The Top 3 Things I Did to Mend a Broken Heart and Increase the Joy and Happiness in My Daily Life – Part 3

The Top 3 Things I Did to Mend a Broken Heart and Increase the Joy and Happiness in My Daily Life – Part 3

This is a continuation of Part 2.

#3 Choose One of the Things that Bring You a Great Amount of Joy and Do It Regularly

Many of you have seen this play out in my life in recent years. After having several years of significant traumas, I decided to physically and manually input something that brings great joy to me in my life. And for me that is travel.
 

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Now, many people think if that’s the case, I should be joyous all the time, because I am always traveling. But what the vast majority of people don’t understand is that when I’m traveling, I am completely traveling for work. So, I cannot enjoy a place in the same manner working as I would if I didn’t have to work. It is often the case as well that when I’m traveling for work, I am going to the same places repeatedly.

Therefore, I decided a couple of years ago to force myself to go on vacations. After not taking a vacation for nearly 13 years, I decided that I was going to go on vacation every 30 days. It didn’t have to be far nor an exotic place, but it had to be work-free and enjoyable for me. What that time did was grant me freedom and removed a great deal of stress that had been accumulating over the years in my life. It allowed me to slow down an ever so busy schedule and just focus on me and the things that bring me happiness and joy.

This one input into my life gifted me an amazing opportunity to de-stress and refuel so I could be ready to run on a little bit further in my life.
 

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Your joy and happiness are your responsibility to find. On this life journey, we will all experience an abundance of things and many can and will bring you great pain, unhappiness, and uncertainty.

It is each of our responsibility to do whatever is necessary to find and obtain joy, happiness and peace in our daily lives. You cannot fully give it to anyone else if you don’t first give it to yourself. Go get it. Go find it. Go be it. The world awaits a happier more joyous you and all of the fruits the new you will bear.

My outfit is by Sole Much More Boutique.


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The Top 3 Things I Did to Mend a Broken Heart and Increase the Joy and Happiness in My Daily Life – Part 2

The Top 3 Things I Did to Mend a Broken Heart and Increase the Joy and Happiness in My Daily Life – Part 2

This is a continuation of Part 1.

#2 Learn the Power of No and Connect it to What Brings You Joy

I have never had a problem saying no. It has never been something that has been difficult for me. But what I’ve learned to do with that word in recent years is to use it in a way to help to reduce some of the stress and obligations in my life.
 
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I am constantly and consistently overwhelmed with things to do. There are lots of things I would love to do, but there is just not enough time in the day for me to do them. So years ago, I decided to only say yes to the things that make me feel good and no to everything else. If there’s any question about whether I would enjoy doing it or want to do it, I simply say no. I have learned to lead with no. If I later decide to do it, once I see that I have my priorities done, then I will. But I don’t set it up in a way that requires me to do it, because that puts way too much pressure and stress on me to get it done.

I cannot tell you the level of joy I have received in practicing this. I simply start with a no. Then, once I have time to review what’s possible in relation to all of the other things I have to do, and/or want to do, I can decide to change my mind and do it. But I no longer have the stress or pressure to feel as if I have to do everything. This one principal in and of itself has created tremendous amounts of joy and happiness on a daily basis for me in my life.
 

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I also do this with the things that I buy. If I don’t love it, I don’t buy it. With a very small exception in the event that I absolutely need something for work, if I don’t love it, it is definitely a no. I have never been one to do a tremendous amount of shopping, but when I do, this is now a principle I live by. And what that does is create a tremendous amount of joy in what I do have and eliminates what I don’t need and/or want.

If you eliminate all of the things that don’t feed you, you’ll have more time to put into all of the things that do.

Continue to Part 3.

My dress is by Byron Lars Beauty Mark.


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The Top 3 Things I Did to Mend a Broken Heart and Increase the Joy and Happiness in My Daily Life – Part 1

The Top 3 Things I Did to Mend a Broken Heart and Increase the Joy and Happiness in My Daily Life – Part 1

Often times in anyone’s life there are many things that occur which prevent us from being all that we could be to ourselves. Those things can range from taking care of others, rearing your children and just dealing with all of life’s circumstances as a whole. But what I know for sure is that if you don’t move yourself into the position of number one, you will never be able to completely find the eternal joy and happiness that you desire and deserve in your life.
 

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It happens without us knowing. You don’t wake up one morning and say, “Hey, I’m going to put myself at the bottom of the pile.” It is much more unconscious than that. It just slowly sneaks up on you. And before you know it, you are at the very bottom of the list and your entire life begins to reflect that new positioning.

Here are the top three things I did to mend my broken heart and to increase the level of joy and happiness in my day-to-day living after dealing with years of losing loved ones, coping with the permanent injury of a child, being responsible for others and the myriad of other challenges we all face that come along with simply living.

#1 Make Yourself Your Priority

Now, when I say to make yourself your priority, I don’t mean that in a selfish way. You can still be responsible for others and help take care of others, but what you can’t do is ignore and diminish your own needs in the process. What’s important to do is to daily, weekly, biweekly or even monthly, look at the things you need to do or have in place in your own life to be happy. What are the elements that bring you joy? Then make those items a priority. Regularly and consistently.

