Archives for August 2016

10 Good Reminders to Spend More Time with the Right People

08.21.2016 by Marc Chernoff // 31 Comments

10 Good Reminders to Spend More Time with the Right People

When I was a kid, my mom used to tell me, “You are who you spend your time with. Respect that, and respect yourself.”

But it wasn’t until I was in my early twenties that I fully grasped what she was trying to say to me. I learned the hard way that the people you surround yourself with either lift you higher or bring you down – they energize you or drain you – they support you or criticize you – they make you smile or make you cry.

Call it a clan, call it a network, call it a tribe, or call it a family. Whatever you call it, whoever you are, you need one. You need a small group of people in your life that lift you higher.

As Anaïs Nin so profoundly said, “Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive, and it is only by this meeting that a new world is born.”

So right here, right now, make it a goal to spend more time with nice people who are smart, driven and like-minded. Remember that relationships should help you, not hurt you. Surround yourself with people who reflect the person you want to be. Choose friends who you are proud to know, people you admire, who love and respect you – people who make your day a little brighter simply by being in it.

Ultimately, the people in your life make all the [Read more…]

How to Change Your Negative Attitude (When You Can’t Change Anything Else)

08.14.2016 by Angel Chernoff // 29 Comments

How to Change Your Negative Attitude

Happiness is in the mind, not in outside events and circumstances. Beautiful things happen when you distance yourself from negative thinking.

There is an opportunity in every difficult situation to understand yourself more deeply, and also to improve your life.

I encourage you to reflect on recent situations where you’ve felt let down – where life’s outcomes were nowhere near as good as you expected. Rather than focusing on the uncontrollable things that were “done to you,” consider instead your part in what went down. For example, perhaps your gut told you not to do something, but you did so anyway. Or maybe you were deceived a second time by the same person, and wish you had let go of the relationship sooner. Or perhaps you just weren’t paying attention and ended up missing out on a great opportunity.

It’s so easy to be negative when things go wrong, or blame others for negative outcomes in your life. But do negativity and blame change anything for the better?

Nope!

Truth be told, the best time to be positive and take responsibility for your happiness is when you don’t feel like it. Because that’s when doing so can make the biggest difference.

No matter what the specifics of your troubled times are, [Read more…]

10 Gratitude Mantras that Will Make You Appreciate What You Have

08.08.2016 by Marc Chernoff // 40 Comments

10 Gratitude Mantras that Will Make You Appreciate What You Have

As you sit here reading these words, pause for a moment and take a quick assessment of your life. Chances are, you have access to food, shelter, and other basic necessities. You might also have family and friends who care about you. For the most part, you live a comfortable life. And the truth is, most of us who have access to the internet to read blogs like www.marcandangel.com share these same good fortunes with you.

However, as busy human beings, we rarely see life this way – we are often disappointed by what we have, and so we think we need more… more comfort, more validation, more certainty, more possessions, more food, more excitement, etc. Angel and I do this too, because we’re just as human as everyone else. So I’m not criticizing anybody – I’m just being honest.

Our collective problem is this:

If we always want more, more, more… we’ll never believe we have enough. And that’s not the truth.

The truth is, [Read more…]

7 Quotes that Will Stop You from Holding On When You Should Let Go

08.04.2016 by Marc Chernoff // 40 Comments

7 Quotes that Will Stop You from Holding On When You Need to Let Go

One of the hardest lessons in life is letting go – whether it’s guilt, anger, love or loss. Change is never easy – you fight to hold on and you fight to let go. But letting go is oftentimes the healthiest path forward. It clears out toxic thoughts from the past and paves the way to make the most positive use of the present.

You’ve got to emotionally free yourself from some of the things that once meant a lot to you, so you can move beyond the past and the pain it brings you.

Again, it takes hard work to let go and refocus your thoughts, but it’s worth every bit of effort you can muster.

The underlying key is to…

Rediscover the Peace that’s Already Within You

The Greek philosopher Epictetus said it perfectly more than 2,000 years ago: “People are [Read more…]