Weekly Happiness Note October 24, 2024
3 Powerful Practices to Embrace Your Full Life
How we care for ourselves greatly impacts how we manage and receive experiences throughout our day.
Happy Thursday! 🌞
How do you re-energize? How we care for ourselves greatly impacts how we manage and receive experiences throughout our day. In this week’s Happiness Note, “3 Powerful Practices to Embrace Your Full Life,” I share some ways to re-frame how you view busy and instead embrace the fullness of your life. ✨✨✨Hint: claiming time to say yes to self-care is a central part.
You can access this week's topic below (available for free subscribers) and consider becoming a paid subscriber to receive the weekly planning prompt and framework to set you up for October 28th - November 3rd. ❤ Emily
This Week’s Featured Topic:
3 Powerful Practices to Embrace Your Full Life
How full is your schedule? Do you juggle many things in your day? Do you ever think things would be better if there were more time?
It’s pretty common to think and complain about having too much to do and not enough time. On many different occasions, I have heard myself whine, “I am so busy!” Only later, I wonder why everything feels really hard as I frantically push to fit it all in.
Imagine what would shift if we reframed our approach to balancing and experiencing full days. What if we considered the way we view “busy” under a new lens—one steeped in gratitude?
To enjoy the variety in my life, I am re-framing how I experience “busy.” Rather than scrutinizing the term with a negative tone, I thought it might be refreshing to redefine it in a way that is a bit more optimistic and inviting. These are three powerful practices that help me re-frame the way I view busy and instead embrace the fullness of my life. Try them out and see if they may be a fit for where you are in your life.
1) Focus
What do you focus on? Perhaps you are accustomed to living in the story that life is hard, and there is too much pressure. Or maybe your go-to place is the idea that life is exciting and opportunities exist for you to enjoy a full experience. What we think about and focus our attention on influences how much enjoyment we receive.
When we have tunnel vision of everything we must accomplish in the day and feel overwhelmed, life feels heavy and exhausting. On the flip side, when we focus on enjoying whatever we are doing now and feel grateful, life flows more easily.
If you find yourself overwhelmed or exhausted by the to-dos in your day, see what happens when you focus on what you can do in the moment before you and on how you want to feel. When mindful of where we place our attention, it becomes more natural to appreciate and enjoy our full lives. We get to write the story of our lives, and at any time, we can redirect our focus to start creating a story that feels good.
2) Self-Care
How we take care of ourselves greatly impacts how we manage and receive experiences throughout our day.
Self-care involves things like regular exercise, nourishing our bodies with healthy food, hydrating our bodies, and getting adequate sleep. It all seems pretty straightforward: maintain the machine you live in if you want it to run correctly and efficiently. Expecting that we can manage the weight of the world without first taking care of our basic needs is a tall order. It makes much more sense to take care of ourselves in the best way we can to wake up refreshed and ready to enjoy a new day.
Taking care of our physical bodies and nurturing our emotional health is so important. Stop saying yes if you really mean no. Set healthy boundaries with people you share space with. If your schedule is full and taking on one more thing will rob you of enjoying your full life, then get into the driver’s seat of your life and only take on what you can happily and successfully manage.
If you aren’t enjoying your life, it’s time to look at what you can do to turn things around so that you are. Each of us has limited time here on earth. It’s up to each of us to take the initiative to fill it with our own unique version of a life well lived.
3) Gratitude
Gratitude has a way of softening some of the most nerve-racking times. Have you ever been stuck in traffic, late for a big meeting, or felt overwhelmed to complete and total exhaustion? When we approach stressful moments in our day by accepting what is instead of pushing for what isn’t, the thoughts that are distressing and harmful to our health begin to fade away.
It would be much more desirable and responsible to manage time, boundaries and emotions in a way that would assist us in avoiding these stressful situations in the first place. BUT, life is unpredictable, and the bumps in the road have a way of presenting themselves at interesting times. These bumps in the road become much more challenging when we get caught up grasping for what isn’t in front of us instead of embracing what is. What I mean is if you are obsessing over why you are late, why things are hard, or why things aren’t lining up, it just creates more chaos and discord.
Instead, take a few deep breaths, accept what is in the moment before you, and bring to mind three things you are grateful for. The moment we are in is all we have. So, if it feels tough, regroup the best way you can and start building evidence of why life is a gift. Find the magic in your moments. Focus on including things in your day that make your heart sing. Live your life through a lens that has you embracing the fullest version of your life each day you get to be in it.
Receiving the opportunity to live a full life is meant to be a gift, not a burden. It all comes down to our perception and approach to life. See what happens when you add an element of gratitude to your view.
This Week’s Quote:
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Planning for Next Week📝:
Use the framework below to plan your upcoming week: October 28th - November 3rd. Some people like to map out their forthcoming 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, ‘October 28th - November 3rd’, 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: October 28th - November 3rd. 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.
Instructional Video: Get free access to this mini 20-minute video course. It will show you how to efficiently 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 three 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 has been energizing me lately? What has been draining my energy?
Connect with Nature: If getting out in nature solo feels hard, call a friend or a loved one to join you. I feel blessed for our rescue dog, Annie. She joined our family in 2019 and has expanded love everywhere she goes. She’s also given me the gift of getting outside to enjoy nature a lot more. She likes to take her time on our walks, which has taught me patience and to soak in the sights and sounds of nature. Here is a roundup of my nature captures this week:
Journal reflection point prompted by nature: What are your top 3 nature captures this week? Who might you reach out to connect with who would support you in getting out in nature more? If nobody is top of mind, perhaps a walking meeting in person or on the phone. Or a connection call with a loved one while you enjoy the scenery around you. Or a walk with a furry friend?
Share your intention for the week of October 28th - November 3rd. What are you calling in? What is your power word/phrase?
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Disclaimer: This newsletter's advice and strategies are for informational purposes only and do not constitute professional advice. While we strive to provide accurate and helpful information, we cannot guarantee outcomes or be held liable for any consequences of using or misusing the information provided. We encourage you to seek professional advice or consult with qualified experts for guidance related to your particular needs.