Can you remember what it was like when you were a teenager and had your whole life in front of you? You were filled with hope that you would reach all of your goals and life would be happy. Then something happens. As you get older you realize that life is full of difficulties. You sort of wake up from your sleep with the knowledge that life isn’t as easy as you thought it was and you begin dealing with all of the challenges you are facing.
Some people keep striving toward making a certain amount of money or having that large house certain that once they get it they will be happy. What usually ends up happening is that once they get it there is a momentary thrill but then the thrill is gone.
So what leads to fulfillment in life? You probably heard this before but life is about enjoying the journey. Being in the moment and having as many meaningful moments as you can. How you feel about yourself at any given moment can determine the quality of the moment. How you interpret events all day long determines the quality of your moments (see my Brain Babble posts).
How can you increase the moments where you experience feeling good about yourself? What are you proud of about yourself? What else would you like to be doing with your time? What do you find meaningful? How do you respond to stressful events? Can you learn new skills so you can improve the way you deal with stress?
How we handle our inner life determines the quality of our life. We can own a new house but if we are running around angry and complaining all day and if we hate our job then we are not experiencing quality moments regardless of living in our dream house.
Check in with yourself a few times a day and write down how you are feeling. Set your watch to go off at different intervals and see what you are thinking about. I am going to set a reminder in my calendar tomorrow to check in with myself every couple of hours. Let’s work at living our lives on purpose and experiencing more joy in the present moment.