Behavior Exchange Challenge Wrap Up…Finding Happiness…Our Conclusions

By Barbara Coleman
Aug-1-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
24 Comments.

After reading a compelling blog about the 22 Habits of Unhappy People, the two of us spent the better part of our daily video chat talking about our own bad habits. I said, “You know, I think you could’ve been right more than 25 years ago….I think I might be happy and I’m just getting in my own way. Could it really be as easy as exchanging these bad “unhealthy” habits with the good “healthy” habits? Would we notice a […]

Tags: bad habits, behavior exchange challenge, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors, finding happiness, happiness, healthy behaviors, making plans, middlesage, setting goals

Day 22 Behavior Exchange Challenge ~ Wanting More Money

By Lee Aldrich
Jul-31-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
0 Comments.

Bad Habit #22 ~ Wanting More Money It’s been said that money is the root of all evil. It’s not the money that’s evil…it’s the people who will do anything to get it. And once they get it…do the toys they buy make them any happier? According to Forbes article “How Much Money Do You Really Need to be Happy?”, that amount is $75,000. Unfortunately, the end result is that some people want more money than is necessary to live […]

Tags: bad habits, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors, finding happiness, happiness, healthy habits, middlesage, the behavior exchange challenge, wanting more money

I want money, lots and lots of money….

By Barbara Coleman
Jul-31-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
3 Comments.

Remember the song from Calloway…back in the late 80′s… I want money lots and lots of money I want the pie in the sky I want money lots and lots of money So don’t be asking me why I wanna be rich oh Most people think that if they had more money, their happiness would increase accordingly. Unfortunately, much like “Waiting for the future”, the illusion that more money will solve all your problems and make you happy is nothing […]

Tags: bad habits, behavior exchange challenge, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors, finding happiness, happiness, healthy behaviors, I want more money, middlesage, money brings happiness

Day 21 Behavior Exchange Challenge ~ Letting Strangers Affect Your Mood

By Lee Aldrich
Jul-30-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
0 Comments.

Bad Habit #21 ~ Letting Strangers Affect Your Mood Whether you’re upset at the terrible waiter, or fuming at the rude sales clerk, or barely tolerating the impossible customer, the take away is that you’re letting strangers affect your mood. How is it possible that a complete stranger and impact – and change – our entire outlook? We could be having a bad day and somebody just pushes us over the edge. It can be that we think we deserve respect […]

Tags: bad habits, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors, finding happiness, happiness, healthy habits, letting strangers affect your mood, middlesage, the behavior exchange challenge

Sidewalk Chicken…The strangers that affect our mood.

By Barbara Coleman
Jul-30-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
5 Comments.

So many things can influence our mood. Music. Food. Weather. Color. Strangers. How many times have you been in a great mood and along comes someone you’ve never met – they say or do something and BAM…suddenly there’s a dark cloud and you’re in a funk. The dark cloud, of course, is metaphorical and stands for the any number of things that influence our moods. Today we’re talking about Strangers and just like the weather, we have no control over […]

Tags: bad habits, bad mood, behavior exchange challenge, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors, finding happiness, good mood, happiness, healthy behaviors, middlesage, sidewalk chicken, strangers

Day 20 Behavior Exchange Challenge ~ Worrying About What Others Might Think

By Barbara Coleman
Jul-29-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
0 Comments.

Bad Habit #20 ~ Worrying About What Others Might Think You’ll worry less about what people think about you when you realize how seldom they do” (David Foster Wallace). In an article title 10 Reason to stop Worrying About What Other People Think, the author points out that this is a very profound statement, but it can be taken one of two ways: that either a) people don’t think about you or your shortcomings as much as you think they […]

Tags: bad habits, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors, finding happiness, happiness, healthy habits, middlesage, the behavior exchange challenge, worrying what others may think

Worrying What Others Think: Our Absurd Stab at Mind-Reading

By Lee Aldrich
Jul-29-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
6 Comments.

- You head out the door in a fabulous emerald green dress that you bought for tonights special occasion. As you step onto the street, a woman passing by give you a double-take. You wonder why she didn’t like what you had on. – You went into law because that had been the family business for years. You feel trapped in the family law firm, and would have preferred to be an engineer. You’re in the business because it’s family […]

Tags: bad habits, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors happiness, finding happiness, healthy habits, middlesage, the behavior exchange challenge, worrying what others think

Day 19 Behavior Exchange Challenge ~ Lacking Goals

By Lee Aldrich
Jul-26-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
4 Comments.

Bad Habit #19 ~ Lacking Goals Studies have shown that people with depression make more generalized goals in their lives, but the question that remains is whether the depression came first, or was triggered by the lack of setting and achieving goals. Christopher Bergland in his article “Generalized Goals Linked to Depression,“ cites a new study conducted by Dr. Joann Dickson. Bergland explains, “Setting specific goals and realizing them triggers an electro-chemical chain reaction in your brain that makes you feel rewarded which stimulates happiness, motivation, […]

Tags: bad habits, being happy, breaking bad habits, chnaging behaviors, finding happiness, happiness, healthy habits, lacking goals, middlesage, setting goals, the behavior exchange challenge

You’ve gotta have goals…because hope is not a plan

By Barbara Coleman
Jul-26-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
0 Comments.

Have you ever completed something you set out to do? Of course you have, it felt good… didn’t it? It doesn’t have to be a huge feat you’re accomplishing to get that satisfying feeling…it’s not necessary to run a marathon, sometimes all it takes is getting your junk drawer in the kitchen cleaned out and organized. One thing is for certain, that accomplished feeling doesn’t come to us unless we have set up some goals first. Goal setting is a […]

Tags: bad habits, behavior exchange challenge, being happy, breaking bad habits, changing behaviors, finding happiness, happiness, healthy behaviors, making plans, middlesage, setting goals

Day 18 Behavior Exchange Challenge ~ Negatively Self Labeling

By Barbara Coleman
Jul-25-2013
Behavior Exchange Challenge, Posts From Your Hosts: Barbara Coleman & Lee Aldrich
6 Comments.

Bad Habit #18 ~ Negatively Self Labeling Everybody talks to themselves. Are you polite when you do? Are you kind to yourself, as kind as you are to other people? Or are you your own worst enemy? When you think of yourself, what kinds of self-descriptors do you use? Do you have a drawer full of negative labels that you use on a regular basis – tags like I’m disorganized, or unattractive, or clumsy? Our perception is our reality. So […]