Some days we just get stuck, we’re in a slump, going through the motions and accomplishing very little. Our mind is faithfully focused on the things we don’t want.
I had a couple of days like that this week. Feeling totally out of sorts. Not wanting or even being able to move myself into action. Devoid of ideas.
Don’t fret if you’re stuck. Getting stuck might be the greatest thing that happened to you today, because it makes you stop. It puts the brakes on those comforting routines, the everyday momentum of life and you have little choice but to pay attention to what’s around you.
Something marvellous happens when you stop. When you are forced to acknowledge that something isn’t quite right you can begin to do something about it.
Here’s 5 pick-me-ups that have the power to seriously change your life.
Find peace
Life is a paradox, a constant state of flux . Once you accept that you don’t know where you’re going in every moment, you stop pushing against the tide and relax into the flow.
You’re making your own way, your own path with every step. Within you are all the talents and gifts you need to fulfill your purpose and an incredible capacity to feel good, so free yourself from the need to control the world and be at peace. You are the one creating your reality.
Sometimes it’s necessary to feel stuck in order to awaken a fresh sense of inspiration, insight and understanding. You cannot find peace by avoiding life. ~ Virginia Woolf
Be generous
Lead the way in kindness and compassion. As Plato said ‘Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.’ And if they’re not, their battle is at least as challenging as yours.
Never underestimate the power of a kind word, a smile, or an honest act of friendliness to turn someone’s life around, including yours. Sprinkle compliments and thoughtful words everywhere you go.
It isn’t necessary to have all the answers, just to have an outstretched hand to raise someone up when they fall. It’s the little actions that count; a reminder that everyone is valuable, worthy and lovable. How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world. ~ Anne Frank
Curb over thinking
Don’t make life more complicated than it is. Don’t make feeling happy more complicated than it is. Don’t make fulfilling your desires more complicated than it is.
Over thinking can create a problem that wasn’t there to begin with.
Comparing your progress in life to that of another isn’t helpful. If there were only one path to success and joy and fulfillment it would be pretty crowded. We’d all be on it. There’s only one path for you and that’s your path.
The formula is simple. Start out in the direction of your dreams and keep on going. You might experience detours and obstacles and reasons to veer in another direction or even come to a complete halt. Take a deep breath and get moving again.
If you take a wrong turn, it doesn’t mean you’ve come to the end of the road. A bad day doesn’t make a bad life.
Don’t over think it. Re-commit to your vision and keep heading in the direction of your desires, one step, one day at a time.
I learned this, at least, by my experiment; that if one advances confidently in the direction of his dreams, and endeavors to live the life which he has imagined, he will meet with a success unexpected in common hours. ~ Thoreau
Re-nogotiate your agreement with reality
The way you see reality boils down to your interpretation. Every event that occurs is interpreted through the lens of your beliefs, many of which were handed to you before the age of six. Don’t let a six year old drive the bus.
The main cause for our unhappiness isn’t the actual experience but our thoughts about the experience. The labels we give to the experience.
Happiness and success really come down to two elements: the way you think and the way you act based upon your thoughts.
Your life is whatever you say it is. And by changing your thinking about life you change your life experience. Begin to think you can do great things. Because you can. You are here to be your greatest self. Do it. Be it. Live it.
Begin to see events with new eyes, and no labels and your agreement with reality is decisively altered. You have been conditioned to think of things as bad or good. You can de-condition yourself…it is possible. ~ Srikumar Rao
Make room for the flowers
Every gardener knows that weeds will choke the flowers. Pessimistic, negative thinking takes up the space we need for our seeds of optimism and positivity to flourish.
Complaints, criticisms or recriminations need to be put on hold whilst we look for potential benefits in our experiences.
Find something to appreciate, to value and you’re doing your part to sow a more lovely harvest.
Giving more time to affirming, acknowledging and seeking the opportunities in any given situation will deliver better results and help maintain an optimistic frame of mind.
Keep things in perspective and have a little self-compassion, it has the power to seriously change your day. If your compassion does not include yourself, it is incomplete. ~ Buddha.
What would you add? I’d love to know. In the comments below share one pick-me-up that changes your mind set.
Thanks for being here, for reading and for encouraging us all with your brilliant insights. And huge hugs and thanks for sharing.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
Photo credit: www.Bigstock.com
A few things struck me especially in this post, Elle. One is our tendency to push against the tide instead of relaxing into the flow. The other is how useful it is to not over think but instead to aim for a simplicity of mind. Most people never realize that we can live a beautiful life without thinking too much and it’s a much more rooted, grounded, and natural way of being. All your points are excellent, but these really spoke to me today.
Hi Sandra, bit behind on my comments sad to say. I love what you say about living a beautiful life. 🙂
I love the ideas you’ve presented here Elle! A baby step to get to these could be to pause, take a few deep breaths and smile for at least 30 seconds. Doing this mindfully puts all the negativity rolling around in our heads on hold just long enough to see that there are more positive ways of seeing our predicament.
Baby steps always work for me Paige. Deep breaths and smiling sound like a wonderful way to change our state of mind. Super technique. 🙂
I love the idea to make room for the flowers. This line is so true – “Pessimistic, negative thinking takes up the space we need for our seeds of optimism and positivity to flourish.” We do need to look for the good to move forward in a positive way. Wonderful post!
Thanks Cathy, glad you enjoyed it. I know it can be a challenge to see what’s wonderful in something that seems…well…crappy. But just the seeking it can create a huge shift for us and then we’re more likely to make better choices. 🙂
Ooohhh… I love this post. There are so many gems here Elle. Most important of all, for me is allowing myself to be – whatever it is in that moment – even if it’s not the most positive of experiences. I love that bit about being compassionate with yourself – we are truly hardest on ourselves when we really should be the most loving. Thank you for sharing these amazing thoughts.
