For some 2017 was full of changes and challenges, and many people couldn't wait for the year to end. 2018 brings hope for a better year in love, relationships, career, finances, and home. How your year will be is not determined by what happens in your life but by how you react to life's events. Have you ever experience the phenomenon when you buy a new car (or another item) and as soon as you take it home you begin to see the car everywhere? You don't consciously try to look for your automobile, but you do it anyway. This same principle can happen with seemly positive or negative items. You can choose to watch for positive things in your life or negative ones.
If you are a person who always gets offended or upset, then it is likely you are focusing on these types of items. Versus if you regularly have good things happen in your life, you are likely looking for positive things. You have the power to choose how you see your world positively or negatively. How do you focus on the good versus negative? I will give you some tips below.
1. Start And Finish Your Day On A Positive Note
How do you currently start and finish your day? One of the best ways to have a great day is by starting it off on a positive note. You can do this through prayer, meditation, by speaking to God, your guides, angels, or by listening to uplifting music. Throughout your day and night pay attention to what you are ingesting into your head through, co-workers, friends, news and social media, television, and music. If the things you are surrounding yourself create negative thoughts or feelings, you may want to change those things in your life to something more positive. I love to watch crime television and murder mysteries, but I notice that my mood tends to be less favorable when I watch them. Therefore I minimize my viewing of them. Do you have a decent commute to work? If yes, this is a great time to listen to enriching audiobooks and podcast. It's amazing what you can learn or gain during a 30-minute commute. These small tweaks in your day can change how you perceive the world and your life. Before you go to bed, gratitude is a great way to end the day. Merely noting five things you were grateful for that day can lead to a more positive nights rest. To learn techniques, feel free to read my previous blog How Gratitude can Change your life.
2. Look For The Life Lesson
Some of the most challenging experiences offer a great lesson that can make your life better. Several people, I have encountered over the past year have lost or chosen to leave their jobs due to adverse circumstances or retired. In the US for many your identities are tied to your career. When you are no longer in that role, it tends to leave you with a bit of a hole in your life. Once the feelings have settled, you can look at the lesson you gained from experience. Did you learn valuable skills? Meet great people? Were you happy in the previous job? What doors can now open given your career change? Life lessons can apply to relationships also. If you were recently divorced or had a breakup, what did you gain from that relationship? What did or could you learn about yourself from that situation?
3. Do Things You Enjoy Weekly
Life is not meant to be survived but to be enjoyed. Don't wait for a special occasion to have fun. Schedule weekly joy in your life no matter what is happening. My 70-year old father was recently diagnosed with cancer a few days before Christmas. He could choose to sit at home contemplating what this means but instead he decided to go to his home in warm sunny Florida so that he could enjoy the Holiday season before his next doctor's appointment. Enjoying life is a choice. If you don't own a second home in a beautiful area, you could always do something else like plan a stay-cation, go to the movies, play a game, see a comedy show, go out to dinner, take a walk, or go dancing. If you are stuck in a region of the US that is getting covered with snow, when is the last time you made a snowman or angel?
4. Practice Gratitude and Being of Service
The quickest way to change your perspective is to look for things to be grateful for in your life. You can do this by helping others who are less fortunate than you. To learn techniques, feel free to read my previous blog How Gratitude can Change your life.
5. Seek Help
Sometimes when something negative happens, we get stuck in our emotions and stay in a negative loop. When you cannot see your way out of the situation, seeking help is one of the best options. A third party (hypnotherapist, clergyman, counselor, friend, or relative) can be objective and help you see things from a different perspective.
These tips may seem easy, and they are if you put them into practice. Life isn't always complicated, and with a few tweaks, you can change your world. Pay attention to themes in your life, are they positive or negative? How will you choose to look at your life in 2018? You have the power to decide!
Tamara Small
Happiness Now
Hypnotherapist & Coach
619.880.7010
tamaraonhappinessnow@gmail.com
TamaraonHappinessnow.com