The Heart of Living Vibrantly CEO and Founder Provides Tips to Increase Happiness in Your Life

July 13, 2011 - PRLog -- LOS ANGELES, CA– According to the Centers for Disease Control and prevention (CDC), an estimated 9.1% of adults suffer from depression in the U.S. Factors that contribute to depression include loss of a loved one, unemployment, genetics and many others. Sherpa of Happiness and Intuitive Healer, Valerie R. Sheppard, provides tips to help people find genuine happiness.
Sheppard, the founder and CEO of The Heart of Living Vibrantly™, has taken a “radical sabbatical” from her 28-year highly analytical and competitive corporate life in business strategy, marketing and branding for Fortune 500 businesses to pursue her passion for helping others live vibrantly. Through the author and speaker’s experience of transformation in her own life, she now provides one-on-one and group coaching, workshops, tele-seminars and special events to help clients transform their lives and has speaking engagements to guide corporate executives to being happier at work . Sheppard has created a signature 4-step process that helps people release “emotional junk-in-the-trunk,” tune into a deeper sense of self, design a new way of being, and establish personal practices that support them as they create more vibrant and fulfilling lives. The centerpiece of Sheppard’s philosophy is that life is an “inside-out endeavor,” and vibrant lives start with knowing and loving self.
The expert offers the following tips to help people create a positive relationship with themselves:
1.    Silence your inner critic: imagine cooking something delicious, and you drop an egg. Note the first 3 things you say to yourself. You will then become aware of the negative thoughts you might be reinforcing. Shift your thoughts to “what’s the positive” in this situation, like finding something that was missing.
2.   Shift your values and beliefs: hold your gaze in a mirror for 10 minutes. Write down the thoughts and feelings that come up for you. How are your values reflected in your feelings about yourself, and how can you shift them if needed? For example, if you shift from worrying about looking older to truly valuing the wisdom you’ve gained and the experiences you’ve had, you will also shift from disliking the wrinkles you see on your face in the mirror, to embracing and honoring them.
3.   Learn to receive: How we receive something as simple as a compliment can shed light on whether we’re allowing or blocking things, like money, guidance or better relationships, from coming to us.  If you deflect compliments by making jokes, or trying to give one back right away, you subconsciously may not be feeling worthy.  For 30 days, note how you receive compliments. Write down and save each one in a beautiful bowl or vase.   When you think you’ve done something well, write a compliment from yourself to yourself, and save it with the others.  After 30 days, read each compliment, and see how you’ve shifted what you feel with each one.  You should have a deeper feeling of how loved, honored and protected you are, which should lead to a greater sense of peace and satisfaction.  As you compare how many compliments came from external sources versus yourself, you can decide whether you want to work on elevating your self-esteem so you can receive better.  

Watching comedy and being creative through the arts are simple ways to feel happy. For a quick boost of fun and laughs, visit Sheppard’s Get Your Laughter On! page at www.GetYourLaughterOn.com, which includes her funny videos. For more information, visit www.heartoflivingvibrantly.com