One Step At a Time
When we consistently travel in the fast lane or have become too isolated and unsure of how to intelligently increase our happiness quotient, it may be time to evaluate how to bring more fulfillment into our lives.
Start by being honest about what you care about. The trick is to honor your true yes’s and no’s and stop making what you don’t care about wrong. Making believe that you care about everything is an immature image management technique to give you permission to avoid being honest with yourself.
Do you need to let down, let go, and lighten up so that increased happiness can find its way into your life?
Give yourself the gift of increased self-respect by listening to your needs and honoring them so that you can genuinely show up as your best self.
Given the demands on our time and energy, a common dilemma is being out of balance. If you attempt to care about everyone and everything, you end up stretched so thin that you become brittle, numb, and overwhelmed.
On the other hand, if you decide to encase yourself in a closed, overly protective attitude, your wellspring of curiosity, positive anticipation, and willingness to engage, dries up. From there it is an easy slide into stagnant mental and emotional rigidity, until you still end up, brittle, numb, and disengaged.
Is it time to reach out and explore new directions? Do you need to stretch out of your comfort zone so that you can bring in more experiences that will stimulate new opportunities? Are you being called to open up and express some of your deeper longings and desires, at least to yourself?
Is there someone that you are holding a grudge against? Are you blocking your ability to let love flow through your life? Have you stopped life’s magic from touching you because of frozen feelings and unexamined negative notions clogging up your mind and heart?
It is a mighty challenge to create a balanced life. Are you willing to suit up and show up to assess what changes are needed? What aspect of your life requires your full attention? Is it high time to reach out and love more generously? Does your self-worth and self-respect need an infusion by practicing saying yes and no without endlessly second-guessing yourself? These are such important attributes that to lack them is to be locked within ourselves, paradoxically incapable of either love or indifference.
Let’s explore your answers to a few questions that are designed to increase your clarity and spark your imagination. Are you open and receptive to wonder and delight? Are you able to cherish and be cherished or do you block compliments and expressions of love coming to you or from you to others? Are you safe and secure? Are you doing the best you can with what you currently have available to you? Are you willing to open to new experiences of the satisfying kind? Are you willing to extend yourself generously? Are you willing to take excellent care of yourself? Are you allowed to say no without feeling guilty? Are you able to keep your energy vibrant by creating some quiet time for yourself?
Start this personal upgrade by making one clear decision and taking one intentional action to begin this process of transformation. Embrace a new commitment to lead a successful external life and your reward will be the creation of moment-to-moment experiences that feed and support the satisfaction that is birthed through self-trust and core solidity.
Susan is the author of “Beyond Intellect – Journey into the Wisdom of Your Intuitive Mind” and a Laguna Beach resident since 1986. Reach her at susanvelasquez.com.
