Would you like to be a Hopefulist like me? If so, there are five things you need to be doing every day. Work at these like they are goals because they are. Your goal is to integrate these things into your daily routine and if you do, I promise, you will notice a difference in your life.
If you've been listening to me for awhile none of these will be a surprise to you but a refresher is always in order. The first thing you need to do is keep a gratitude journal. Yes, every single day. Write down 3-5 things daily that you are grateful for, appreciate or bring you joy. I typically try to find things that are obvious and that I take part in on a regular basis bur rarely take the time to really notice them. A nice, hot shower. That first sip of coffee. Having a comfortable couch to relax on after a long day. The flowers in the front yard. The dog snoring away at my feet. You get the point. The more you do this the faster it will change your outlook. The reason it works so well is because it gets your mind to stop focusing on what you don't have and puts the emphasis on what you do have. Because someone will always have more than you. There will always be something else that you want. Something bigger and better. It's honestly just human nature. So you have to find happiness and joy in what you already have while striving toward those bigger desires.
The second thing you need to do is enjoy something you do everyday. I was going to say something that brings you joy but people seem to think that joy is only amazing experiences that only come around once in awhile like vacations, holidays, new cars, weddings and such. But that isn't true. Part of the trick to feeling happiness everyday is realize that there can be joy in your everyday life. I love pickle ball. I play it almost everyday. It is something that brings me joy. I also get joy from having a cup of coffee. To sit down with it and really be present in the moment of drinking it and taking in my surroundings since I'm usually on my porch outside. I notice the weather, the birds singing, the fish jumping in the water, the temperature. These are all things that add to my life in wonderful ways. I take the time to stop and notice it.
Feeling joy is simply something that you enjoy. Joy is even in the word enjoy. See? So maybe we all need to redefine our definition of joy. Make is more simple. I know that the scent of hand soap brings me joy so I pay a little extra to get the ones I want. It's the same with my body scrub. I love the way I feel after I slather that stuff all over my body. Lighting a candle at the end of a long day as I relax with a good book. Simple stuff that brings me joy on a regular basis. If we want to be happy we have to find it in our every day lives. Not just wait for special occasions, vacations and bucket list items.
And that leads me the third thing which is stop taking so much of what you have for granted. It's easy to do and a natural tendency to take things for granted that's why it's so important to remind yourself how blessed you truly are. Do you have a beautiful home that you love? Remember when you first bought it and decorated it? You were so in love with it, right? But now you don't even notice it. You've gotten used to it. And that's normal. But taking the time to appreciate what you have is what makes life better.
I'm pretty sure if you are listening to this you have indoor plumbing, heat or air conditioning, food in the fridge, a closet stuffed with clothes. These are all the things that many people in the world don't have. We just take it as a given. All the people around us have it so it's not special. But it is special. The fact that you have so many things that make you life comfortable, easy and convenient is huge. Try thinking about if you had to live 200 years ago and use an outhouse. How awful would that be? Especially in the cold months!
The next thing that will make your life better on a daily basis is to compliment someone once a day even if it is just yourself. Especially if it is yourself. It's hard to believe that we can't find a couple of things that we like about ourselves. Look in the mirror and notice when you are having one of those good hair days. Does that top really flatter you? Make you look a little thinner than usual? What about the color of your eyes or hair? That's one good thing about gray hair forcing you to dye it is you can choose any color you want. I'm a redhead. I started going gray pretty early so I've been at the coloring thing for a long time. I love my red hair. Nope, it's not even close to my natural color but most people think it is. I was lucky to find a color that matched well with my coloring, looks nice and natural and happens to be a color I love. Maybe you got a new pair of boots for the Fall and you can show them off. Whatever works. But I know there are plenty of things you can find in order to compliment yourself.
Or you can compliment someone else. If it's not something you usually do you will be surprised by how good it makes you feel. I am always telling people I like their shoes, shirt, hair, jewelry, how cute their kids are. You will often see them light up when you make a comment. Everyone loves a compliment. And I do it all the time with people I see everywhere. The hostess at the restaurant, the woman walking in the parking lot, or the cashier at the store. Work in an office? There a ton of people to choose from to compliment. In the elevator, in the office, while out at lunch. But make sure they are authentic. Don't just pay a compliment for the sake of getting one in. There is always something you can admire in someone that will show itself to you.
The final thing you should be doing to live like a Hopefulist is to dream of the life you desire. Even better, write it down. If you take the time to put down on paper all that you would like to achieve in the next five years and look at it everyday it will motivate you to keep going. It will give you that extra oomph to do what it takes to get you there. Not just what it takes but how you will feel once you get there, what you life will look like on a daily basis and what activities you will be partaking in. The more details you include in this the better off you will be because you will be speaking it to the universe. When the universe knows what you want it conspires to bring it to you. When you speak it and believe it is possible (that's the tough part) you will start to see things coming together in a way you haven't seen before.
I think a lot of us have these vague ideas about how we want our future to look. We don't have any specifics of how it is going to play out each day and we just go with the flow. If you want to have an extraordinary life you have to imagine what it will look like. Once you know what it looks like with all the details of how each day will look you can move on to figuring out how you get there. What it is you need to do, what steps you can take that will move your toward that picture. But if you never get that picture in your mind you don't even know what you are working toward. It's the specifics that are important. So get specific and get moving. Life moves pretty fast. Stop waiting for the perfect life to fall in your lap. It won't. You have to design your life. And I know you can do it.
If you need some help figuring out how to achieve your dream life or help choosing what that should look like for you please reach out to me. You can check out my website at hopefulist.com or send me an email at thehopefulist1@gmail.com.
Thank you so much for taking the time to spend with me today. If you like this episode please make sure you like, follow and share it with your friends.
Now go on out there and be badass this week. I know you can do it. And I'm right here cheering you on.