Live Your Best Life

The above video inspired me to write more about Living Your Best Life! Although many of my blog posts fall under this category I thought it may be beneficial to write more on the topic itself.

There is no one right way to live YOUR best life. Living my best life is not going to be the same as living your best life. However, there are some core principles that many of us can live by to help create our ideal lives. Below are some activities and principles that can help you Live YOUR Best life.

• Get clear on what it is your want. Identify what it is your truly want out of life. Sit still and visualize what brings you joy and how you truly want to live your life.

• Meditate. If you do not or cannot meditate then make sure you take 20 minutes out of your day to quiet your mind.

• Write in a journal. Journaling can be a great place to help you release your worries and obsessions. It can help identify any fears and also passions. Journaling can tap into deeper layers to help you on your path of personal growth and development.

• Visualize. You can do this while you relax your mind-sit and think about your ideal life. Imagine what it would look and feel like. Experience the happiness that you feel when thinking about the wonderful things you currently have in your life or in the future.

• Replace negative thoughts with positive thoughts. Think of constructive thoughts that can replace negative thoughts. Keep in mind when you look at your situation it may not be as bad as you thought or you may not be to blame. You can say things like: “At least I did something”, “nobody’s perfect”, “what happened is not entirely my fault” and “Every cloud has a silver lining.”

• Improve your self-confidence. Identify things you are proud of and/or have successfully achieved. List out your best characteristics.

• Define your passion. What are you passionate about? What do you ABSOLUTELY have to have in your life to feel whole and complete?

• Identify the blockages in your life and then learn to overcome them. Find out what is preventing you from reaching that goal or taking the next step. Is it fear? If so learn to get comfortable with fear and become aware of what it feels like (does your blood pressure rise, stomach in knots, heart pounding etc.). FULLY experience your resistance. When those little sayings in your head start creeping in such as “I can’t do this” or “I am not good enough to have that” learn to stop it dead in tracks and replace it with “I can.” Be consciously aware of your fears.

• Create a vision board and post it where you can view it every day. Create a board filled with pictures of your ideal life. Cut pictures and words out of magazines, draw pictures or print out photos from the internet. Looking at pictures creates imagines in our mind. Vision boards can help us get what we want out of life!

• Live by your values. Make a list of values and be sure to honor them. Make sure your decisions are based on your values to ensure you are living in accordance with who you are.

• Set goals and be sure you have an environment set up to help achieve your goals. Make sure your family is on board and remember to let people know about your goals-they can help push you when you need it. Make sure your work and home environment is equipped with the right tools.

• Surround yourself with positive people. The positive energy that radiates from people who are joyful and optimistic will send out vibrations that will permeate within you.

• Eliminate negativity out of your life-negative people, negative news, negative environments, negative substances, etc.

• Learn to balance your time. Identify what areas of your life need more balance and start taking proactive steps to create balance. Not all areas have to be equal but balance is key to living a healthy life!

The above list is by no means comprehensive but if you can take a few of these principles and apply them to your life I can bet you will start seeing positive changes. When you live your life in accordance with who you a shift occurs and energy starts to flow to help attract YOUR best life!

“Don’t Worry Be Happy”

Okay so I have been on a hiatus for a little while but now I am devoted to getting back into the swing of things. I had a baby 3 months ago so I have been SUPER busy with a newborn-anyone that has kids knows exactly what I mean. I have also been posting weekly blogs at The Circle because I am a mentor under the “boost your career” circle. One of my previous blog post was about being happy feel free to check it out: http://www.thecircle.org/happy-works

Although I mostly post about career stuff at The Circle I will continue to post about careers in this blog as well as other topics about living your best life (personal development). As a life coach who also focuses on career coaching I find that the two go hand and hand and its difficult to just focus on one aspect. Because our careers are such a big part of our lives it is hard to separate our lives and our career-so many aspects of each part overlap and it is difficult to work on one piece without working on the other.

So with that said, I would like to talk a little more about being happy. Since I recently wrote about being happy in the workplace I would like to touch on the topic of being “happy” in general…

So why does it seem that some people are happy no matter what and others couldn’t be happy even if they tried. Although these two examples are extreme opposites the fact of the matter is that some people are simply happier than others. What is it that makes some people joyful even when things aren’t going their way? Why are some people always so optimistic even when things around them seem to be falling to pieces? How can I be happy?

If you have asked yourself the above questions at some point and time then read below to find out how we all can be a little bit happier:

• Think happy thoughts-As mentioned before in my previous posts-your environment is a product of your thoughts. If you look around you and don’t like what you see then you need to think differently to live the live you want. We know that everything we put our attention on-good or bad-will show up in lives. Thinking happy thoughts allows you to create a happy environment because you are your thoughts. There is a domino effect with these happy thoughts and they are carried over into all areas of your life. Happy thoughts allow you to be in control and handle situations in an effective manner producing successful results. Therefore, you are designing your life by the way you handle life’s circumstances. Hopefully it’s a happy life!

• Help others-Helping others through volunteering your time at local shelters, charities or other community events can help put you in a happier state. As many of us are aware-helping others makes us feel good. It increases our self esteem knowing we are helping people live better lives and making this world a better place. Helping others makes us feel more connected and teaches us that we can make a big difference in people’s lives.

• Spend time with your children-As many parents are aware there doesn’t seem to be enough time in the day to really spend quality time with our kids. However, if we can make the time and really spend QUALITY time with our children many of us will feel happier. Making the choice to spend time with our children and engaging in fun activities can be energizing and help bring more joy into our lives.

• Exercise/Diet. Research has confirmed that endorphins are released during exercise that increases our mood. Exercise affects the brain to provide benefits such as mood enhancement. So if you are feeling down-go exercise. The same applies to diet and nutrition. What we put into our bodies through eating and drinking are chemicals which affect how we feel. Be wise about your food choices and eat/drink in moderation.

• Love yourself. Find time to sit down in a quiet place to reflect on how great you are! Think about all the wonderful things you have done or accomplishments and write it down. Times where you made a positive difference in someone’s life or just did something little that was helpful to someone else. Think about where you are today and write about your journey-how did you get to where you are today. Be sure to write it down and revisit every once in a while. We all need to be reminded of how wonderful each and everyone one of us are!

• Let it go. Learn to let it all go and stop comparing yourself to others. You travel your own unique path not someone else’s. Try to rid yourself of meeting other people’s expectations and be sure to only measure yourself by your own yardstick.

• Gratitude. Being thankful for all that you have in your life at this present moment and for all that is yet to come is quite powerful. The power of gratitude is an extremely high energy of positive vibrations. It brings your mind into closer harmony with creative positive energies of the universe. So be grateful and be happy!

• Avoid toxic people. Surround yourself with positive people. Stay away from those who drain you emotionally, mentally and physically. Their energy can easily become your energy-it is contagious so be aware of your environment.

Being happy is really a state a mind. Creating your own happiness comes from within and should not depend on anyone else. If we all take some time out to really reflect on some of the above points I believe we can all lead happier lives!

“People take different roads seeking fulfillment and happiness. Just because they’re not on your road doesn’t mean they’ve gotten lost.” ~H. Jackson Browne