“How different our lives are when we really know what is deeply important to us, and keeping that picture in mind, we manage ourselves each day to be and to do what really matters most.” – Stephen R. Covey
When Positive Success Group invited me to write this blog on the theme of “Love Life More”, my initial thought was what a great topic this is to write about at the start of a new year! What if we identified what we really love about life and incorporated this into our goals for 2017? It occurred to me that this all ties in very well with the January Quality Coaching Circle theme of “declaring your actions for growth”. It’s no mystery as to why many of both our own and our clients New Year’s Resolutions are lying by the wayside come the end of January. We are prone to setting goals at the start of the year with a “should” mentality (should go to the gym, should give up coffee/ sugar/ cigarettes etc). While this type of goal setting can work out well for those who are genuinely committed and determined enough, the rest of us are often left with the feeling of deja vu by the end of January asking ourselves “didn’t this happen last year also”?
So what if instead of setting goals with the “should” mindset, we identified what we really love about life and incorporated this into our goals for the year ahead? The first step might be figuring out what it is that we love about life, what we are passionate about and what gives us pleasure. This can be different for each individual – be it travelling, growing your own fruit and vegetables, being out in nature more, playing the guitar, singing, spending time with family and friends, creating a new business or project or writing an article.
Would it help to write down what you love about life? Seeing the words on paper can be powerful. Could you pick one or two of these passions and engage with them in 2017? Starting with baby steps and engaging with one passion at the beginning can be a great way to “test the waters” and see what this one thing gives you and how it makes you feel. When we get a sense of well-being from doing what we love we want to do more of it and it can give us the confidence to try out other new things.
The ability to “Love Life More” can be strongly connected to our values. As coaches we are most likely very aware that values can show up strongly in areas that we are most passionate about. For someone who gets most of their enjoyment out of spending time with family and friends; relationships and connecting with others might be a strong value for them and the more they “live” these values, the more fulfilled they will feel which is a great way of loving life.
Spinning the original topic of “Love Life More” around a little, what can we do to let life love us more? If we were open to trying new things, pushed ourselves outside of our comfort zones that bit more, did more of what we would like to do as opposed to what we feel we “should be doing”? Could we let life in that little bit more? Even something that you have not done in years (putting pen to paper to write this blog has reminded me that I used to love writing letters and diaries, something that for me was replaced in recent years by technology). Can we ask ourselves, how can I do more of this thing that I really love and value so much? What would that give me? For me, doing more of what I love (coaching is high up on that list) gives me a sense that I am making the most of my life. It gives me a sense of purpose and wellbeing and it energises me.
What if we could live more in the moment? Would this assist us in our quest to “Love Life More”? I find that the times that I am fully in the moment, in the flow and completely absorbed in something are when I feel most fulfilled. These are the moments/ hours/ days where time slips away without us even being aware of it and generally it’s when we are doing something that we are passionate about and fully engaged in. This can be in contrast to the times where we’re focused on thinking about what might happen tomorrow/ next week/ next month. Maybe it would be a good experiment to see this month if engaging with one thing that you are really passionate about allows you to be more in the moment and to Love Life More?
Enjoy every moment…