You are intentional about who you give your time to. You do your best to design an inner circle that is nourishing and enjoyable. What stands out is the mutual willingness to take care of each other and the motivation to help each other figure out life’s challenges.
You understand how your own perception impacts your reactions and mood. Blaming all your emotions on events and people outside of you creates a situation where you are constantly giving your power away. Taking responsibility for your mindset not only helps you grow, it widens your opportunity for happiness.
You practice bringing yourself back to the present moment, especially when your mind is focusing too much on the past and future and is using small details to build tension driven narratives. Being able to recenter yourself so that you don’t jump to conclusions can help stop you from acting rashly.
You stop glorifying busy living. You have your goals, but you realize that you can work toward them without breaking yourself in the process. There is nothing valiant about burnout. Instead, you use your energy intentionally and put in good work toward the things you love but you do so in a balanced way.
You make time to feel gratitude. Reflecting on all the beautiful and simple things in your life that are often taken for granted will help ground you. Being able to remember all the good things and people in your life stops the mind from solely focusing on what it wants next. It is easy to flow between gratitude and joy.
You stay in touch with your emotions without becoming attached to them. It’s important to acknowledge how you feel, especially when you feel heavy, but simultaneously understand that this feeling won’t last forever. Not letting temporary feelings govern your actions helps you have a less tense mind.
You make time to heal and grow. Whether you have experienced trauma or not, everyone has gone through hard things and those moments leave marks on the mind that impact your thoughts and actions. Finding and using healing practices that work well for you can decondition the mind so that it becomes less defensive and more open to the natural flow and beauty of life.
You remind yourself to slow down. Between the things you need to take care of in daily life and the way technology is constantly trying to get more of your attention, so much can be missed. Bring yourself back to a healthy pace so you can be present with people, nature, and the activities you love.
Follow your intuition relentlessly. Your intuition helps you grow, leads you to your best life, and it helps you make your deepest aspirations come true. Paying attention to what direction it’s telling you to go in can help unfold the next chapter of your life.
You live with gentleness and kindness. You try to do good things for others, but in a balanced way where you don’t exhaust yourself. Having a giving nature and treating people well directly supports your inner peace.
You always stay open to learning and growth. You understand that you are not perfect and you have the humility needed to continue evolving. Knowledge is ever expanding which means there is always more to understand.
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New Podcast:
Had an amazing conversation with
the other day. It was so deeply nourishing to speak to another writer about creativity, healing, and what its like sharing your work on Substack. This convo goes deep and I am grateful to come out of it with a new friend.Journal Prompt:
Have you been feeling joy in daily life? What change can you make to bring more harmony to your mind? What should you be spending more time on?
11 Attributes of Joyful Living
I love this little list! very useful to go through it and think where do I have to focus more? Oh, I also loved your conversation with Suleika. And your laughter is so contagious! Wonderful!
This so resonates! ❤️🙏