Life is what you make it, always has been, always will
Posted on 3rd July 2019 at 09:30
Perhaps it’s the rather “start / stop” summer we’ve been having this year. Or, dare we mention it, the ongoing Brexit / political machinations (!). Or, may be, something else completely and much more personal.
Anyway, whatever the perceived cause, we’ve noticed that many people seem to be less than their normal happy selves at the moment. And, we should say that we’re using the word “happy” in its broadest sense (!).
So, it seemed like a good time for a quick reminder of the three suggestions we regularly give clients to help get them back on track.
Are you sitting comfortably? Then here we go.
The first one features one of those words beginning with “a” which, for some reason, people seem to find a bit of a challenge. Have you guessed what it is yet?
Appreciation.
And, yes, we can hear the deep collective in breath this word so often triggers. Along with the mutterings about what on earth is there to appreciate with the terrible summer weather / Brexit / their work / family / fill in the blank.
While it may be a radical thought, regardless of how well – or not (!) – your life is going, there are ALWAYS things to appreciate. Things that are going “right”, however you choose to define it.
Perhaps you don’t quite have the home / job / partner / children (!) / something else of your dreams BUT there are still things to appreciate about them.
Your home is warm, dry and safe with good neighbours and in a convenient location. Your job helps pay the mortgage / rent – at the very least (!) – and your colleagues are ok. Your partner is kind and supportive in their own unique way (!). You get the idea.
For everything in your life that you could find something less positive to focus on there are ALWAYS things to appreciate too. It’s just a case of moving your focus away from the negatives to the positives about it, HOWEVER SMALL THEY MAY SEEM TO BE.
And that’s where the magic happens. Not only will you feel better by doing so but all those less welcome things will start to wither and fade away through lack of attention. The more you appreciate, the more you’ll find to appreciate. It’s really that simple.
But why stop there?
How about noticing – and appreciating – the small things that happened as you went about your day. And the biggest – and most important – one happens every morning without most people ever taking a moment to notice it.
We’ve mentioned it before but bet you’ve forgotten all about it. Do you remember what it was?
That you woke up this morning – as did those you love. Just stop for a moment and think of the number of people whose world was never the same this morning….
And here are a few other ideas of things to appreciate to get you going:
Being bought a drink in bed before you got up.
That lovely hot bath or shower.
Your dog – or cat – welcoming you as you came downstairs.
A good breakfast.
A song you love – and hadn’t heard for ages – on the radio.
Sunshine (!).
The kind person letting you into the queue in front of them on the way to work.
The joke from a friend.
The lovely photo of a family member.
You get the idea. Appreciation really is one of the quickest, easiest and most powerful ways to turn yourself and your life around IF you remember to do it. We did a blog post on the power of appreciation a while ago which can be found here.
Moving quickly on (!) here’s our second suggestion.
Learning to listen – and trust – your inner guidance. Also known as your intuition, gut feelings or hunches.
Sadly, we live in a very logical, left brained society. One that places more value on hard – verifiable – facts and figures. Where the individual pieces of a puzzle are looked at before trying to fit them together into a larger picture. And where any pieces that don’t seem to fit are either excluded or “altered” so that they do...
However, this isn’t how we are naturally. We’re much more right brained, using our creativity and intuition. Thinking in pictures rather than words. Looking at the generalities – the bigger picture – before focussing in on the details. And, if you’re in any doubt, just watch young children playing.
The right brain is where all those radical ideas and solutions come from. It gives us the nudge to do things in a different way – and often one that makes no logical sense at all. Somehow it links us a greater intelligence, as well as to what’s going on around us, but in a much more subtle way. One that seems to defy explanation.
Learning to simply accept – and, more importantly, act upon – this inner guidance has a way of making life flow much more easily. And that’s whether it’s going a different way to work, ringing someone who’s just popped into our heads or doing something we wouldn’t normally do. The key is being able to trust that it somehow “feels right” and going with the flow, regardless of what our conscious minds – the Little Monster in our Heads – is saying.
And, finally, our third suggestion which follows on very nicely.
It concerns one of those backwards pieces of thinking that all too many people subscribe to but which NEVER has the desired result.
This completely nonsensical piece of logic says that struggle is “good” and will get you what you want. The greater the struggle, the sweeter the end result. Grit and determination will always win the day.
Well, the bad – or good (!) – news is that struggle will NEVER bring the result you desire. Full stop. End of story.
Or, as someone more eloquently put it, “unhappy journeys don’t have good endings.”
Regardless of how noble – or desired – the outcome or end result, infusing it with lots of negative energy and effort will NOT make you happy in the process OR when you get there. And that’s assuming that you don’t give up in the process from all the struggle. Trust us. We’ve seen far too many people making life much, much harder for themselves – not to mention those around them – by subscribing to this approach.
As so often is the case, there’s a much simpler and easier way to achieve your desires. And it all starts with a big dose of creativity and intuition – in other words playing with ideas and having fun (!) – to actually work out what it is that you desire. Not what other people want or think you should want (!).
Once you’ve actually done this something magical happens. You become inspired to do whatever it is. No longer is effort, struggle and willpower required to get it done. You simply do it because it’s fun and you want to do it. Funnily enough, we did a post about the difference between inspiration and perspiration earlier in the year, which can be found here.
So now it’s over to you. Three very simple ways to get your life back on track IF you use them...
As always, the choice is yours.
Tagged as: Mindset, New perspectives
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