To celebrate Global Happiness Day, I'm grateful to Gretchen Sunderland for giving me permission this month to print her 'Ten Keys to Happiness'.

Gretchen says:

What makes people truly happy? There are probably many answers, but here are some common themes. If you use these keys, you can let happiness fill your life!

1) Take Responsibility
Take full ownership of your actions, moods and feelings. If you can take responsibility for your life, you can change it. Blaming others for your circumstances only keeps you stuck.

2) Feel Your Feelings
Don't stuff your feelings until they become toxic or leak out. There are no wrong feelings. Acknowledge them, let yourself fully feel them when you are in private, and then you will be able to move on.

3) Practice Gratitude
Make a daily practice of asking yourself, "What am I grateful for?" Keep a gratitude journal and write down 10 things that are good in your life. Do this at bedtime and you will enjoy better sleep. Being grateful for what you have creates space for new energy to come into your life.

4) Live in the Now
Don't drag your past into your present. Don't try to live in the future. Be here now, this moment. When you fully engage in the present, there is no room for baggage from the past or fear of the future.

5) Control Your Gremlins
Gremlins are those nasty voices in your head that tear you down. You know, the ones that say, "You're not good enough" or "You'll never amount to anything". You wouldn't even say those things to your best friend. So find those gremlins and zap them. How? Ask yourself if you really want them to control you, and then change them into positive affirmations instead.

6) Practice Forgiveness
Forgive everyone even if it's just as a mental exercise. Otherwise those people and situations gain power over you and live in your head, rent free. And, of course, forgive yourself - you did the best you knew how at the time. Today is a new day. Letting go of anger and resentment will set you free.

7) Connect with Others
Let the negative, whining people in your life find someone else to complain with. You don't have time for it. Surround yourself with supportive and positive people. Don't know any people like that? Put a smile on your face and go find them!

8) Manage Your Energy
Learn to say no to tasks and people who drain your energy. Learning to say no can be difficult, but once you do it, you will experience a new level of personal power and well-being. Say yes to activities that give you energy. Make a list of these activities and plan to do a few of them daily.

9) Give Back
Feel good by volunteering to help, mentor or spend time with others who don't enjoy your level of abundance. Give out positive energy and it will come back to you many times.

10) Change!
Change is good. Be flexible. Life is always throwing new stuff at you. Go with the flow and shape your life the way you want it to be. Keep learning, adapting and embracing the new and wonderful things that will show up in your life!

Here I am with Shamee. I'm very pleased to welcome Shamee to my staff at ST Training Solutions. Shamee has been working with me for several months now, and she'll be taking on more work over the next few months. So when you call up and speak to Shamee, now you'll know what she looks like and you can tell her you saw her in my newsletter!

But enough from me. Why don't I let Shamee introduce herself?

"Hi, I'm Shamee. I'm 25, married to Maideen for 7 years. I have two kids: Azluv Azaan (age 5) and Firaz Razin (20 months). They are a handful but we love them heaps!

"I have a great interest in henna tattoo, and temporary glitter tattoos. Henna is a traditional Indian art which was used to decorate a bride's hands and legs. Nowadays it has become a fashion to decorate hands, legs and arms with henna. In fact, you could have a henna tattoo anywhere on your body. I am a professional henna tattoo artist by the way.......you can contact me if you need my services : )

"Now I am proud to be working for Shirley Taylor! I have learnt so much from her already, and there is more and more to learn."

Training can be a lot of fun, and very rewarding. Here I am with Alison Lester (on the left) with a group from ABN AMRO Bank who came to Singapore from Hong Kong, India and Malaysia to attend our workshop 'Successful Business Communication Skills'. However, as an individual there's only so much we can do - after all, we can't be experts at everything!

I'm often asked, "Shirley, do you do a workshop on Language and Pronunciation? Do you do a workshop on Handling Difficult People? What about a workshop on Creativity, or Teambuilding or Personal Effectiveness?" Gosh, I would LOVE to be able to say YES YES YES, I can do everything, but that would be impossible!

But guess what? I have taken on board all your comments and I have been actively looking around for some great trainers who have some interesting and inspiring workshops. I'm happy to say that I've put together for you a series of exciting workshops later this year! Yes, another exciting challenge for Shirley! Well, life's full of new challenges isn't it? :-)

So watch this space (ie your mailbox!) because in a couple of weeks time you will receive a very special announcement from me about these exclusive workshops - specially designed for ST Training Solutions - and I will see you at all the workshops because I plan on being there to give my support to every single one of the fabulous trainers. After all, I need to learn more too!!

To close this issue on HAPPINESS, here's my little boy Cookie - he always makes me smile!

Have a great July and I'll see you again soon!

Shirley

Remember: "Happiness is the only good. The time to be happy is now. The place to be happy is here. The way to be happy is to make others so." (Ingersoll, Robert Green)