Creating A Life You Love

Living a Life You Love:
5 Steps to Creating Happiness , Fulfillment & Personal Growth

Are you living a life that you love? Do you wake up in the morning excited about the day ahead, delighted about what you are doing? Are you living a life that makes you feel happy, maybe even grateful?

When I asked myself these questions I realized that my entire life wasn't exactly the way that I wanted it to be. Then I began to examine what happiness and fulfillment really means to me. I discovered that happiness is more of an internal state of emotional, spiritual, mental, and physical health than the attainment of goals or material objects.

So I began a personal quest to answer this question, “What does it take to create a life that I love fully and completely?” And this is what I learned.

Step 1 – Believe that it can be done!

  • What you believe is what you perceive , and what you perceive is what you receive. Whatever we focus on in life is what we see and what we see defines our personal reality and boundaries. In other words, our beliefs define our comfort zone and we only let in what fits into this zone.
  • Ask yourself, is the reality of a life that I love fully and completely within my comfort zone? Do I truly believe that it is possible for me?
  • If the answer is Yes, your off to a good start. If No, you can still create a life that you love , you’ll just have to take it one step at a time. You will be expanding your possibilities and humans struggle with change, but the personal growth will be worth the effort!

Anthony Robbins teaches you how to create the motivation to take action in his bestseller, "Awaken the Giant Within: How to Take Immediate Control of Your Mental, Emotional, Physical, and Financial". Marianne Williamson teaches us about the miracle of a changed belief or a shift of perspective in "A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles".

Step 2 – Be clear about what you want!

  • This sounds deceptively easy but on closer examination it can be a bit of a challenge
  • In “The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living”, the Dalai Lama suggests that for Americans, one of our challenges is our habit of focusing on what we don't want.  Instead, we must focus on what we do want in life.
  • Take one day to pay attention and count how many times you talk about what you don't want versus what you do want. You'll be surprised!

Step 3 – Examine your entire life and document your true desires

"The life which is unexamined is not worth living."
Plato (427 BC - 347 BC) , Dialogues , Apology

Contribution/
Service

Hobby/
Exercise (movement)

Fun/Leisure

Family

Alone Time

Personal Growth/
Learning
Work/
Career

Romance

Friends

  • Ask yourself the following questions:
    • What is the state of affairs in each of these categories of my life?
    • Which areas are working well?
    • Which areas do I want to improve in?
    • Is my life balanced? Do I spend time in each of these areas every week?
    • Am I creating the happiness that I want to experience in each of these areas?
    • What are my true desires in each of these areas of my life?
  • Ensure that the activities in these areas contribute positively and constructively to your mental , physical , spiritual and emotional life.

Step 4 – Make a plan!

  • After answering the questions , determine what it will take to create what you want in each area.
  • Create balance in your life by documenting how much time you want to give to each area every week.
  • Prioritize your goals working on one area at a time.
  • Give yourself a start time and a dead line but be gentle and flexible! Adjust if necessary.

No one is better at getting you to create a joyful life than Barbara Sher! Her books are astonishing in their ability to help you create a joyful life and overcome any obstacle that may come your way, with patience and self-love. Please read, "Live the Life You Love : In Ten Easy Step-By Step Lessons", "Wishcraft : How to Get What You Really Want", "I Could Do Anything If I Only Knew What", and "It's Only Too Late If You Don't Start Now : How to Create Your Second Life After Forty". Get any one or all of these books to change your life forever!

Step 5 – Work the plan with support !

  • Share your plan with family and friends and ask for support
  • This step will improve your relationships by creating intimacy and cooperation. You may even inspire someone!
  • However, if there are people close to you who are nay sayers, keep your changes to yourself! Nothing kills a dream like negativity. Find others who are like minded and share with them.
  • Get going

In summary , in order to create a life you love with happiness , fulfillment & personal growth you must:

    • Believe it can be done
    • Be clear about what you want
    • Examine your entire life and document your desires
    • Make a plan
    • Execute the plan with support

As a result you will surely create a life full of happiness , fulfillment and personal growth. I encourage you to print this page and answer the questions in your spare time. Examining your life and increasing your own happiness and fulfillment will benefit you and all around you.

I'll leave you with a famous quote from Marian Williamson's book, "A Return to Love: Reflections on the Principles of "A Course in Miracles" ":

". . . our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn't serve the world. There's nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we're liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."