The happiest people I know – losing weight, succeeding in life, and loving themselves

Where are you headed? The happiest, most successful and satisfied people I know can all answer that question without hesitation. Are you one of them?

Have you ever felt like you’re so busy living the day to day that you never have time to listen to that annoying niggle telling you to take time out to sit down and figure out your goals?

How many of us can truly say that we understand ourselves, that we ‘know who we are’, have a clear idea of our values and beliefs, and that we know what we want out of life? Can you?

Are you certain that you are living the life of your choice?

Or does the everyday life keep getting in the way?

Here’s a news flash: Life is Now.

Sounds silly, but when that realisation hit me some time back, it was like this huge burden fell from my shoulders. I suddenly realised – every day should be fun and inspiring. Every day should bring me closer to my goals, and make me feel good about myself.

Waiting until the time is right, until you’ve just got that promotion, made up with your boyfriend, aren’t so tired, well – it won’t get you anywhere. After all, it’s what you do on a daily basis that will determine whether you eventually arrive at your destination.

So where are you headed? If you look back over the last week, month or year, where have your actions driven you?

If you’re like many of my clients, you probably feel like life is rushing by too fast to really sit down and determine where it is taking you. Recently I spoke with a client about figuring out what she wanted out of life. She already knew that the job she was working in was not right for her, and she had a fair idea of what she wanted to be doing instead.

Furthermore, she’d invested a fair amount of real time (as well as mental and emotional energy) over the last six months in turning around her exercise regime, her eating, and undoing some limiting belief patterns.

All in all, she was well on the road to success.

Yet she was still struggling with putting it all together, getting a really clear idea of what she wanted. I’ve found that when you examine all areas of how you want your ‘dream life’ to look, it makes it so much simpler to begin living that life, Immediately.

Would you like to begin living your dream life today?

Here’s a simple way to get started:

Take a blank piece of paper. In the middle, draw a large circle with ‘My Dream Life’ – or something similar that works for you – written inside it,

Next, draw 5 branches stemming out of your circle. At the end of each branch, draw another circle. Each outer circle should have 4 or 5 stems sticking out of it.

Each of the 5 outer circles relates to your life, as you want it to be.

The 5 circles are:

1. Look and feel
2. Life Experiences
3. What people say about you
4. Daily activities
5. Values

This is where you begin the work. Use the following guidelines to write down your thoughts and ideas for each section. You should attach at least 3 or 4 thoughts to the stems coming out of each circle.

What do you want your life to look and feel like? Perhaps you want to feel secure and safe. Maybe it’s excitement you’re after. Do you want passion? Kindness? Peace of mind? Spirituality? Self-control?

How about Life Experiences? What are some of the things you’ve always wanted to experience? This could be a travel destination, but it could also be something like the experience of standing up to a boss, or telling your partner your deepest fears. Remember, there’s no wrong answers here!

Now I know we shouldn’t worry about what other think, but what people say about your reflects back to who you are. How do you want to be perceived? As stressed and busy? Or calm, in control, compassionate?

What are the activities you’d like to fill your days with? Do you want to look back and remember rushing from one task or meeting to the next, with barely a few minutes each day for yourself? Or have you always wanted to be a writer, a painter, run your own business? What activities would you need to do on a daily basis (even for a few minutes) in order to create your dream life?

Finally, what are your values? Values are the principles you choose to live by. If you don’t choose them, and make a daily choice to live by them, you’ll probably wake up one day and realise you are living the values of someone or something else – your work, your family, your partner. Why not figure out what is important to you. If you forget everything the world has ever distracted you with, what really matters? Is it money, a new car, those new boots, a promotion? Or is it family, honesty, compassion, helping others?

All finished?

It’s funny how much comes out when you really ask yourself these questions, isn’t it?

And this is just the start – each time you go through this process you’ll create a clearer picture of what you want. I’d suggest doing it once a week. Not too much to ask, really, is it? 5 or 10 minutes a week and you are creating a mindset of purpose and success.

Where are you headed? The happiest, most successful, most satisfied people I know can answer that question without hesitation – and now you are on your way to being one of them!