When was the last time you thought about living your best life?
Sometimes your daily responsibilities become so overwhelming it may clouds your thoughts on what it means to live your best life. You focus on taking care of family, being a good employee, earning enough money to pay for your lifestyle, socializing, and participating in activities that may or may not enhance your life.
In this article, you will learn how to live your best life.
How to Live Your Best Life
What you may be realizing is that the way you are living is not making you feel as if you have the best life. You may even be feeling unhappy with your lifestyle and are ready to make positive changes.
The good news is that according to reports, living your best life is up to you. Some say 40% of your happiness is within your control and based on how you choose to think, feel and act. To do this, however, you must redirect your focus from existing and surviving everyday life to becoming intentional in seeking true happiness.
There are specific steps you can take that can help you make this shift and find out how to live your best life. A few of these steps are listed below.
Be Your Own Friend
It is easy to give good advice to your friends. You tell them to take care of themselves, seek treatment, rely on others for help. You compliment your friends; you are there for them when they need you and you would drop everything to help make your friends lives happier.
How about offering this same self-care towards yourself; being your own best friend?
Take care of yourself. Seek help from a professional if you need it. Compliment yourself and drop everything to do something that will make your life better.
Connect with Others
Being alone is okay, just not all the time. Research shows there are many advantages to engaging in positive connections with others. Make sure they are positive, though. If you surround yourself with negative co-workers, friends and family, you are likely to feel more depressed and anxious.
Positive connections can improve your mood and increase happiness. Allow your inner self to guide you regarding positive and negative connections. You will dread being around the people who make you feel bad but will look forward to spending time with those who make you feel good.
You are not obligated to hang around negative people. Choose to avoid the people who bring you down and spend more time with those who lift you up.
Realistic Thinking
Your thoughts influence your feelings and your behaviors. Positive thinking can lead to positive outcomes. However, the positive thoughts must also be realistic.
You can tell yourself you are smart and popular enough to be President. However, if what you are telling yourself is delusional or unrealistic, you will be disappointed.
Base your thoughts on what you can prove about yourself. What evidence do you have that shows your strengths? Put those strengths into action to feel rewarded in your efforts, whether in personal or professional areas of your life.
Allow your realistic thoughts about yourself guide you towards living your best life.
Simplify Your Life
Too often people think money and things can buy happiness. What research has shown, however, is that the more you have, the more stressed you may feel. The reasons behind acquiring money and material items can also be a problem.
Trying to keep up with others who you perceive as being rich can cause anxiety and depression. It can even cause anger and jealousy which can lower your confidence and decrease happiness.
The less you have, the more you appreciate life. The less you have, the more time you must focus on what truly makes you happy. Simplicity can lead to a better life.
Positive Surroundings
Your surroundings are the environments in which you spend the most time. Think about your day and list the top five places you spend your time. The office, your bedroom, your car, the kitchen, and your social group are just a few examples.
Do these places make you feel happy? If not, take steps to change them. Change can mean anything from redecorating to finding a new job or social outlet. Do whatever it takes to replace your negative surroundings with positive ones.
Eliminating negative environments can put you one step closer to living your best life.
The Right Type of Laughter
There are many reports of how laughter can lead to happiness. Laughter has healing properties too. However, it must be the right type of laughter.
Laughter that is based on self-deprecating statements, or making fun of yourself in a negative way, is not healthy. Sure, it makes you laugh, but it can also make you focus on things you do not like about yourself and this can lead to depression or anxiety.
Laughter that is based on making fun of other people is not healthy either. In fact, it shows your negative qualities to everyone around you. Making fun of others to get a laugh reflects a lower self-esteem and insecurities.
The right type of laughter is innocent and focused on the humor itself, not another person or yourself. The intent behind the right type of laughter is to lift someone’s spirits rather than to bring them down, and to defuse tension rather than increase it.
Giving Back
Many people report one of the best ways to feel good and live a better life is through helping others and giving back to your community in some way. Giving back is not done to gain credit or public recognition. Instead, it is done with the simple motivation of feeling better internally.
The reward you receive from helping someone else is what keeps you inspired and lets you know you are living your best life.
In conclusion, these are just a few of the many ways to become happier. If you struggle with where to start, reach out for help. There are licensed therapists who can coach you through the process and help to support you begin living your best life today.