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How to Make Yourself Happy, Mood-Shifters, and Red Wine?

By Brian Aganad Leave a Comment

How to Make Yourself Happy

Disclaimer:At the time of writing this I was in the middle of my second glass of red wine (Argentinian Malbec). So this might be a bit scattered.

First of all, thank you guys for all the kind responses about the blog so far!! I feel like more of a yoga teacher than ever!

I’m changing the way I think about my Macbook. I never thought I could actually “help” people and “change lives” over the computer.

I got an email from someone in Sydney, Australia a couple days ago (and he’s probably reading this now) that said, here’s a snippet:

“Brian, THANK YOU SO MUCH for the info in your handstand guide, the clear direction you provide has sparked my handstand practice back to life!”

It makes me feel so awesome to be helping people on the other side of the planet! And with my Macbook 🙂

However, I’ll be the first to admit I am by no means the perfect citizen on this planet nor am I trying to pretend to be.

I make mistakes, act out of fear, and let my emotions get the better of me. There are times when I feel angry, jealous and depressed. Just like you.

Fear is a particularly interesting beast. And it beats most of us. And it’s beat me a time or two.

Fear is just like a box (kinda).

It encloses us with four walls and we feel trapped.

Imagine being trapped in a big dark box. There are only so many actions we can take because we’ll limited by the walls. Knowing we’re in a box sucks.

But fear is even worse.

It defines a set of actions we’ll take and manipulates our behavior without us even knowing it.

It’s like being trapped in a box and not even knowing it.

Most of us live two lives:

1) The life we live.

2) And the unlived life we WANT to live that hides somewhere deep within us.

That second life is entirely controlled by FEAR.

Most of us, including me, FEAR rejection.

How to Overcome It

This morning I felt the wind was taken out of my sails a little bit.

And when I’m feeling slightly down I ask myself larger-than-life questions like these:

“Am I worthy of what I have?”

“Do I DESERVE the people around me?”

And sometimes I even question the meaning of life (haha).

Have what I call “Mood-Shifters”

A set of actions that you can do to immediately change your mood.

Here’s what I did and I challenge you to do the same (do it and let me know how it goes):

Just as the guy in front of me was about to purchase his drink. I offered to buy his latte for him.

He didn’t know what to say and was overcome with gratitude.

He said “That’s the nicest thing anyone’s done for me in a while, thanks buddy.”

My mood instantly shifted to positive.

If you don’t know how to make yourself happy, make someone else happy.

You want to know the silly thing?

I almost didn’t do it. Why?

Because of the FEAR of rejection. I was scared of hearing “NO”. 

If I didn’t do anything, I would have rejected myself silently. I would have sat invisible and down the rest of the day.

Let’s get down to business.

Introducing a New Section to The Asana Academy: Pose Dissection 

Check it out here and let me know what you think:

Pose Dissection 001: Upgraded Crow

Want me to dissect a pose or transition? Send it to me and I could feature you on the next Dissection!

If there’s a topic you want to see me cover on the blog, respond to this post below and let me know. I am a real person. Trust me.

Also, don’t forget to subscribe to my blog. You’ll get my custom sequences, tips, motivation, and my insight for transforming your yoga practice.

Filed Under: Handstand, Happiness, Motivation

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An athlete and Bay Area native with an Electrical Engineering degree from USC, Brian discovered his passion for yoga in Santa Monica during college. Having discovered his true calling, he created the Asana Academy as a resource to inspire, educate, and at times entertain, others with his passion and knowledge.

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