“Happiness, not in another place but this place…not for another hour, but this hour.”
~ Walt Whitman
“What day is it?”
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favorite day,” said Pooh.”
Can you say today is your favorite day too?
The simple wisdom of Pooh, always showing us the way to appreciate our lives in the moment regardless of our circumstances. So why do we spend so much of our time running toward the life we want to live instead of living the life we have right now?
To help you decode the mystery, let’s start with a fill in the blank.
I will start living my life once I have or once I complete___________.
The answer is the reason you are putting off your life, your dream or even your happiness. You chase that answer relentlessly hoping that once you catch it you will start living your life or the life you think you want to live. But what if you discovered that all of that running and pursuing only gave you what you already had?
Now fill in this blank, I want to be ______________ in my life. (thanks Danielle LaPorte)
The second answer deals more with how do you want to feel in your life. (happy, loved, content, peaceful, grounded, free, confident,etc.)
Both of these answers are completely different because the first one is a physical thing, like quitting a dead end job, finishing a course that leads to a better life, having more time, a better job, a business, more money, etc. The second one is the feeling that you hope to create from the first answer.
What if you already have the second answer (the feeling) in your life right now without pursuing the first answer (the dream, goal, job, etc.)?
Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying you should stop shooting for the stars, going for your dreams or quitting that life sucking job. No what I’m saying is savor that feeling that you want in your life and keep savoring it WHILE you are moving toward your greatness.
Truly appreciating your life for what it is……LIFE. There is no perfection in any of our lives, just day to day living with all of it’s ups, downs and warts. (okay not warts but you get the picture)
Instead of running toward your life, stop right now and savor the feelings you want in your life.
Shifting your thinking from “what you need next in your life” to “how do you want to feel in your life” moves you more into the present moment of living your life instead of chasing it. Focusing on how you want to feel on a soul level can change what you are running toward so that you start enjoying the journey instead of the destination.
I shared this shift in thinking with my Mastermind group at our monthly meeting (these girls are my greatest guinea pigs and cheerleaders…thanks girls!) writing down 3 feelings that we want more of in our lives for 2014. Each of us are moving toward a dream or goal in our lives but when we shifted our thoughts to the 3 feelings it added a wonderful dimension to each of our journeys.
What about you, ready to start feeling the way you want to feel in your life without the marathon to get there? Ready to uncover the feelings that speak to your soul so you can start living them every day? I would love for you to share in the comment section the 3 feelings you want in YOUR life and to help get you started here are mine:
Free, Soulful, Peace
* If you would like to dive deeper into finding how to map out your core desire feelings, check out The Desire Map by Danielle LaPorte.
photo credit: San Diego Shooter via photopin