Are You Happy Yet?

March 14, 2019 Life, Work 0 Comments

Are You Happy Yet? Well, honestly are you?

When people are asked what they most want from life, the vast majority of us say that they want to be happy. However how many of us are living happy lives? It is my extensive experience as a coach that prompts the answer, precious few of us. What is it that prevents us from honouring what we really want?

There was a Facebook post that went viral, it was the shared experience of a palliative nurse whose job it was to care for people in the last months and weeks of their lives. What she observed, time and time again, was that the people in her care were all expressing the same regrets. Regrets that they didn’t follow their heart, spent too much time focusing on work and not their loved ones. They all unanimously expressed the regret of not prioritising neither their happiness nor the love in their lives. Do we really want to wait until we are on our death beds to have this realisation?

We are so caught up in our everyday demanding lives, reacting to the constant onslaught of to dos, putting out fires and telling ourselves that it’s all going to be ok because we are going to tend to the things that are importance to us, later. Essentially, postponing living the life that is in alignment with our priorities and honouring what is really important to us, for another day somewhere off in the future. That is precisely what these patients of the palliative nurse thought, that there would always be time, time later to live a life of happiness, satisfaction and fulfilment.

This is not a doom and gloom blog by any means, isn’t it really crucial to realise now how important it is to prioritise what makes your heart sing and to start to make choices in accordance with what life you really desire to create for yourself? These changes that I’m talking about here do not have to be a dramatic, cosmic life upheaval, they can be achieved in small, purposeful, incremental steps.

Step one is to take some time out and reflect on your life, on where you are now and on where you would like to be? Turn off your phone, go out for a walk on your own, remove yourself from all distractions and really tune into how you feel. What do you want your life to look like in 5 years time and then 10 years time? See this future life clearly in your minds eye, envision all the details and return to these thoughts as often as possible. This is a powerful reminder of what you truly want and by reinforcing it in your imagination, you automatically move yourself on to the right track.

Step two, write a list of your life priorities and put them somewhere visible as a constant reminder to yourself. This will allow you to begin to make decisions in alignment with these priorities. This is a very powerful exercise which will enable you to make informed decisions which truly honour what is important to you. These small steps will both encourage and assist you to make the positive changes, that when you look back on your life you will know it to be ‘a life well-lived’.

Let’s have no regrets, let’s start creating this life of ours, now…

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