Sometimes those things can be as simple as giving yourself time in the day to just focus on the things that feed you. That was a very big one for me. Other times, it could be something that requires a bit more like getting regular massages, a therapy session, or a weekly night out with yourself or with a friend. But, whatever it is, decide that you are going to have it. Protect it. Preserve it. Decide that you’re worth it. Decide there is no way you will not give it to yourself and do it.
 

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For me, one of those things is as simple as giving myself my mornings. I know for a fact that when I do – I am better. I am physically better. I am mentally better. I am emotionally better. I am spiritually better. To not do so would be a tremendous loss for me.

So many people depend on me for many different things in their lives – like their business needs, legal needs and/or personal needs. If I did not gift this time to myself daily, I would be weighed down with everyone else’s stuff without ever feeling filled. It’s like preparing to travel across the country without having gas in your tank. You know you have to expend energy and fuel to make it to your destination, but if you don’t have it, you cannot give it. My mornings provide me my gas to make it through the days so I can give more and be more throughout the day for those that need me to show up fully whole in a particular way.

My mornings are cleared for me. In my scheduler, they are completely protected. There is no meeting important enough to schedule during that time. There’s no client issue critical enough for me to forgo that focus. There’s no place I have to get to so important that I must go during those hours. The only things that matter during that divinely designated time are my thoughts, my wellness, my daily exercise and myself.

Continue to Part 2.

My dress is by Byron Lars Beauty Mark.


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My Sacred Spiritual Mornings

My Sacred Spiritual Mornings

My mornings are very sacred to me. I have always built time for my spirituality and self reflection in the mornings of my life before plugging into the often hectic world that I am often a part of.

In an ever so crazy world and my ever so crazy life at times, I’ve always known the importance of staying spiritually grounded and connected to me. In many ways, it is my superpower. My ability to silence the world and focus deep within allows me to get greater grounding, introspection and gives me the space to receive orders for my next positioning.
 

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My mornings are free from telephones, emails, text messages, the needs of others that can be consuming and just allows me to focus solely on myself and my needs. What a tremendous gift that is to myself.

Sometimes it may be short, but normally it is hours that I block out to give myself the freedom to just be still in meditation, contemplation, reflection, sometimes reading and active movement. Most days it includes a physical workout which I deem as spiritual – the moving and stretching expands my physical capacity and mental stability.
 

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Depending on the season, I will do different things. Most often it is a moving meditation of yoga, walking and running. I receive some of my greatest messages for business and life during this time.

I often wonder when this information would come to me if I didn’t have this practice, because it is a direct line of actions that never come to me at any other time.

I intentionally block out the world during this sacred time and use it to pour solely back into myself.
 

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When you are a person who is constantly pouring out, giving, offering, it is essential that you mandate the time to refill and give back to yourself. That is your responsibility. Because no one will do it for you nor grant you the time and serenity to do it for yourself. I am so grateful that I learned that lesson a very long time ago and in doing that I’ve given myself a tremendous gift that allows me to do more, be more and to show up for others more fully in a way that I just could never show up if I was coming from a place of depletion.

Try giving yourself some time to solely pour back into yourself. It doesn’t have to be in the morning. Perhaps the evening or afternoon would be better for you, but be sure to designate that time to give yourself physically, mentally and spiritually what you need to set you on the course for showing up and participating in your life at a higher level – and to give you and your relationships what they need to thrive.

For more information about 10 Steps to Being Good to Yourself, download my ebook HERE.


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Finding Stillness

Finding Stillness

It is critically important that we find places and spaces which speak to our inner being. A space that allows us to get a break from all the noise that consumes us during the hectic, chaotic days of our normal lives. Although not intentional, our consumed living takes a toll on us mentally, physically, emotionally and spiritually. We need a safe space to be able to pour back into ourselves and to restore ourselves anew.

Stillness is extremely important to me. It is when I’m able to quiet my mind and receive the necessary information I need to proceed.

I sometimes find such stillness at the ocean. The ocean soothes me. It soothes my soul. I love going to it when I need to just check in with myself and my world. It is one of the best places for me to find my stillness.
 

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Another great place for me to tap into my stillness is when I run. I know this seems very odd because I am in movement, but it is indeed a stilling space for me. I call running my moving meditation. As I’m running, any potential heaviness that can consume me subsides. I can be freed from work, commitments, deadlines and the overwhelming elements that can be heavy to carry at times.

When I’m in my stillness, lots of great ideas and concepts come to me. It is often in our free time when inspiration can truly find us and make itself known. I keep a journal of all the great ideas that come to me when I run. It’s very interesting to reflect on it at a later time. These ideas would never come to me at any other time without being in the space of stillness, even moving stillness.

If you are open, stillness has a magical way of allowing you to contemplate the most important aspects of your life and release the thoughts and ideas which no longer serve you. It supports the renewing of your body, mind and spirit to fly higher, to go further, to dig deeper.
 

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Depending on where you are, finding stillness can be an ever daunting task. But once you have become practiced in it for a while, you can literally find stillness in the most non-stilling environments.


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