paul Maurice Martin: “Declining to play” has been an important one for me – I think of it as letting go of the egoism of others....
  • Self Improvement Minded: “Keep the company of the wise” that’s how we always said 4 when I was young.
  • Lana-{Daring Clarity}: Those were great points Daphne, thank you. And I so loved how you started that the reason you “keep blogging is that...
  • nudgeme: Great pointers on maintaining personal integrity Daphne, and always lovely to log on and see a post from you! Identifying your...
  • Self-esteem Building: I agree that our thinking gives positive or negative meaning to a certain event, person etc. Nature is neutral. It’s...
  • Hilary: Hi Daphne .. good points .. adopt a hero – yourself – ensure you smile, be kind, be open, be friendly .. Draw the boundaries is...
  • J.D. Meier: Beautiful distillations … heroes, boundaries, and buddies are the way to go. It takes less energy to be yourself than be somebody...
  • Lance: Hi Daphne, Number 4 is an important one for me. It’s so easy for other people’s attitudes to filter over into our own –...
  • Mazhar Nawaz: Dear Daphne enjoyed reading every word. I appreciate your honest views on Live Like You’ll Die Tomorrow.
  • Walter: Yes, I believe with what you have written here. In fact, I’m applying most of them into my life. There are lot of ways to be happy,...
  • Lindsey Petersen: I am a die hard optimist who leads a happy life even when I should be sad…an anomaly, I guess! Lindsey Petersen...
  • Hilda: Hi Daphne, I’ve read ALOT on the subject of happiness over the years, and have transformed myself from a miserable pessimist to a...
  • macy_c: I used to trust my instinct a bit more, but overtime, self doubt and life in general erode the trust. I just wrote an account of when I...
  • Evelyn Lim: I have found more meaning in my life when I started contributing my assistance and service to others. In the process, I become happier...
  • James Gray: When you say that good and bad aren’t “out there,” it isn’t clear what that means. I don’t know if anyone...
  • nudgeme: Hi Daphne Lovely to see a post on Joyful days in my Google Reader this morning – and such an uplifting one at that! I concur with...
  • vered - blogger for hire: “Which is partly why I’m blogging less now – I have a happy life to keep me occupied!” This is great. You...
  • Tess The Bold Life: I can attest that they all work. I’ve even been quite happy in the middle even though I’m sliding out of that...