Weekly Happiness Note July 25, 2024

How to Fall in Love with Your Life

Jul 25, 2024

“Success is liking yourself, liking what you do and liking how you do it.”
~ Maya Angelou

Happy Thursday! 🌞

How do you celebrate your success, big and small? What can you celebrate today? I love the quote by Maya Angelou, “ Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it.“ In this week’s happiness note, I share all about the power of having a personal definition of success and creating a life you love in, ‘How to Fall in Love with Your Life.’

Check out this week's note, including a weekly planning framework for July 29th - August 4th. ❤ Emily

Here is a short 90-second video that highlights this week’s topic, and for the rest, subscribe below:

This Week’s Featured Topic:

How to Fall in Love with Your Life

Are you ready to love your life?

One of the most proactive ways of developing a happy mindset is to have a strong relationship with yourself.

When we view ourselves through a loving lens, the disappointments, judgments and outside noise will be less likely to chip away at our self-worth. When we regularly practice giving compassion to ourselves, it becomes more natural to fall in love with our lives.

This all sounds so straightforward and easy to apply. Just be kind to ourselves, compassionate and loving and all will be well. While this is the absolute truth of the matter, sometimes adopting this mindset takes a little bit of extra deliberate attention and practice.

These are some of the things that have helped me fall in love with my life.

Get Passionate

When was the last time you did something that you have a true passion for? Imagine what it would be like if you incorporated your passions into your daily life. Living the life of our dreams and loving the life of our dreams, usually means we are engaged in our passions. When we do an activity that gives us that charge or zest for life, whatever that may be, we are filling up our spiritual bucket. When we are fulfilled from within, it becomes second nature to take ownership and love the life we are in. Passion creates an energy that is contagious and uplifting, include it in your recipe for a life well-loved.

Take Time to Reflect

Take some time to regularly reflect. It could be through meditation, journaling or perhaps talking to yourself in the woods. Take stock of all that is going well and feel deep gratitude for that. If you must, yell really loud: “I LOVE MY LIFE!” This is a perfect thing to do while talking to yourself in the woods.

Self-reflection is also a wonderful opportunity to create a clear vision for your future. What are your dreams? Think about them, talk about them and write them down. Have some fun and make a vision board with colorful images and affirmations detailing your dream life. This creative expression of your desires and goals will become like your personal road map and first step to making them happen.

When we are aware of what our big dreams include, we are more likely to recognize and seize opportunities as they arise. When we move in the direction of our dreams, no matter where we find ourselves on that path, it is common to feel happiness and peace for being in a place that fits well with who we are.

Surround Yourself with Positive Peeps

I love the saying, “we are what we eat.” I think the same is true about who we surround ourselves with. We become like the people we regularly share space with. Negative Nellies have a way of sapping energy over time, and their dark cloud can cast shadows on even the most positive people. It is so refreshing and inspiring to be around people who take accountability for themselves and who genuinely want to see you do well too.

Of course, the recipe to a good friendship is being a solid sounding board and compassionate shoulder when need be. Discussions won’t always be about sunshine and lollipops (though that could be fun!). One way of distinguishing whether the relationships and regular exchanges you take part in are healthy or not, is to ask yourself this question: Are you merely the dumping ground for someone else, or does the relationship involve giving and receiving? Only you can honestly answer that question, and only you can decide whether the people you are surrounded by are lifting you up or bringing you down.

Celebrate Every Chance You Get

Celebrate your wins, big and small. Celebrate other people’s wins, big and small. This kind of feel-good energy is exactly that: it feels good! Life can become monotonous and dull if we let it. Fears can override our passions if we let them. We get to choose how we show up. Celebrating the many gifts life offers us on a moment-to-moment basis is probably the most powerful way of feeling good and loving life. Sing a song, bust out your best dance moves, and celebrate the life you are in. This is something that can be done right now. There is no need to wait. Dance, Celebrate, Dance!

Restart, Right Now

Each day is a gift to start fresh and practice living and loving our lives as they are. If there were things about yesterday that didn’t feel so hot, or had you considering maybe this isn’t the life you want. Restart from where you are and shift your focus to this moment. Find the evidence of the joy that exists right now. Give some of the above ideas a try, they work for me every time. Remember: “Passion, Reflection, Positive Peeps, Celebrate, Restart and Repeat!” Oh ya, and EnJOY!

Fall in love with your life, that is why we are here!

❤ Emily

This Week’s Quote:

Limited on time or don’t feel like reading

Check out this week’s Video instead:

Planning for Next Week📝:

Use the framework below to plan your upcoming week: July 29th - August 4th. Some people like to map out their upcoming week on Friday to ease into the weekend, knowing they are ready to hit the road running on Monday. Others (like myself) have a Sunday planning ritual. Do what works best for you. Over the years, in supporting many people in their planning and goal-setting, it seems to work best to pick a day of the week that’s easy to stick to so that your weekly planning becomes a habit and ritual.

What are your wins? Before you organize the upcoming week, ‘July 29th - August 4th’, reflect on the week you are wrapping up. What are your wins (big or small)? What is something you are grateful for? What have you learned about yourself this week? Record your reflections in your journal or the Notes section of the Planner Printout. Feel free to comment below (others in this community will also be able to see your comment) or hit reply to this note and share directly with me.

Planner PDF printout: This printout is from the ‘Fall in Love with Your Life, Seasonal Planner’ and will give you the framework and planning system to help you organize your upcoming week: The week of July 29th - August 4th. Click here to access. You will need to enter a password to open the PDF. It’s in all caps: FILWYL

Accountability: If you’d like an accountability check-in to support you in making the weekly planning ritual a regular habit, just hit reply to this email after you’ve organized your week and let me know you’re organized and complete. Feel free to share your weekly intention/power word. I’m always happy to be the check-in support and would love to celebrate your wins along the way.

Instructional Video: Get free access to this mini 20-minute video course. It will show you how to easily use the ‘Fall in Love With Your Life, Seasonal Planner’ method of organizing your week. Go here to access the free video course.

Priorities: What are your top 3 priorities for the upcoming week? What are some of the daily ways you will prioritize yourself? Remember to balance your energy output with energy input. Think: what is energizing me lately? What has been draining my energy?

Connect with Nature: As we start a new month, notice the subtle (or not subtle) changes in nature. Maybe the leaves are getting dry and crunchy or starting to fall from the trees. Or perhaps you notice new varieties of flowers popping up. Take it all in and notice the daily changes in your natural environment.

Journal reflection points prompted by nature: Facing uncertainty or being presented with change can feel challenging. We can be creatures of habit, and change can feel unnerving. Notice how nature is always changing and does so with certainty and gentle knowing. Nature is beautiful no matter what phase or cycle it is in, and we accept the change and evolution as natural and normal. What might shift in your life if you gave yourself permission to face change and your evolution with the same sense of grace and acceptance?

Or come Share in our Facebook Group

Share your intention for the week of July 29th - August 4th. What are you calling in? What is your power word/phrase?

Weekly Happiness Note with Emily Madill

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