1. Think positive thoughts
The more positive you are, the happier you’ll be. If you approach each and every moment of your life in a positive fashion, you’ll end up seeing the good in everything. Even when things go wrong, staying optimistic will help you push past the bad, allowing you to see the silver lining through the dark clouds. If you spend your life looking for bad things to happen, you’ll miss out on the good that’s all around you.
2. Rethink failure
Failure is universal to all humans. The most successful people in the world have spoken out about how many jobs they’ve been fired from, or how many business ventures they’ve made that have fallen flat. The difference between a successful person and a failure is the way in which they handle themselves when they fall short of a goal. While successful people use their mistakes as learning tools, people who fall short of their goals do so because they let their mistakes become dead ends. Failure is only a bump in the road, and if you treat it that way, good things will happen.
3. Continue learning
Too many people leave high school thinking “Great, I never have to read another book again!” Well, it’s true that you never have to, but do you really want to live the rest of your life not learning anything ever again? Just as you should learn from your mistakes, you should also push yourself to continue learning about anything you possibly can. The world is full of knowledge and wonders waiting to be discovered and understood, so why would you waste the time you have on Earth going through your days without ever experiencing anything new? You don’t want to wake up one day at 40 and realize you missed out on life. Try to learn something new each and every day. You might end up finding a passion for something you never knew you had.
4. Be patient
I joked before about “instant karma,” and while sometimes people get what’s coming to them right away (good or bad), it usually takes time for good deeds to be rewarded. But be patient, because good things will come to you. Of course, I don’t mean to say “good things come to those who wait,” because in actuality, good things come to those who work hard and earn them. On the other hand, you shouldn’t simply expect good things to come to you just because you think you deserve them. Sometimes, hard work doesn’t pay off; that’s life. But, again, if you treat the times that your dedication didn’t pay off as a roadblock, you’ll never achieve the success you desire.
5. Be intrinsically motivated
I just alluded to this, but if you want good karma in life, you have to be resilient. You’re not going to be rewarded every time you do something well. Don’t let that stop you from doing good deeds. Instead of looking for a reward for your actions, look at your actions as the reward. Anyone would be more than happy to go out of their way to help others if they knew they’d be given some sort of reward. Being intrinsically motivated by knowing you’ve helped others will lead to a much more fulfilling life in the long-run.
6. Challenge yourself
Like I said about being a life-long learner, good karma will come to you if you keep striving to improve yourself. Think of things you don’t consider yourself to be “good” at, and think about why that is. Most likely, the reason is that you never really gave it more than a passing try. Dedicate yourself to an interest or hobby, and it could turn into a life-long passion. You may even be able to turn what was initially a part-time hobby into a full-time career. Like I said before, if you don’t challenge yourself, you end up wasting the gift you were given when you were born.
7. Turn the other cheek
Not everyone in this world is going to be as kind and generous as you. You simply have to accept that, and not let others get you down. You can only control your own being, so if someone else does something to spite you, intentionally or not, the best thing you can do for your own well-being is to let it go. You might be offended or otherwise taken aback by someone’s actions, but you don’t walk in their shoes, and you don’t know what they’ve been through. Perhaps they’ve had an awful day and just took it out on you. While this isn’t necessarily excusable, reacting negatively will only make things worse for both parties involved.
8. Spread the love
There’s no better way than to ensure good karma than to spread love around. A little effort can go a long way. A smile and a kind word here and there can be the catalyst that starts a chain reaction that can reach farther than you could ever imagine. Buying a dozen donuts for your colleagues could be the pick-me-up everyone needs to actually enjoy another Monday at the office. In turn, you’ll have lightened the mood of your workplace so that you can enjoy Monday as well. Again, doing something kind for others should never be about what you get in return, but your efforts will certainly make you feel better in some way or another. Featured photo credit: Flickrr via farm4.staticflickr.com
