I’m going through a rough patch in my personal life right now, dealing with a family crisis. Life has it’s ups and downs and while I’m fortunate to have more ups than downs these days, I still have to get through the downs. With healthy habits, a sense of self-worth, and a good support network I know I’ll get through this rough patch, hopefully with some amount of kindness and grace.

During this time the rest of my life continues on as if nothing has happened. I have the same commitments, needs, and goals as I had before the crisis started, but as a result of dealing with the crisis I have fewer resources to deal with it. As usual, it’s time to get back to basics and practice self-care. Self-care, check.

As I procrastinated writing this week’s blog post I thought about the things I intend to do, and the things I want to do, versus doing what I really need to do- rest and renew my personal resources.

I intended to sit down and write but the words wouldn’t come. As I struggled to get started, I thought about skipping this week’s post. When I was just about ready to give up I decided to write about what I’m going through- to inspire and encourage myself and my experience, and to inspire and encourage you, for surely you’ve gone through a rough patch, too.

With that in mind, here are some inspiring and encouraging words I saved for a rainy day that just happens to be today.

Thanks for joining me on this wonderful and beautiful, sometimes difficult and scary, journey called life! Will you dance with me in the rain?

I love your comments! What gets you through a rough patch? 

We’ve all had really bad jobs, and worse bosses. Jobs where we are overworked, undervalued, and underpaid. Jobs were we deal with difficult, or even toxic co-workers, and jobs that burned us out.

Yeah, I’ve been there, you’ve been there. Some jobs are so bad the only option is to do your best to get through each day until you find something better. You don’t need me to tell you about those jobs- you already know about them.

Most of the time, however, it’s not your job that sucks but your attitude towards your job that sucks. A bold statement, literally and figuratively, and I assure you I’m speaking from experience here.

The majority of my pain and suffering is self-inflicted- not intentionally, of course, but as the result of negative thinking and negative habits. Negative thinking and negative habits lead to stress, conflict, unhappiness, and extreme job suckage. Break out of your rut and get more out of your job and your life!

6 Reasons Your Job Sucks

01. You complain

Sometimes complaining helps resolve problems but most of the time complaining only serves to keep you, and everyone around you, focused on what isn’t working instead of what is. The more you focus on what isn’t working, the more you notice every little thing that isn’t working.

Instead of focusing on what’s wrong, try focusing on what’s right! Don’t repeat your complaints (say them only once if you absolutely have to), and do repeat your compliments!

02. You mind everyone else’s business

Keeping tabs, and scorecards, on your co-workers is an effective way to create unhappiness in your job. You want to know why?- because you have absolutely no control over what anyone else says, thinks, or does- talk about a losing battle! You’ll constantly feel like the objects of your attention has all the attention and power and they do- at the very least they certainly have yours.

Keeping your attention on your work and your professional growth will yield far better results. Do your best work, be your best, and you’ll experience a greater sense of satisfaction from your work and greater professional success!

03. You compare yourself to others

Every time you compare yourself to others you hurt yourself. You think you’re better oor worse than someone else- either way you marginalize your unique talents and skills by giving more mental power to your judgements than your work.

What if you stopped comparing and capitalized on your strengths? Take pride in your work, show and build the qualities that make you a kick-ass employee! Who cares what anyone else is doing- what are you doing?

04. You don’t say no

If you have trouble saying no you’re likely to experience frustration, anger, resentment, and burnout- yuck, no wonder your job sucks!

Say no when you’re honestly unable or unwilling to agree to a request and, believe me, your co-workers will respect you and you’ll have the resources to do your best work and enjoy work more.

05. You assume

Let’s say you think you know better than your co-workers, or worse, your boss. Maybe you do, maybe you don’t, but when you assume you know better you’re definitely making an ass out of “u”!

What if you think you can or can’t do something even though no one has directly said you can or can’t. When you assume you predetermine the outcome and fail to even consider the alternatives.

