3 Practices to Change Your Life

What I am about to say has all been said before.  There is nothing innovative, ground breaking or exciting about what I am about to tell you, however if you choose to read further I will share with you three practices to change your life.

You already know them and they are most likely locked somewhere within you.  In fact, you may even practice one or two of them regularly, but I can assure you that at some stage in your life you have forgotten to remember these three practices to change your life.

If you are anything like me, and I’m sure you are, you often get busy in your daily life.  There are just so many things that grab your attention or that you must do and what happens in the busyness of life?  Well we often loose perspective and we forget to remember.  This even happens to optimistic people, in the busyness of life, life seems to compress like a coiled spring presenting an array of problems and things that need to be dealt with and in our super human mode of doing we forget about what is important to us.

So what are these three practices to change your life you may be asking?

Feel Gratitude

YES!  It all starts with gratitude, always.  Please note that I have said feel gratitude and not practice gratitude or be grateful.  What is the difference you may wonder?  Well think about it, how does it feel in your body when you are happy, joyful, or content?  Your endorphins have kicked in and you simply feel good, like you’re on top of a wave and riding high.  Sometimes when we are grateful, it is a cerebral experience for us.  For example, you might think about being grateful for your health or job or partner and while you really are grateful, you don’t allow it to sink deeper into your body into a cellular level.

Take a moment to deeply feel grateful for something.  Concentrate on what you are grateful for and allow the feeling to sink into your body and fill your body with a feeling of gratitude.  Before you know it, your endorphins will kick in and you will feel contentment, joy, wonder.

When we practice the feeling of gratitude regularly, we elevate our mind, spirit, and body and the consequence is improved health and wellbeing.

Be Sociable

When I observe the world around me, I often feel like we are becoming more unsociable in society.  We have all these gadgets and new media platforms enabling us to engage with others and yet loneliness and social isolation seems more pervasive than ever.

Have you noticed how you now make appointments to phone your family and friends or you no longer drop in unannounced.  How often have you used the excuse “I have no time” to not see a beloved family member or friend?  The fact is people, especially close family, can get on your nerves.  They get in your face and make your business their business and sometimes you just don’t want the hassle of having to deal with an opposing opinion or the family dynamic.  However, it is through relationships and time spent with others that we learn and grow.  Research has shown that people who have strong social networks are more resilient and successful in life than those who are more isolated.

When we socialise with family and friends we can share burdens and successes.  We have the opportunity to give and receive love.  We can laugh and cry together.  We are also able to see ourselves as others see us.  Often we forget that those who love us have a different perspective of who we are than we do.  They often see strengths in us that we overlook and can offer us new perspectives, when we only see the world in one particular way.

Be encouraged to make time this week to see a loved one that you haven’t connected with in a while.  Spend time with those you love and really enjoy their company and be bolstered by their presence in your life.

Stay Present Focused

I admit it is not always easy to feel gratitude or be social with those we love but sometimes it is darned near impossible to stay present focused.

Our minds are constantly running, thinking thousands of thoughts a day.  Very often, our thoughts are inconsequential and of no importance but more often than not our thoughts become stuck in the past or run off into the future.

We lose our present focus and lack presence in this very moment, but actually, it is in this present moment that life is happening.

Let’s look at an example.  You are driving to work early in the morning, traffic is flowing, good music is playing on the radio, you got the kids off to school with ease, but the focus of your mind is not with you in the moment.  You are thinking of the disagreement you had with a colleague yesterday and rehashing the whole debacle in your mind.  You have already thought of how your day is going to be and all the problems you are going to face, all the while missing the opportunity to enjoy the easy flow of traffic and great music on the radio.

Don’t you just hate it when at the end of the day you look back and can’t seem to remember where it’s gone?  It flew by without your participation and you have that uncomfortable feeling of unfulfillment and disappointment.  When we stay present focused we remind ourselves that each moment has meaning and value and we can make the most of them if we choose to.

A good way to become present focused is to become still and focus on your breath.  Close your eyes, take a few deep slow breathes, inhaling, and exhaling and think only about inhaling and exhaling.  If you are running around like a headless chicken, this is a great way to slow yourself down and be in this moment.

So, those are the three practices to change your life.  As I said at the beginning, we all know these things but we forget to remember.  When we regularly feel gratitude, are sociable, and stay present focused we change our lives because we undergo a process of letting go of those stupid small things that rob us of blessings and remain centred and surrounded with love.

Let me know how your practice goes of these three things; I would love to hear from you.  Sign up for my weekly blog posts if you have enjoyed this article.