When you look online to find ways to make your life better, there are literally millions of pages and websites to help you do that. So many that it is impossible to make an authentic choice between them.
- However, in our hearts we feel hurt.
- We are unsettled.
- We feel there is something more to life than what we are experiencing right in this moment.
- We begin searching for the magic solution to our issues.
How simple it would be if we could just start on our path of feeling better with a few ideas that set our hearts in the right direction.
So here are 3 simple things (really simple) to do today.
3 Simple Things to Do Today and Change Your Entire Life By Tomorrow.
1. Be kind.
Simple? Yes. Easy? Not so much.
As does everything in life, being kind begins at home. In this case, “at home” means starting off with being kind to yourself.
This is where it starts to get a bit tricky, but absolutely doable by anyone.
We are bombarded by negative messages daily; on TV, on the internet, on the radio. Everywhere you look, advertisers are telling us there is something wrong with us and only their product can fix us.
- We are inundated by mean spirited TV shows.
- We hear constant calls to challenge ourselves.
- We play electronic games that teach us that success is about grabbing coins, collecting points, topping our last score, and competing against others.
- To win the game we must maim, kill, blow up, destroy, and annihilate other people, places, animals or things.
Allowing this negativity into our lives teaches our hearts that to be successful we must be unkind.
Honestly then, it is no wonder that we are often unkind to ourselves when evidence of success in the world is created through such ugliness.
How can you create something different and more loving in your life?
It is surprisingly simple.
**You decide that today, you are going to say kind things to yourself. If you do say something unkind, you will notice it and apologize. Then create something new by saying something kind to yourself
.**
Sometimes examples are easier to see, so here’s one:
You get in the car and realize you have forgotten your briefcase on the table.
The first thought that comes to mind could be something like, “Oh man, you’re already running late, you forgot your case again. WHAT is the matter with you? You are always forgetting something. Now you have to go back into the house and find where you left it. Just like last week when you forgot your lunch and then you had to spend all that money on lunch out and why can’t you be better about these things. What is the matter with you?”
It’s easy to see how a simple thing gets out of control in your thoughts. All you need to do is stop thinking those thoughts and take a breath.
Message from Guided Mind: It is much easier to forgive yourself with our meditation mp3.
Then say to yourself, “I am sorry; people forget things sometimes, not to worry. Now let’s just go back inside and get the briefcase.”
Last step is to say something nice to yourself, “You know, there might be an additional reason I need to go back inside. And besides you might get a chance to see something awesome while you are walking back inside.”
2. Do your best.
Every day, set your intention to do your best.
Lots of times when we read things about the need to do your best, they are accompanied by exhortations like “No Pain, No Gain", or “The only constant in life is the need to improve” or “If you’re not getting better, you’re going to get left behind.” Or any of a number of supposedly motivational platitudes.
The only authentic best is this: Doing the best you can, with what you’ve got, from where you are.
Anything else is bedrock for building a life of being unappreciative of your gifts and talents.
Somehow we get our work goals mixed up with our life goals. We are so competitive with ourselves and others about everything; we don’t know any other way to live.
Message from Guided Mind: Be More Grateful! Here's how.
The thing is, that each moment is a unique present moment.
There has never been this moment, there will never be this moment again there is nothing to measure yourself against, and there is no need to compete against yourself.
The idea is that you are always doing your best, in everything you do, with everything you’ve got from where you are in life right this present moment.
Live that way, consciously, and your world will change overnight. Not only that, but you will know when you are not living this way.
3. Create your own thinking.
You are already an expert at creating your thoughts and as a result of doing that; you are creating your life.
Even now while you are reading this, your mind is going along with things like, “I wonder if this is really true?” Or “What if all my thoughts are bad?”
Not to worry, thoughts like these fly through our minds all day. What we’re talking about here, though, is creating your own thinking on purpose by deliberately thinking a thought.
The way you change your outlook on life is by deliberately thinking more positive better feeling thoughts.
It doesn’t take much to start doing this. Thinking negatively is a habit and all habits can be changed.
Negativity means any thought that makes you feel bad, or guilty, or shameful, or happy that someone is being hurt, or that we ourselves are not good enough.
- We receive consistent reinforcement that this is the acceptable way to think.
- When we are first thinking on our own as children it is easy to learn to think negatively because we see lots of other people doing it.
- We are even explicitly encouraged to think this way about ourselves.
If you have ever heard a phrase like this from an authority figure, “I don’t what you were thinking. You should be ashamed of yourself.” You have been explicitly encouraged by someone to think negatively about yourself – on purpose.
Fortunately, with some rearranging of our thoughts, this pattern is simple to change.
- First, decide that this is the last day you are going to think badly of yourself on purpose. You are going to create a new way of thinking, starting right this minute.
- Then pick something good you would like someone else to compliment you for. Make it something that you have some control over and would enjoy hearing a compliment about. Something easy, like how nice your new shoes look today, or that someone noticed you paid for the coffee of the person behind you in line.
- Create the picture in your mind of having done something that someone noticed and then complimented you for. Then (and this is the most important part) say thank you for the compliment. You don’t have to worry that this is going to change you into a snobbish self-centered dork; quite the contrary.
- Once you get used to receiving compliments - even in your thoughts - the Universe will line up circumstances for you to be complimented about.
It is quite astonishing how this process works. So simple and so profound at the same time.
You don’t need to do these steps in any particular order and you can certainly do them more than once. When your old thinking habits crop up in the middle of your new ones, just remember to Be Kind to yourself because you are Doing Your Best and Create Your Own Thinking in the form of a compliment to pay yourself for embarking on this positive journey in the first place.
Michael Shook is known as the Internet’s Most Positive Blogger. Together with his wife, Susan, they have created ALifeOfLight.com with a simple idea in mind. They help people feel better by offering positive writing, ideas, programs, images, videos, and anything else they can think of or find online that will help you live the life of your dreams. And they do this without espousing any particular religious or spiritual tradition.
Click on over to their site and try out their inspiring daily messages bringing a bit of awesome positivity into your life each day. And check out their Facebook page at https://facebook.com/alifeoflight.