Every time you make assumptions you limit your opportunity to learn, to change, and grow. Don’t assume- challenge your assumptions. Ask questions! Be thoughtful and curious. Be awesome!

06. You’re waiting

You’ll finally be happy at work when…. when you get the promotion you want, when you get a raise, when your boss listens to your ideas, when you get the credit you deserve, etc., etc., etc. If you’re waiting for things to go your way before you’ll be happy, well, I’ve got bad news for you, you’ve got a lot of waiting in your future.

What if you were happy just because you are happy? What if you were confident, happy, and satisfied with yourself and doing your best work, and that was enough? What if you stopped waiting for life to get good and made the most of the good that’s already there?

What if the job have today was awesome?!

Image via moonlightbulb

Letting go of negative attitudes and habits is easier said than done but it is possible. Embrace the possibility! If you catch yourself repeating attitudes and behaviors that make your job suck you can, at any moment, choose to think, do, or be something positive instead. Keep it up and you may just find your job doesn’t suck. Maybe your job is pretty okay. Maybe your job is even great!

I love your comments! What other self-defeating attitudes and habits lead to unhappiness at work?

When I’m off-balance, there’s one thing I do to get centered. When I feel angry, frustrated, anxious, or burned out, there’s one thing I do to feel better. When I feel happy and life is going well, there’s one thing I do to enjoy the moment and create more of the same. That one thing is self care.

What is self care, exactly? It’s attending to my emotional, mental, and physical needs- it’s taking care of me.

How many of us really take care of ourselves?

Everything else and everyone else comes first. We put our to-do list before ourselves. Sometimes we expect other people to meet our needs and all-too-often our needs go unmet because many of us are simply struggling to get by.

Last weekend I attended TEDxFoCo and I was not disappointed by the thoughtful and inspiring talks on the topic of Life Worth Living. Out of all the fantastic talks there was one, in particular, that struck a resounding chord of truth within me.

Photographer Christina Gressianu spoke on Beauty and How We’re Obsessed With The Wrong Idea. What makes us beautiful is not about how we dress up the outside but how we nurture the inside. It’s not even our character that makes us beautiful but rather self-nourishment and self-enrichment that make us healthy and happy.

Health is beauty- physical health, emotional health, mental health. Health doesn’t come without effort- we must choose health, we must take care of our health by taking care of ourselves.

“How I feel about myself feeds how I take care of myself. How I take care of myself feeds how I feel about myself.” ~Christina Gressianu

What if, instead of being self-critical, we were self-loving and self-caring?

What would happen if we were self-loving and self-caring? If you’re like me, you’ll start living a life that fills you up instead of wears you out and tears you down. The most important thing you do today is take care of you.

Today I invite you to stop working from the outside in and work from the inside out. Practice a little- or a lot!- of self-care. Feed your heart, mind, and body with goodness.

I’ll leave you with one more awesome quote from TEDxFoCo:

“Your self worth is directly proportional to your self work.” ~Melissa Harms

Photo credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

I love your comments! Do you believe beauty comes from self-nourishment? How will you nourish yourself today?

For years I hung on to bad habits that made my life a lot harder than it needed to be. While I was a positive and optimistic individual, I continued to cause myself a lot of discomfort and suffering because of my habits.

I started living a better life when I replaced negative habits with positive habits. I had to change my ways and practice healthy mental, emotional, and physical habits every day to get to a place where life was pretty great- even when things weren’t going my way. Sure, I still have some good days and some bad days but these days there’s more good than bad and the bad aren’t usually all that bad.

I’m going to tell you what worked for me, but feel free to come up with your own positive habits that improve your life. It’s not too late to start creating positive habits in your life.

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11 Ways to improve your life today!

01. Be grateful

Gratitude is the cure for what ails you- no matter what’s going on in your life. If you pause the hustle and bustle and be thankful for the good stuff you realize your life is actually pretty good- even great! There’s always something to be thankful for.

