Lighten Up Your Life
03/10/18 Filed in: Wellbeing
Think of a time when you felt light, clear, carefree, unburdened and expansive. Remember how good it felt, and how perhaps it reminded you of times as a child when you were more fully present, when your senses were heightened and you felt more alive.
As an adult living in a complex, stressful, demanding, often chaotic world, how nice it would be to have that experience more often. So, what are some things one can do to streamline, simplify and lighten up one's life?
Let's start with the external. Think of your living environment. Is it cluttered or clean? Are your closets full of clothing you never wear, your bookshelves full of books you no longer need, your kitchen cabinets filled with dishes and plates you never use? Clearing your living environment of unwanted items is one way to bring fresh energy into your life. One way to create more clarity, simplicity and flow.
Then there is self care, a blend of the external and internal. Breath, water and movement are basic fundamentals. Do you hold your breath when stressed, or have habit of shallow breathing? Do you pay attention to your intake of water, which helps to boost cellular function, helps to energize? Do you have a movement practice? Yoga, Qi Gong, running, walking, weight lifting?
What do you ingest? Does your diet encourage feelings of lightness and promote physical health and vitality, or has it become a way of satiating emotional hunger, a way of shoving feelings down, a vehicle used to make you feel safe? We all have deeply embedded patterns which show up when we look at our relationship with food.
And do you have outdated beliefs, limiting thoughts and unresolved fears which hold you back and limit your ability to live a more fulfilling, expansive life? There are many tools one can use to help identify and shift these. Work with a life coach, a therapist, a counselor. Find self help books, watch webinars, write down how you feel you hold yourself back and spend time with yourself feeling into how you could shift these patterns.
I'm sure we could all answer yes to many of the questions posed. What is key here, and key to really everything, is our level of self value and self love. If you have answered yes, and most of us will have, extend some compassion toward yourself. It simply means you are human.
So cultivate self love because self love is like a golden treasure. And know that when there is a desire, taking even the smallest steps toward a shift can be profound. After all, change is an evolutionary process. What are some small steps you could take to lighten your life? You are worth it!