Project Happiness Articles — ThoughtfulThursday

We’re so excited to announce our partnership with Reader’s Digest in search of the Nicest Places in America! Founder and CEO of Project Happiness Randy Taran will be a guest judge in search for the Nicest Place, along with amazing co-judges Good Morning America’s Robin Roberts, USA Today’s 10best.com, YMCA and other Partners. “At Reader’s Digest, we’re betting on that hard-wiring, on the media messages that are gaining traction, and on our “better angels.” That’s why we’re resuming our search for the Nicest Places in America. Last year, we hit a nerve. A call for nominations brought us 300 from across the USA. We published nearly 200 of them on our website and then chose 10 finalists. Gallatin, Tenn., our 2017...

You thoughts create a cause and an effect. When you sow a thought, you reap a like result. Those consequences become your reality in which you live. Now when you think of something you send a vibrational message to bring that into your reality - like attracts like.

I’ve made the song You&Me for my daughter Eline with Down syndrome (Ds) to let her know how much I love her and to raise Ds awareness. I went from shock and disbelief at birth to acceptance and love…but most of all I gained the insight that the negative way society and medics look at Ds is not true.

I believe the majority of humanity can relate to the feeling of having our hearts smashed into pieces. I'm not a pro, thus my explanation would be more of a childlike one, but being middle age and having gone through some living experience, I've learnt 2 things.

I think about that afternoon when we played touch football in the park, with winter fast approaching. I remember the smile on my brother’s face. How he did the best with what he had and how it was enough. How it can always be enough, if we learn to accept it.

Kindness. It costs nothing to give but can be invaluable to another. It seems like a very obvious ‘no-brainer’ to make use of to help in our own lives, and the lives of others. So how can there be such an absence of it in the world at times? The answer, hurt.

I believe that over the ages, through the passing of time. We have lost two incredibly important characteristics. I think that if we were to regain these two simple things, our lives would become so much better than they are, and we would be able to survive the storm that rages in our minds. The best part is that one of them leads to the other.

I was bullied and I never told anybody about it. Yep. I kept it to myself as if it was a best kept secret. It was as if I had to deal with it alone because that’s just the kind of kid I was. Those experiences with being bullied influenced my self esteem more than I ever knew.

So, the unerring thought that hit me when I turned 50 was, “Why do I look old but feel 27?” I imagine most of us feel much younger but we adhere to society’s rules, pack away our padded shoulders, big hair and Jelly shoes and sit on the sidelines from now on in.

As a (former) pessimist, I can’t deny the good deal of jealousy I felt reading up on the many benefits ascribed to living optimistically. I regarded my pessimism as a good defence mechanism: if I never expected much from the world, then I won’t get as disappointed than others whenever things don’t work out.