02. Be happy

Think you need life to go your way to be happy? Think again!

Often simply making the conscious choice to be happy makes you feel a little happier. So does smiling! If you want to be happy, smile more.

03. Be kind

Do you feel like you’re usually at odds with the people in your life? Being kind is a wonderful way to improve your relationships. Everyone deserves kindness- don’t you?

Kindness towards others is sure to improve your mood, too!

04. Mind your business

A lot of suffering you cause yourself happens when you worry about what everyone else is doing or not doing. You cause yourself pain by trying to advise, convince, and control other people. Focus on living your own best life and you’ll suffer a lot less.

And while you’re minding your business- stop worrying about what everyone else is thinking and feeling, too. Ninety percent of the time what someone else is thinking or feeling has absolutely nothing to do with you or what they think about you. It’s not about you- really, it isn’t!

05. Do something different

You’re never going to get different results by doing the same thing. If you don’t like how your life is going, try something new!

Say “no”, say “yes”. Ask for help, ask for more responsibility. Speak up, shut up. Whatever you would normally do, try a different approach- you never know what will happen if you haven’t tried it!

06. Don’t judge

People label life events as positive or negative but many situations are really neutral- neither good or bad but your judgment makes it so.

Cut off on the highway- so what? Why is your life suddenly deemed bad because of this minor annoyance? Your co-worker was late for work again? How is this really your problem unless you make it your problem?

That goes for pre-judging, too. You know, when you decide how something will go before it happens? What, you’re psychic now? Remember, a positive outcome is just as likely as a negative one.

07. Stop complaining

The more you focus on what’s wrong, the more life feels all wrong.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again- stop complaining. You’ll be so much happier, I promise!

08. Put yourself first

You deserve a good life and the only person that can make that happen is you! The way you make it happen is by putting yourself first.

Now I’m not talking about putting yourself first at the expense of others, but you can take good care of yourself and meet your own needs before the needs of others.

09. Take care of yourself

Self care is the most important thing you can to do create a great life! People often look to others to meet their needs but that never really works, does it?

Yes, you need other people sometimes, but if you can’t be what you need for yourself then chances are no one else can be that for you. For example, if you don’t love you, you can’t really accept love from others.

10. Be confident

Confidence doesn’t come from being perfect or getting it right the first time; confidence comes from doing your best and making progress.

11. Just be

Sometimes you have to stop and just embrace this moment. Yeah, you have goals and ambitions and you want to improve your life- great!- but it’s okay to just be. After all, you’re a human being, not a human doing.

I love your comments! Have you tried any of these tips to improve your life? How did it work out for you? Do you have any other life hacks to share?

Does your job keep you up at night? Do you work too hard? Do you care too much? Yeah, I’ve been there.

I’ve always been a little too serious with a highly developed sense of responsibility. This trait carried over into my work in a serious way. I tried to do it all and rarely said no. I stressed myself to the point it started to affect my health. After several significant illnesses I realized something had to give- my body already was.

I made a conscious choice to stop taking work too seriously. I had to give up my inflated sense of responsibility and importance. I had to make mistakes, have fun, let go, and simply be happier at work!

What did it take to stop taking work so seriously?

Photo credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

Be happy

I am virtually unable to be happy and stressed (or angry, or sad) at the same time. Focusing on being happy meant I felt less stress and was less likely to take every little thing that happened during the day to heart.

Being happy is easier than I thought once I stopped thinking happiness comes from the outside instead of the inside.

Be responsible for me and me only

As a manager I thought my employee’s performance was ultimately my problem. I tried directing, coaching, supporting, and delegating. If an employee didn’t live up to my expectations I was sure I was the one that failed. I made myself crazy and undoubtedly make other people a little crazy, too.

I cannot control what anyone else thinks, says, or does- that’s up to them! I can be responsible for me and me only.

Be a team player

I not only took on responsibility for my employees and co-workers, I took on responsibility for the overall business success but one player alone cannot win or lose the game. The more responsibility I accepted, the more serious I was about my work.

