Gratitude Practice: A Path to Enjoying Life
I love asking this, because I truly believe I am and you can be too.
How can we be in love with being alive?
It all starts with a belief system that this can happen.
The next thing is discipline, because if you have discipline, it trumps motivation every single time.
I think a lot of the time we get so caught up in being busy and our everyday lives, that we forget the big picture.
What are our dreams that could be made into goals?
Then when we focus on that, we can even lose sight of enjoying the road.
Enjoy the climb, just because you’re not at the mountain top, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy the view around you now.
If you’re reading this, you’re probably motivated, you’re probably a high achiever…
But are you enjoying the road trip that is life?
That’s what I want for you.
A Personal Story: The Day I Fell in Love with Life
I’ll tell you a story first…
When I realized I was in love with being alive, nothing wild had happened.
No crazy business jumps, no wild love that I had found… I woke up one day and enjoyed the life I had built.
I have a great circle of friends, I keep my family close to me, I am always working on ideas that fire me up (and stress me the heck out) and with that, I approach everyday, happy to be here.
I know that there are seasons that are harder than others, and I definitely know that trauma, loss and terrible things can happen tomorrow or the next minute, but why not enjoy the now while we can.
When I’m with my nephew, we always stop to see the beauty, to enjoy the times that are good as much as possible. I always stop when we’re having a great day, to pause and let us both enjoy that time together, and bask in the glory of the good days.
And now, because he’s been hustled into this way of thinking – he’ll stop me and say “Phylecia.. Look at the sky…”
I am so proud of him because he looks around him, he enjoys the beauty in his days, which makes him enjoy his life a little bit more.
The Power of Gratitude: Lessons from Dan Sullivan
The book by Dan Sullivan, The Gap and the Gain, rings so true for this conversation.
He teaches that instead of looking at the gap, and everything we don’t have – look at the gain in every situation.
How can we find the good, how can we find the lessons and the value in every situation?
I began to train my mind to only focus on the good, to understand that the only thing I can control is my effort, attitude and reactions.
How can we look at our world everyday and see the good?
The first thing I want you to do is start a routine in the morning or whenever this works best for you.
What helps me the most is being able to pray daily (to whomever you believe in) and focus on the gratitude.
Even in the smallest ways, find the beauty and the gratitude each day.
Look at the big picture, look at where you’ve come and where you are now.
Life is a climb, sometimes it’s harder than others but a climb no doubt.
Keep Moving Forward, One Step at a Time
My therapist once told me… keep trudging forward.
I was taking a jog the other day with my boxing friends and nephew, and don’t you know I was last and had to stop and walk a few times… but I kept putting one foot in front of the other.
That’s all we can do sometimes.
In different seasons, we’ll be nailing it, we’ll be running full tilt, but other times, we just need to know to keep putting one foot in front of the other.
My message to you today is this:
Look at your world and look for the beauty in it today, look at what you do have, what lessons you have learned and focus on being in love with being alive every single day until you’ve trained your mind to do so naturally.
About the Author
Name: Phylecia Kellar
Bio: Phylecia Kellar is an author, speaker, sales professional, creator of the Ballin And Bipolar podcast, and inspiring Bipolar Success Coach for others who face mental health diagnoses. After her first manic episode in 2009 ended her life as she had always known it, Phylecia embarked on a multi-year journey to rediscover herself, build a new belief system, create stability, embrace her diagnosis, and forge a life of happiness, gratitude, magic, and giving.
Website:www.ballinandbipolar.com
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