What Is True Happiness?

While our culture is obsessed with happiness, studies show that chasing happiness can actually make us unhappy. I strongly believe that having a purpose in life is perhaps the main source of happiness and self-fulfillment.

Of course, everyone looks at life from a different perspective, different people and cultures believe different things. In my point of view, is just giving meaning to your life by challenging yourself and growing as a person, making or appreciating art, helping people in need of any help, protecting or advocating for others, embracing activities that connect you with something greater...
Maybe for you, it's something else.

It might sound a bit cliche', but a life without a purpose is a life without destination - no life at all.
Have you ever felt lost because you couldn't define your life purpose? I have. But I was determined to discover my life's purpose and meaning. So I took the time to understand what I am here to do. It wasn't until I was 27 that I clearly defined what I wanted for my life; since then I pursue that with great enthusiasm and excitement. Finding meaning in life really matters. The key is to figure out what matters most to you and enjoy it.

Ask yourself what am I passionate about? What is my life purpose? Ask yourself what you love and start taking steps to do what you love. By doing what you enjoy, you will be connected with what brings you the most joy.

There is a Chinese saying that goes: "If you want happiness for an hour, take a nap. If you want happiness for a day, go fishing. If you want happiness for a year, inherit a fortune. If you want happiness for a lifetime, help somebody."

Hope you have a wonderful weekend. xx

(Photo by Sadik Gulec via.)

Surprise Yourself + Have an Inspiring Weekend

One thing I have learned from some extremely happy (and healthy aging) people is to keep on learning something new throughout my life. There's big satisfaction to be found in learning things and really mastering a new skill.

Read a book. The morning paper. Attend a seminar, watch a documentary movie, take a course for fun...

Nothing can make me more proud at the moment, than learning something new every day. You see, doing something for the first time gives me the chance to grow, to move my brain and keep it healthy. Research has long shown that new knowledge and learning activities pay off. 

Being creative with my spare time has definitely improved the quality of my life.

Hope you have a great weekend! xx

P.S. Discover your hidden talents! Remember, just because you can't currently play the piano doesn't mean that you'll never be able to.

Add Cute Social Media Buttons to Your Blog - Going Social + Photos of the Week

Found on athgo

Hello, friends. How are you? Yeah. It's good to be back. So in the last post I mentioned making some changes in an effort to refresh my blog.

What changed? To begin with, I've decided to change my social media approach regarding my blog and integrate social media into my site.

Found on VIRALBLOG

I'm happy to announce that CUT and DRY is finally getting social! There is no doubt that blogs are indeed social media. What I really want to say is that I finally realized that social media is important and I really need to get more actively involved with my social media platforms. Keep in mind that integrating your blog with social media is a great way to maximize your web traffic to your site. So, find some social media icons you like and add them to your site.
Speaking of, social media buttons are easy to set up, most importantly, eye-catching enough to draw reader to your social networks profiles. They also let the visitor stay on the site and share the content on their social media profiles with just a click.

In this post you'll also find some pretty Free Social Media Buttons for your blog. Just for fun!
I've done the rounds of searching for cute social media icons that are free and I found these super lovely sets of social media buttons for you. 
  
Honestly, I can't count the amount of time I have spent surfing on different social media platforms  over the past couple of weeks.
There are probably so many social media channels out there that you can choose from but the trick here is to ensure that every engagement done has a high chance of success as it can be really hard to figure out which ones to use. Is it worth the time investment? How to use them?

Found on Graphic Mania net

Social media can be tricky. Because it can be so time-consuming, but it is still well worth it!
Social networks have become a part of everyone's life- in fact, social media has become a natural part of our daily browsing. Engaging in social media is key to achieving visibility, and for building new on-line relationships.
So I picked...
three social media channels- the ones that work best for me. Remember, you don't need to be everywhere.
Who can actually have time to be active on every social media platform? Who can keep up with it all, it's simply impossible. In trying to be everywhere, we are nowhere. Pick the ones you find suit your blog best. Better to use one or two social media platforms really effectively than it is to spread yourself too thin.

I use Google Plus a lot. I find that Google+ is usually the one I go "easy" on. I keep myself maximum active on G+ just because I love it. We first crossed paths late in 2012 and haven't looked back since.

I don't use Twitter as much and find that there is a little to no activity on my account there in terms of following.

Pinterest, which I use sporadically- I need to reactivate my Pinterest acoount- is a virtual pin board for images, where you categorize things that you love. Pinterest can be a great way to find inspiration...