Seeing myself as part of the team helped me give up some of my responsibility and share it. Plus, it’s just more fun to work with others!

Ask for help

If a job was assigned to me well then I was going to do whatever it takes to get the job done. Only it turns out whatever it takes sometimes meant working myself sick. Yeah, that’s no good.

Work is less overwhelming when it’s shared so I started asking for help. The best part of asking for help wasn’t even the help I received, but the relationships I improved with the people that worked with me.

Say no

Not only did I say yes to just about every request, I volunteered to take on more without even being asked! I’m sure it’s no surprise to you I was overburdened, overworked and over-serious!

I started to say no, not only to others, but to my desire to be helpful to others all the time.

Make mistakes

My fear of mistakes was one of the main reasons I took work too seriously- what if I screwed up? I still made mistakes and I was seriously stressed out every time I did.

When I began to accept and even embrace mistakes I stopped stressing myself out and started having more fun with my work.

Do my best and forget the rest

All I can do is my best today, and nothing more. It doesn’t really matter what anyone else thinks of me, or expects of me. It doesn’t really matter what I think or expect from myself!

Since I don”t control what happens next, I’ve found it easier to focus on just doing my part. In the end all I can really do is my best.

Be present

The more I focused on goals, results, and achievements, the more seriously I took my work. I gave all of myself today for a presumed future win but it was like planting spring seeds and not watering them- with my mind always on tomorrow I wasn’t making the most of today.

Focusing on simply doing my best work for this day only made today a whole lot happier and yielded better results.

Believe in myself

Another reason I took work so seriously was because I worried what might happen if I lost my job. I tended towards worst-case-scenario thinking and imagined myself becoming homeless and living on the street. While losing everything was a possibility, it wasn’t very likely to happen. I needed to believe in myself.

I am a competent, smart, and resourceful person. When I was laid off I bounced back just fine. I didn’t end up homeless. Was losing my job difficult?- hell yeah, it was- but I got through it. Whatever happens, I’ll face it. I can do this!

Don’t blame

If there was one underlying reason I was too serious about my work it’s because I was constantly assigning either positive or, most of the time, negative value to everyone and everything that happened at work.

Instead of doing my best with what’s in front of me I lamented and complained over every perceived injustice. I made myself miserable! I had to stop blaming everyone and everything to find some peace in my work and my life.

I love your comments! Have you ever taken your work too seriously? How did it affect you? What did you do to change it?

For years most of my big decisions were based in fear. I worried about what might happen and more often than not choose the “safer” choice- but not the choice that would make me happy, not the choice that was really right for me.

Fear-based decision making isn’t even really about achieving a desirable outcome- it’s usually an attempt to calm the fear I’m feeling in the moment.

Fear-based decision making is also strongly influenced by assumptions, expectations, and judgments. I fear what others might think of my choices so the safe choice is to do what everyone else did, or what someone else thought was right for me.

“Fear is a darkroom where negatives develop.” ~Usman B. Asif

When I look back at my life every single time I made a fearful choice, the outcome of that choice was undesirable. Even knowing this, fear’s influence remains strong when I’m faced with a major decision.

Recently I was faced with a big decision- what to do about the burnout I was experiencing on the job. I was looking for another job but in the meantime I stayed at that job, continuing to overwork myself and expose myself to bullying from a particular manager.

What could I do? I need a paycheck to pay the bills. Some of my friends and family advised me to “play it safe” and keep my job until I found another one. Even though the job was literally making me ill, I had no choice, right?

Then I realized that was the fear talking. I had no reason to believe I wouldn’t be able to find another job right away. I was making myself sick over a worst-case-scenario that may or may not happen. I was willing to continue to live in an unmanageable situation to avoid the possibility of a different unmanageable situation in the future.

