She Smiled the Widest Smile: Living the Life you Love I

I'm off on holiday, seeing my family and catching up with all things Canadian. I didn't want to neglect my wonderful readers though so I've collected some fantastic guest entries from fellow-bloggers.

St. Andrews Lynx describes herself as an 'International Chemist and Adventurer'. I discovered her blog some months ago and find much of her writing to be reflective of my own beliefs and values. She's an awesome-sauce blogger and today's guest entry is from her:

I know I’m taking my life in the right direction. I know this because I wake up every morning wanting to get out of bed. I never need to hit “Snooze” on my alarm clock, however early I need to be awake or how sleepy I am. Life for me is something I want to go out and experience, ups and downs.

For me it isn’t about the specifics – job, location, personal circumstances – as much as attitude and philosophy, how we deal with the not-so-great bits. Here’s a collection my attitudes that shape my life:

Wide-lens view. Do you believe everything happens for a reason? Can you see the positive in everything? Is life a series of lessons learnt or a series of traps trying to break you? If they have their own way, difficulties do all they can to fixate and drag us down. Being able to look at challenges in a positive light helps break their hold on us.
Look for the beauty. There’s beauty in everyone, in everything and in every day. Look for it. Life is beautiful. If you can stop and admire a gorgeous sunset at the end of a long and tiring day then life isn’t too bad.
The key to happiness is a sense of humour. My sense of humour is one of my most valued possessions. Life without it would be very dark. Not only would I be unable to see the funny side of challenges, I would lack the means to express complex or difficult feelings. For me humour isn’t about trivialising events – it is about processing and communicating them.
Control the small things and the bigger pieces will follow. After going through a rough patch where multiple issues collided (work, education, personal), I decided to start the recovery…by drinking more tea. It really helped. Taking 10 minutes to relax with a cup of tea gives me time away from my problems; helps me de-stress and reminds me of just how wonderful life with tea is. Of course, in a vacuum won’t solve my problems, but as a small and seemingly unrelated change it helped me more than I expected.
Control the big things that you can. I can’t control everything in my life. I believe in taking responsibility for and controlling what I can. I accept responsibility when I make mistakes; I make pro-active decisions about the future of my work, my education and my life direction. Thus I become my own person leading my own life – not a person endlessly subjected to and defined by the fates.