Life is full of pressure and it is easy to get tired, complacent and grumpy in the whole scheme of things. People are put in our path to test and try us everyday of the year. Whether a stranger has yelled out their car window at you or a rude in-law has chucked a hissy fit or ignored you completely in your own house – there are ways of rising above unkind behaviour and to stay happy and focused on the positive in 2015.

Ramblings from a life lived

Be tolerant

There are a lot of people in the world who will try to put you down and make you feel small. This may happen numerous times during the course of a year and many times in your lifetime. Rather than bark up at people who make you feel this way – understand that really, what these people are projecting and making you feel – is actually the bitterness and sadness they feel inside.

Rather than get angry with such people – feel sympathetic. Be grateful that you don’t wake up each morning this bitter or even as them.

Instead, show them what nice actually is. Whether this person has never been shown kindness or they’ve allowed life to make them bitter – you needn’t be affected by their emotions and actions. As a minimum be super happy in front of such people – even if you feel you are faking this happiness.

Happiness is infectious and if nothing else – your happiness will drive them crazy! Perhaps they’ll get so annoyed they might even laugh at you. At least a laugh is better than a sour face right?

Job done. Walk away.

Do something nice for someone

We live in a cold hard world. Bad things happen to good people and bad people have good stuff happen to them. Life can be and is unfair – but that’s life.

If you do something kind you are putting kindness into the world – like sweetener into a cup of tea or a cake.

If you don’t do something kind today – the day will simply be – less sweet and enjoyable.

Note: Not saying you should fill your day with a heap of sugar – just speaking metaphorically.

Get my drift?

Be less materialistic

Consider who and what you are without your material possessions. Have you spent time developing a personality? Are you funny? Are you kind? Do you help others out?

Ask yourself this:

If all your material possessions were taken away from you today – what and who would you be without the things you have and the veil of materialism and stuff that is part of your daily life.

See the beauty in little things

In the summer of 2004 my hubby and I removed ‘us’ from the world we knew so well (a life in the inner city) and went and lived in the Australian outback. We had nothing and no one but each other. What we discovered were more enhanced and amazing conversations, the stars, the kindness of our neighbours, the beauty of nature and pleasure in small things like watching a person walk by or the joy in a bunch of silly jokes.

Oh and Emus…they were fantastic to watch instead of traffic lights!

Find your awakening

This was a true awakening that lives with us to this day. If you look at life less its material stuff and in the little things and moments that matter – you will also be less judgmental and have a fairer opinion of others who don’t ‘have as much.’

At the end of the day, if you are trying to live up to ‘the Joneses’ – the only person you are competing with is yourself. What will happen is that you will only attract people in your life who are also competitive ‘live-up-to-the-Joneses’ types. Such friends are actually far too busy and self-interested to care about what car you drive or mansion you live in anyway – because they’re busy running on the same self-defeating materialistic treadmill.

To put this differently: If you base your life on material wealth and you lost it all today – what would you have left? Would your family or relationships still be intact? Would your friends still want to know you? Who would want to know you? If everything else is still in tact – you are the definition of true success and you have it all. Congrats!

Good people still value people

Underneath the rush of all the commercialism and materialism out there – good people (the one’s you should seek out and get to know) still value the intrinsic beauty of people. There’s nothing nicer than a wink, a cheeky smile, a joke that makes a room of people laugh, or a tear that evokes emotion in a friend. Though it’s still great to have nice things – there are a lot of amazing, interesting, creative and kind people out there who’ve got more to offer you than the shallow existence of the pure race for material wealth.

People are put in your path for a reason

After my father passed away my mother relayed a nice thought to me, which has stuck over the years. I had gone through a bad experience and my mother said to me ‘Sometimes people are put in your path to help you change direction.’ I love this thought – because many times the people in our lives who give us the most grief become what feels like a test. We learn from these people – about ourselves and what we like or dislike about our lives and ourselves even. They make us question who we are and what we’re doing. Next time you have an experience that is not ideal with a person you don’t like consider the positives. This person probably has much to teach you about life and how you personally deal with situations. If you can overcome the emotion evoked by the person in question – you will have learnt some valuable life lessons in facing your emotions front on. The challenge presented by this person could change your life path forever and in a very positive way.