How To Live Your Best Life

It's safe to say that the meaning of "living your best life" has turned into materialistic standards instead of what it actually means; loving yourself first and allowing everything else to follow. "That sounds so cliche Lynda." I know, but it's true, think about it. If you love yourself, you'll save properly to be able to travel; even if it's traveling once a year. If you love yourself, you'll be able to let go of relationships that doesn't bring you peace. If you love yourself, you'll find time for yourself. If you love yourself, everything you want to achieve will become attianable. Although living your best life may seem difficult, it is within your grasp. You can learn to embrace happiness and achieve inner peace simply by changing and incorporating some healthy habits into your life. Here are a few tangible tips.

1. Meditate and start your day with affirmations

• I find that waking up before my day gets started is the key to an effective day. My husband and I usually wake up around 7am and we meditate together for 5 minutes, listen to a worship song for another 5 minutes and then pray together. I realize that when we start our day off like this, we tend to argue less and the day goes by much smoother. I also love to speak life and positivity into my day; my day affirmations aren't always the same but, here's an example:
  

   "I am not in control of my day but I am in control of how I react to my day. I am choosing to overcome. I refuse to let my circumstances consume me. I have the power to be happy. I refuse to let anything or anyone control my emotions. I choose hope and faith over fear and disappointments. I am grateful for breath today. I am worthy. I deserve every good thing that is coming my way. I am capable, everything that I am searching for is in me. Today will be a productive and effective day." 

  
  2. Write a plan and make it plain
  
  
  • Write down your goals, make a vision board and post it somewhere around the house where you can see it on a daily basis. In order to get where you want to be in life, you must know how you want to get there and you must plan! Personally, I love writing down my plans. I'm a perfectionist and I love order, writing down my goals and plans makes it easier to execute them. Even if you're not a writer because you're always on the go, make a voice memo on your phone!
  
  3. Be Intentional
  
  
  • Going hand in hand with planning; when you set intentions, you are more likely to live a life of purpose. For example; "I will not allow anyone in my space that disturbs my peace," "if I make this decision today, how will it affect my kids?" Setting intentions will help form a cleaer path and helps you to decide what kind of emotion---what kind of positive feeling you wish to seek. 
  
  
  4. Make time for yourself 
  
  
  
  • As a wife and mother of two, I never truly understood the meaning of "self-care" until I found myself on the bathroom floor at work trying to control my breathing and suddenly being rushed to the Emergency Room and diagnosed with palpitations and anxiety. I learned that self-care is therapy. Self-care for me is a quiet space where I can write and process my thoughts. Self-care is binge-watching Netflix movies. Self-care is selfishly making time for yourself. You cannot pour onto others if your cup is empty, take care of yourself first.
  
  5. It is okay to say, "no."
  
  
  •  Say "no" to things that take too much of you. This all goes back to self-care; we're sometimes so busy trying to be there for everyone or trying not to disappoint anyone that we usually neglect ourselves, our peace of mind and our standards. Saying "no" to things and people that don't fuel you doesn't make you a bad person it just means that you know your limit.
    
• 6. Comparison kills 

Comparing your life to strangers will cause you to overlook the blessings that you have right in front of you and cause you to fall in the trap of a false perception. Especially with this social media generation; everyone shows the end result but never the process. The happy ending but never the struggles, the perfect angles but never the bad. I too am a victim of the comparisonitis. Usually, when this starts to happen I notice that my mood changes; I start to feel inadequate, or like I could've been further, etc., etc,. So when this starts to happen I like to do a social media fast for at least two weeks and tap into my reality and remind myself that life is a journey, not a destination. Wherever you are in life, it's only a stop sign, not a dead end. Don't rush your process, be your own goals and compare yourself only to your yesterday. -Love, Lynn J.