Isn’t that the truth Li-ling, we are so much more violent in our criticisms of ourself than we ever would be to another. Having a compassionate heart allows us to not only care for others, but for ourselves too. 🙂
Making room for the flowers today Elle! I loved that reminder – I will be setting aside the complaining today…and will grab some flowers for the office as a good visual reminder!! xo
I like that plan to have flowers in your office Karen. Now I’m moving the flowers in the house onto my desk. Great prompt. 🙂
Elle,
I really like the “re-negotiate your agreement with reality” portion of your piece. It reminds me to challenge those things I have accepted as belief and continue to create new beliefs that open myself up to the unlimited possibilities before me! Another inspiring piece. Thanks for sharing!
Hi Victor, nice to see you and am happy you enjoyed the pick-me-up. 🙂
Over thinking…one of my biggest problems … over thinking. And I think I learned that at about age 6 … so she has to get off the bus … now!
That’s funny Linda. I can see that same quality in our little sprite too. Hopefully she’s equally being filled with the balance of fun and joy in life not to mention spontaneity. 🙂
“Make room for the flowers”- I love that tip. Being grateful, practicing gratitude have both change my life, my days. I try to keep a gratitude journal because often just seeing the things that are “working” in my life help remind me that my life is good after all.
Having a gratitude journal is a great thing to do Jessica. I find for myself when something seems not to be working quite as I’d like, taking ten minutes to write 10 things I’m grateful for switches my energy and allows an open flow of different experiences. Yay you. 🙂
Today was one of those days where I needed a pick-me-up beacuse I was feeling stressed and cranky… Had I just “gone with the flow”, I would have felt less cranky sooner!
Oh Cher, we can all say that some days. And the more we practice being able to let it all go, the quicker we manage it every time. I suppose it’s like all things in life, practice makes it more natural. 🙂
Elle – The post is filled with several juicy ideas that I responded to. But your words on never underestimating the power of a kind word, a smile, or an honest act of friendliness grabbed me this morning. My mother – a sweet, gorgeous, and kind soul made every person she met feel special through her warm smile, engaging eyes, and the ability to focus on them. To this day, when I’m in Philly, people will stop to tell me what a wonderful woman my mother was. Her legacy? Small acts of kindness and the power of love ~Thanks for a meaningful post Elle.
Nice to see you Fran, where have you been hiding lately? How beautiful your mum sounds. And how lovely that she’ll live on in the hearts of everyone on whom she sprinkled her kindness and love. That’s a wonderful legacy to leave. 🙂
Dear Elle
What a profound expression about generosity.
I cant agree with you more about the power of kind words.People affect each other more than any other force,really.
The way people touch our lives and influence our thought and outlook towards life,few other things do.We may say reading affects our lives equally strongly.Well,yes and no.Because reading touches us deeply,yet at the sensory-level only our eyes and minds are involved.
But ornery people bring to us something far more profound, multi dimensional, multi sensory and lasting that leaves us with a different estimate of our surroundings and future.
Thanks
Mona
Hi Mona, I’ve said it before, and at the risk of being boring here it is again. You are really poetic in your turn of phrase, it’s almost musical. Always love to read your comments and your perspectives. 🙂
One thing I’d add, Elle…
Eat something live.
For real! There’s a tendency to medicate ourselves with junk food…refined sugar and salt…with the idea that it’s an “indulgence.” I get it in theory. But to put something into your body that will activate you on a cellular level and possibly purge toxins…THAT’S HOT!
My two cents. 🙂
Love make room for the flowers and i would add for me breathing helps as it changes your body state and the other one is change your environment, for me go and sit by the river or head to the beach for a walk and a swim
I like your addition Suzie and I’m with you on this one. A change of environment especially into nature works really well for me too. I can just see you, more dazzling than everything that surrounds you. 🙂
It’s funny that I stumbled onto this post this evening. Today was “one of those days”. I simply could not get into gear and I could not focus on my work. I also liked the make room for flowers idea abut especially what Suzie said. I usually am stuck in one place in one SPACE for hours at a time doing the exact same thing day in and day out. Today I hit a brick wall, so I did what Suzie suggested and did something completely different instead. And when I went back, everything was working fine again. Good advice to live by, Suzie.
Welcome Janet, Suzie is absolutely wonderful and it’s great that her words took you right back to the place where everything was working fine. Yay Suzie. 🙂
—I’d add NOTHING))
This post is brilliant, insightful, & absolutely blog-worthy!!
Hi InnerChick and welcome to the conversation. Oh yes, you made my day! 🙂
Hi ell; thanks again for inspiring us to be better friends to ourselves. i thought it was important that you said that if you don’t include being kind and loving to yourself then your loving and caring is incomplete. I’v noticed that for every day I work nonstop and get things done and have to make myself put away the laptop to get sleep there are those days when i feel unmotivated lethargic and lacking the energy to even check my mail. so I think you are right those days when you are stuck ar a blessing they are the mind’s way of telling you to take a break and play in the sun or run through the puddles or just hang out and enjoy the sunshine or the birds singing. when i have one of those days i take a hot shower fix a cup of coffee and put on a good book. Its usually a mystery mixed with comedy like janet ivanovich joanne fluke john sandford, or robert b parker. thanks again for the thought provoking post and take care, max
Good books are a wonderful antidote to chase away lethargy Max. Thanks for the reminder. 🙂