Category: Happiness

How do we measure what really counts?

8/24/2021

WEIGHTS AND MEASURES

Popularity is not
a measure of value.
Success is not
a measure of happiness.
Knowledge is not
a measure of understanding.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is most important for you?
2. How do you measure this?

Day 518 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the human contradiction?

7/10/2021

CONTRADICTION

Let me be old,
but keep me young.
Let me be busy, and
yet always still.

Let me reach out
but stay within.
Let me complete, and
yet always begin.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Are you old or young?
2. Are you busy or still?

Day 473 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Why is it so important to let go?

3/8/2021

LETTING GO

The more you try
to hold on to something you value,
the harder it is to keep.

The more that you are willing
to let go of something you value
the more it remains with you.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What are you desperate to hold onto?
2. What do you need to let go?

Day 349 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How can we be Happy?

2/1/2021

WAXWORKS

We can pour jelly or Jell-O
into a mould, to create
any shape that we want.

If we don’t, it will all
just set in the bowl.

We can pour candlewax
into a mould, to create
any shape that we want.

We can make
beautiful, scented candles.

We can pour ourselves
into a mould, to create
anything that we want.

We just need to decide
what our mould is.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE.
1. What does your mould look like?
2. What are you pouring your heart and soul into?

Day 314 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is Strength of Character?

1/15/2021

STRENGTH OF CHARACTER

It is when we are at our weakest
that love is at its strongest within us.

It is when we are at our weakest
that we can allow love to grow within us.

It is when we are at our weakest
that we experience love most powerfully.

It is when we are at our weakest
that love rescues us.

It is when we are at our weakest
that we are at our strongest.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE.
1. When have you been at your weakest?
2. What happened to change this?

Day 297 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

How can we find True Happiness?

11/16/2020

HAPPINESS

It takes great courage
to live your life
as you really are.

For so much of what
we do and say is filtered,
by what we believe others
will think of us.

Our ego, vanity and
society all demand,
that we present ourselves
in a way that will please others.

But others, are also thinking
and acting in the same way.
They too, are trying
to present themselves so that
we will approve of them.

If only one of us could have
the courage to change,
and live our life as we really are.
Then perhaps, we would
give permission to others
to be themselves.

We can relieve ourselves
of the burden of expectation,
and the stress of living
to a false standard.
We can be courageous
and be truly happy.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What do you need to change, to live your life as you really are?
2. How can you find true happiness?

Day 237 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Where can we find Happiness?

8/6/2020

HOME SECURITY

I sat patiently
on the beach,
not moving.
I sat there for hours.

And then I felt
a different sensation
as the tide
slowly came in.

No waves, no noise.
Quietly and gently
the sea lifted me
off the stones.

I swayed left and right,
forwards and backwards,
for what seemed like a lifetime.
Not knowing what to do.

And still the tide came in.
It started to move me outwards,
leading me further
from my place of safety.

I drifted away
on an uncharted journey.
Happy and content
to find a new beach in time.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Can you trust in the process and let go of your place of safety?
2. How will you journey and find your new beach?

Day 136 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Is there such a thing as Magic?

7/19/2020

MAGIC

The most curious thing we can witness
is an impossible magic trick.
Everyone wants to know
the secret!

Yet, for most,
the secret is a disappointment
But the magic is gone
and will never come back.

Sometimes, the magic lies
in the joy
of not knowing
everything.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is the one thing deep down, that you would really love to know?
2. Why might it be better to enjoy the magic and not rush to work it out?

Guest post by Tomas McCabe - International Mind Reader and Magician
How are you thinking differently about everything? www.tomasmccabe.com /
email Des McCabe with you Guest post .

Day 118 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Where is your Joy?

6/29/2020

ANGELS

Isabella is the light of my life,
saving me from everything.
Not expecting anything
and finding true joy in all things.

She helps me with mundane tasks
bringing me to a level of understanding,
peace and real happiness
in these moments.

Her excited greeting ‘Hello Grandad!’
makes me thankful for my years.
Her run to get lifted
makes me wish I was younger.

Isabella is my angel.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Who is your angel?
2. How does your angel save you?

Day 98 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What does 'Follow-through' mean?

6/21/2020

HAPPY FATHER'S DAY

Every time I play golf
I am with you, remembering
to keep my head down
and watch the ball.

I always want to play
on my own, partly due to
embarrassment at my standard
but also, just to be with you.

For it is not about the score,
the lost balls, my swing, or even
the one or two good shots
that redeem the round.

It’s about being with you,
treasuring the gift that you gave me,
and remembering your call
to follow through.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What are your best memories of those who loved you?
2. What is your ‘follow through’?

Day 90 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

Where do we truly Belong?

5/22/2020

RESILIENCE

We spend all our lives doing stuff.
And then planning and doing more stuff.
It's exhausting.

Our life is passing us by.
And still we plan
and do more stuff.

Schedules, routines and to do lists
strap us into
this world of doing.

Like chains.

We accept this as normal
and yet it doesn't have to be like this.
We can get off the treadmill.

Step back from the world of doing
and see a different world.
The world of being.

Here all is calm and peaceful.
There are no timetables
and no demands.

It's a timeless place
that holds all that is important to us.
Yet many of us rarely go there.

Get off the treadmill every now and then.
You will immediately arrive at the world of being
with its peace, gentleness and with nothing to do.

Just be. Be yourself.
Let all love fill you and renew you
for the next part of your doing journey.

This is the font of resilience.
This is the source of all.
This is where we all can be truly ourselves.

It is our place of being,
where we truly belong.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. What is the 'stuff' that can trap you or exhaust you at times?
2. When will you step back and take a little time to refresh yourself at your font of resilience?

Day 60 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

What is the Assimilation Effect?

4/25/2020

ASSIMILATION EFFECT

My perfect day is made up of
hundreds of imperfect moments.
Each one is amazing and magical
and yet not perfect.

You see, this day isn’t just a collection
of hundreds of imperfect moments
but rather a unique composition
that makes today perfect.

It’s a realisation and an understanding
that goes beyond the individual pieces
of each day and pulls together a picture
that is perfection in itself.

I go beyond a ‘sum of the parts’ valuation.
I look beyond the moments and activities
and realise just what is happening
with me, within me and around me.

Perfect happiness exists in each of us
in all of those imperfect, day to day interactions
and unique moments that characterise
who and what we are.

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT EXERCISE
1. Write down some of the imperfect moments of your day - taking today or yesterday as your case study. Why was each of these moments imperfect?
2. Now, 'flip' each of these and ask what was the 'unique moment' in each interaction or activity for you?
3. How do you look back on this day in its entirety?

Day 33 of Des McCabe's Personal Development Exercises

600 Personal Development Exercises