I thought back to my one word goal for 2013- fearless. Right, this year I’m making a conscious choice to fear less. I kicked fear to the curb and took a leap of faith. Instead of giving in to fear, I chose to believe in myself! I chose to believe that a positive outcome is just as likely as a negative one- and it was! I gave notice of my resignation without another job lined up and found another job almost right away.

“Avoiding danger is no safer in the long run than outright exposure. The fearful are caught as often as the bold.” ~Helen Keller

Sure, my situation could have worked out differently but I didn’t make a rash decision, I made the best possible choice I could in that situation.

I analyzed our finances and came up with a plan to get by if I didn’t find another job right away. I started cutting unneeded items from our budget. I was prepared to take a temporary position with a tax preparation service. If I couldn’t find a job, I could dip into our savings. My backup options were not ideal but neither was working myself sick and getting bullied at my job!

In the end I didn’t have to resort to my worst-case-scenario options. My worst fears didn’t come true, and I was able to remove myself from an unhealthy work situation. Fear – 0, Faith – 1!

I don’t know what will happen in the future. Situations may work out the way I hope they will, or they may not. I can’t know how it will work out but I can choose to make wise decisions based on what is right for me instead of making decisions based in fear. One thing I’ve learned is letting Captain Fear steer the ship I’m not making healthy and loving choices.

“I am not afraid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday, and I love today.” ~William Allen White

Photo credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

I love your comments! When you made a choice motivated by fear, how did it work out for you? Are you facing a major decision today? What would happen if you made the choice that you know is right instead of listening to fear?

Conflict happens regularly in life. Conflict often arises when minor disagreements go unnoticed or unaddressed and become larger issues. In other cases we experience unnecessary stress over perceived conflicts because we have been conditioned to focus on negative experiences.

How we deal with conflict has a significant impact on our health, happiness, and success in life. By overcoming emotional attachments and self-defeating attitudes we can manage conflict more easily.

No really, it’s true! At least, it’s true for me. I wouldn’t say managing conflict is easy but it can be easier than we make it. I don’t fear or avoid conflict the way I used to because I’m confident and compassionate in how I address conflict in my life today. As a result of my changed attitudes, my personal and professional relationships are greatly improved as I’ve learned to positively deal with conflict.

When it comes to conflict, here’s how I roll:

How To Deal With Conflict

Be kind

“Be kind. Everyone you meet is carrying a heavy burden.” ~Ian MacLaren

You can’t go wrong with kindness. Always be kind. Be kinder than you might feel.

It’s not all about you

Other people have a right to their thoughts and feelings, just as you have a right to yours. Respect the other person’s position- at the very least recognize they have their own life to consider.

Some of it IS about you

In some situations you may defer to someone else completely but this approach isn’t helpful or healthy, either. You have a right to express yourself and address your concerns- just not at the expense of others. Just be honest about your position.

Take responsibility for yourself

The rest of the world doesn’t exist to make you happy- that’s your job! If  you blame someone else for your experience you’re probably going to be unhappy most of your life.

Your happiness is up to you! In a conflict don’t expect someone else to make things right for you.

Don’t take responsibility for others

Just as your happiness is your responsibility, someone else’s happiness is their responsibility.

If you’ve done someone wrong by all means own up to it and let the other person take it from there. Make amends and let it go, even if they can’t let it go- you can’t make it right for them.

Respond, don’t react

Do you go on the defensive when facing conflict and react instead of responding? Don’t react- take a few moments to consider how you want to respond.

Remember, you don’t have to attend every argument you’re invited to and you don’t have to respond to every verbal jab.

Use emotion to inform, not define

Facing conflict is an emotionally-charged proposition. Use your emotions to inform your position and avoid allowing your feelings to determine your actions. Just because you feel anger doesn’t mean you have to act out in anger.

THINK

Is your response to the conflict Thoughtful, Honest, Inspiring, Necessary, and Kind? If not, it may be helpful to stop and re-THINK your position.

