How would your life be different if you could have regular support, deep connection, and inspiration that you could count on?
Life without love and friendship is empty. Work without support, collaboration, and a shared vision makes for a lonely path. As human beings, we are wired for relationship, and connecting is crucial. Families, businesses, and communities disintegrate without genuine connection. Happier living requires a connection with oneself and each other!
Estimated reading time: 4 minutes
Sure, we can climb the mountain of life alone, but it's not as safe and isn't nearly as fun! Going it alone isn't what we need to be our best, and it certainly doesn't lead to happiness. Sometimes we need a helping hand or a little encouragement; other times we need to be a friend to ourselves.
If you're ready to enhance your life, don't underestimate yourself or the power of simple changes. Below are five keys to build better mental health and help you live a more vibrant life!
Relationships teach us about ourselves; relationships bring life to our living.
Spend time nurturing your personal and business relationships. Create value and hold yourself and others accountable to a high standard of reciprocity so that everyone, including yourself, is nurtured and supported.
People pleasers tend to over-give and create dependency, denying themselves their own enrichment. Your happiness and success are part of the greater good; don't relinquish your right to respect and equity. When you excel, everyone benefits. When you share your gifts, everyone rises. And visa versa.
If you tend to keep to yourself or your time is more me-centric, take time to give and help more. Mentor someone; make it a practice to reach out to new people in the community and welcome them. When a colleague is stuck, give them a lending hand. Team up with friends to assist them to get that yard landscaped or write a recommendation for a student going off to college. Everything we send out comes back to us tenfold—for better or for worse!
Competition at its extreme can be cutthroat. However, healthy competition keeps us awake, strong, and vibrant. The best form of competition is competing with ourselves and beating our best from yesterday! When we do compete with others, whether in sports, academics, or business, it challenges us, gives us a measurement, and shows us where we need to grow.
Competition requires us to be knowledgeable, creative, and stretch to be our best self (or to be our best as a friend, spouse, parent, employee, or boss). Even that woman your husband is eyeing with a great figure might be inviting you to drop that extra weight and get back in shape.
Or the fellow parent at your children's school that you admire (or are secretly jealous of) holds the keys for you to set better boundaries or be kinder or more playful or conscious. It doesn't matter what area of life you find yourself inspired or challenged or jealous of; those feelings are an invitation (or wake-up call) to be your finest! Don't shirk from the challenge; lean in and roll up your sleeves.
We must learn to be comfortable outside of our comfort zone—that's where growth lies!
Taking risks to exceed yesterday's best is a key to faster growth. When a person is feeling stuck in life, they're often in the deep groove of a comfort zone or haven't forgiven themselves for an imagined failure. Don't let this happen to you. Leave your comfort zone. Learn to be comfortable with uncomfortability. When you stretch, happier living awaits you!
Be bold. Be brave in the journey of becoming!
Related reading: "What Is Mindfulness? And Why All the Hubbub?"
Get perspective by zooming forward. Ask yourself, "In one year or five years, how much time did I spend on inconsequential things?" Ensure that every day includes small and big actions toward what is most valuable to you. Create a healthy work-life balance and remember to spend quality time with those you cherish!
Because our brain is a great problem seeker and solver, a human tendency is to look for, find, and then fix problems (or expend energy ignoring them!). When we build a heat-seeking-problem missile, life gets small, and problems get big. We start feeling like life isn't fun anymore and wonder when we'll ever be happy.
HAPPINESS IS A MINDSET!
Try living intentionally and design your life from your greatest aspirations and what brings you joy rather than by happenstance. Take time for mindfulness. Replace frustration with gratitude and criticism with compassion.
And if one of these keys resonated with you, grab hold of it! Try it on. Practice the key. Massage it. Break it in with zeal, yet, stretch and challenge yourself with gentleness. Practice the new habit until it becomes second nature and perfectly comfortable.
And if you'd like a partner to mentor you along the way, Heartmanity's specialty is transformation! Transforming lives IS our business!