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Here are the top six pieces of advice that can increase the quality of life and easily keep it in perspective:

1) Nothing in life has any inherent meaning; it only has the meaning you assign to it. Shakespeare once said, “There is nothing good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”

You can actively change the meaning of any circumstance in your life to one that empowers you. The way to do that is by asking empowering questions. These questions will lead to empowering answers. Here are a few examples:

  • What is good about this?
  • What is funny about this?
  • How is this making me stronger or smarter?
  • How can this help me and others?

2) We become what we think about. By the law of cause and effect, what we think about in our lives, we bring about in our lives. This occurs whether we are consciously aware of our thoughts or not. This works because our thoughts are a cause set in motion. These thoughts will attract things in our lives that will allow these thoughts to manifest in physical reality. This is the basis of self-actualization. So be careful what you think about.

3) Conformity is the killer of creativity and individuality. There is nobody on the planet that is quite like you. There is also nobody who has ever lived, nor anybody who will ever live, that will be exactly like you. You are literally one-of-a-kind. You are unique.

Trying to be like anybody else, or a group of people, is an exercise in futility. Not only is it futile, but it is detrimental. The one thing you have is your individuality. Embrace it and capitalize on your personal strengths.

When the majority of people are doing something a certain way, it does not mean that it is the best way. It means that it is the average way. Strive to be excellent, not average.

4) A sense of gratitude can immediately increase your quality of life. Thinking about and being grateful for the things you have increases joy, happiness, and overall outlook on life. What you focus on expands and when you focus on what you have, you bring more of it into your life. This also cultivates an attitude of a sense of abundance. When you focus on what’s missing, you cultivate pessimism, cynicism, and quality of life goes down. This leads to a sense of scarcity and negativity.

5) Most people regret the things they didn’t do, not the things they did do. Your life is singular and finite. Take chances and enjoy life. You only live once. Make this one-time experience great, fun, exciting, and full of joy and happiness.

6) Focus on the things you can control, and do not focus on the things you cannot control. Allowing things that you cannot control to upset you will set you up for frustration and decrease your quality of life. There is absolutely no point in getting upset about things such as the weather, traffic, and other people.

Instead, focus on things you can control, and you give yourself more power and leverage to affect your life. The one thing that you can always control is your attitude.

You often cannot control your circumstances, but you can control how you decide to respond to your life circumstances.

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Akram Alashari, MD is a Trauma Surgeon and Critical Care Physician. He earned his MD at the age of 23, and completed General Surgery Residency Training at the University of Connecticut. He then earned board-certification in general surgery at the age of 28, among the youngest in the nation. He subsequently completed Surgical Critical Care sub-specialty training at the University of Florida.

He is passionate about exploring and expanding untapped human potential and is also an author and public speaker. He is the author of the book The Power of Peak State: Massively Enhance Your Personal Potential. He gives speeches about improving workplace environment and productivity, increasing mental and physical capacity, health and well-being, stress reduction, medical education, and public health issues such as injury- and violence-prevention.

He enjoys reading, running, and spending time with his wife and son.

For more information, please visit thepowerofpeakstate.com

This Post Has 18 Comments

  1. Great article
    I really enjoyed reading this article, and will definitely apply it to my daily life.
    most inspiring!
    Thank you so much Dr. Alashari

  2. I’m a strong believer in the power of intention and that our thoughts attract and create our lives’ reality. Thank you for your insight and for sharing with others. Hoping it opens someone’s eyes about cause and effect in life.

  3. I was going to comment on the points I liked best, but I liked them all “best.” However, this one stood out a hair more than the others: “Most people regret the things they didn’t do, not the things they did do. Your life is singular and finite. Take chances and enjoy life. You only live once. Make this one-time experience great, fun, exciting, and full of joy and happiness.” I’ll be 60 in a couple of months and I just went sailing for the first time in my life. Loved it so much I’m buying a sailboat and sailing the Intercostal waterway next year! I want no regrets!

  4. Wonderful thoughts. My only gripe is that if we do not bother ourselves with things which are bad then no-one would ever make any attempt to put things right We have numerous selfless people all over the world slogging away trying to improve things, to make things better, to hold to account those greedy thoughtless individuals and companies who seem intent on ruining our world and people’s lives. Are they to stop because they are dealing with bad things ? Are they to cease worrying about them?

    AND would someone PLEASE make the comment text dark enough to read. it is so pale i can hardly see it

  5. Solid wisdom for everyone, anywhere, anytime. AA says it nicely: [slightly modified] I choose to have the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, have the courage to change what I can, and the wisdom to know the difference between the two. Keep up the good work!

  6. Excellent piece Akram- “life is 10percent of what happens to you and 90percent of how you react to it”.

  7. Thinking, Control and gratitude is important elements to our life. Thanks for your outstanding points.

  8. “There is nobody on the planet that is quite like you. There is also nobody who has ever lived, nor anybody who will ever live, that will be exactly like you. You are literally one-of-a-kind. You are unique.” Thank you.

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