Image by Pietro Izzo

I love your comments! What is the hardest part of dealing with conflict for you? What other tips do you have to share?

When I tell people I write about work-life balance the response I get most often is, “I need some of that!” Don’t we all?

The problem is we tend to think of work-life balance as a destination we hope to arrive at one day but like most of the things we want in life (happiness, love, success) work-life balance is a way of living, not a badge received at the end of the race.

Work-life balance is all about balancing your body, mind, and heart. It’s not about how much time you spend but how you spend your time. You don’t have to be perfect to enjoy balance in your life- just do what you can.

You can start today by discovering small ways to create a life that is more balanced, and then all you have to do is keep it up! Some days this will be easier than others, and that’s okay. Keep trying. Keep practicing. This is a life well-lived in the making and you do it every day.

Okay, so how do you do it every day? I’ve got some ideas about that.

Photo credit: Copyright (c) 123RF Stock Photos

The Dos & Don’ts of Work-Life Balance

Do

create balance in your life every day.

Don’t

make excuses for putting balance at the bottom of your priority list!

Do

enjoy at least 15 minutes of “me time” each day.

Don’t

skip taking breaks at work. You’ll be more productive if you take breaks, I swear!

Do

stay hydrated and eat good food.

Don’t

gorge yourself on junk food. A little is okay in my book- remember balance is the goal!

Do

take naps. Naps are a great way to recharge.

Don’t

stay up too late arguing politics on Facebook, or indulging any of your other internet vices!

Do

declutter your digital life. Get rid of the things that aren’t adding value to your life.

Don’t

plop yourself down on the couch and channel surf. Enjoy shows and movies you love and then get up off the couch and do something else!

Do

get some exercise! Exercise comes in many forms- walking the dog, housecleaning, biking, running, yoga, or everyone’s favorite activity- going to the gym.

Don’t

push yourself beyond your limits. Find your limit and stretch into it instead of just recklessly pushing beyond it.

Do

spend time with people you love.

Don’t

let your dislike of other people get you down.

Do

have fun every day! Life is as fun as you make it!

Don’t

forget to smile! A smile a day keeps stress at bay.

Do

check one item off your to-do list.

Don’t

expect yourself to do it all.

Do

say no when you need to.

Don’t

feel guilty about saying no.

Do

let go. Let go of your worries. Let go of your fears. Let go of your judgements. Just let go.

Don’t

take on other people’s attitudes, emotions, or actions. If it doesn’t belong to you there’s nothing you can do about it, anyway!

Do

accept yourself as the beautifully imperfect individual you are today. All you can do today is the best you can, where you are right now.

Don’t

put yourself down for making mistakes. Mistakes are okay!

Do

be kind to yourself and others.

Don’t

complain. Complaining is bad for your soul, and probably your complexion, too.

Do

love! Love yourself! Love others! Love your life! YEAH!

I love your comments! What other dos and don’ts do you have to share?

Jump and the net will appear. A comforting platitude, no doubt, but is it really true- will your net appear?

What if the net did not appear? What if you fell flat on your face? Yeah, sometimes that happens. There are no guarantees in life. There are no absolutes. There are no sure things. There is only you, so the real question is what are you going to do next?

If the outcome is not certain- and it’s never certain- what are you going to do? That’s the point of taking a leap of faith- you believe you’ll succeed but you don’t know it. That’s why it’s called a leap of faith.

I believe in taking leaps of faith. In fact, I recently took my own leap of faith when I resigned a burnout job without having another job lined up. Was I scared to make this leap? Hell yes, I was! Was it the best possible choice I could make in that situation? Hell yes, it was.

And it did work out for the best, by the way. I found another position before my final day at my previous job but that’s not really the best part. The best part is I’m no longer exhausted and used up to the point of exhaustion. That really sucked!

Every choice is really a leap of faith. We never know what will happen. Things often don’t work out the way we think they will, and often don’t work out the way we want, yet we always have the choice to learn from our mistakes, be grateful for what we have, and make the best of today.

If the outcome is not guaranteed, and I accept that I might fail, how can I make the leap?

Image courtesy of BendingPhotography

Set aside negative emotions

I’m not taking a leap of faith from a place of fear, anger, or resentment. Those emotions tell me not to leap, that leaping is too risky. My worst decisions are the ones influenced by fear, anger, or resentment.

Do what’s right

I was scared to resign a stable corporate job that was using me up, but I wasn’t willing to continue to be used up- that choice wasn’t right for me. Is it really right for anyone to give too much of themselves to a job?

Look before you leap

Before taking my leap I reviewed my budget and considered my choices should I end up unemployed for more than a few weeks. When I took my leap I had a reasonable plan and a few backup options. Making a thoughtful and careful choice helped me have faith.

Trust yourself

I am a confident and capable individual. I make the best of whatever is in front of me. I’ve been through hard times before and I’ve gotten through them. I can get through this, too.

Trusting myself gave me the courage to believe things would work out, even if it wasn’t in the way I originally wanted. I trust in my competency and my abilities.

I believe I can do this. Yes, I can!

I love your comments! Have you ever taken a leap of faith? How did it work out for you?

All too often we fall into the trap of letting our external circumstance determine our internal circumstance. I see it all around me- whether or not friends and co-workers have a good or bad day depends on what happens during the day- it doesn’t have to be that way. Life can be so much more than what happens to you.

Regardless of what happens you can make the best of today. When you make the best of each day you make the best of your life. When you make the best of your life you can manage the ups and downs of life a little easier. When you make the best of your life you can be happy, healthy, and content.

Years ago I lived a reactive life. My life was determined by my circumstances- either bad or good in my mind. Despite being a generally positive person, I let everyone and everything else set the tone for my life.

I wasn’t living the life I wanted so I sought new ways of interacting and engaging in my life. Making the best of each day is just one way I turned my life around and began to respond instead of react to life. It really makes every day a little easier. Scratch that, a LOT easier. And not just easier, but more enjoyable, too. Today, in my life, more good stuff happens than bad and even the bad doesn’t feel all that bad.

5 Ways to Make the Best of Today

01. Live in today

Don’t carry yesterday’s sorrows into today. What happened yesterday happened yesterday, not today. Practice leaving what happened yesterday in the past.

You can try journaling about what happened, or even just jotting a note on a slip of paper, and leaving the past on the page instead of in your heart and mind.

And on that note, let tomorrow happen tomorrow. Anxiety, anticipation, and excitement for tomorrow robs today of it’s joy. Take a deep breath and open yourself to this day.

What are you doing right now? Are you going through the motions or being actively involved in today? Practice mindfulness in the moment.

02. Do good work

Whether it’s a weekday or a weekend, productive activity is good for the soul. Take on small, easily accomplished tasks and enjoy the satisfaction of a job well done! You can break up bigger projects into smaller parts.

The important thing is to get something done- something you can be proud of.

03. Have fun

A good life isn’t all work- get out there and play! Find ways to add fun to your day!

Yes, you can have fun at work, even if your day-to-day job isn’t all that fun. And no doubt you have plenty of ideas to have fun in your personal time. Are you having fun outside of work, too? Get out there and play!

Adding fun to your day helps you keep a balanced perspective on your day and your life.

04. Recharge

You need work, play, and rest to live a full and balanced life. Ideally you’ll have a little of all three each day.

Get a good night’s sleep. Take a power nap.

Even a 5 minute break can be restorative. Stop what you’re doing and do nothing for 5 minutes. Just sit there and breathe for 5 minutes. Let your mind wander or focus on your breath- as long as it restores you.

Find some way to relax and recharge today!

05. Rock this day!

Embrace an attitude of awesome and rock this day! Whatever happens, know that you’ve got this. Make a choice to rock this day! Oh yeah, you’ve got this.

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I love your comments! How do you make the best of today? What are you going to do today?