I challenge you to make your life a masterpiece. I challenge you to join the ranks of those people who live what they teach, who walk their talk. ~ Tony Robbins
Everything is subject to change. You, your life, your career, your growth, your relationships. Everything.
If you’re struggling through tough times remember if there were no struggle, caterpillars would never become butterflies. Struggles don’t signal the end of your happiness, but the beginning of a new, more dazzling life.
As you look back you’ll see that every time you struggled through something, every time you thought you’d lost something, you discovered that what you now have was worth fighting for, worth the challenges you faced.
You’re much braver than you ever thought.
Once you realise that all comes from within, you’ll be able to better manage the reality that currently surrounds you. Don’t allow struggles to get you down. Don’t allow challenges to weigh you down. Don’t allow others to put you down.
If you fail, if you fall rise up. If you make mistakes, if you know loss, rise up. Rise up and one tiny step at a time keep moving forward. Say to yourself, ‘something wonderful is going to come out of this.’
Don’t make life harder than it needs be. Here’s some practices that will put you on the fast track to a more awesome life.
1. Practice new habits
We all have daily habits built into our life.
The things you repeatedly do, without any thought, create the foundation upon which your life is built.
Stop holding on to habits that create stress and eat away at your happiness. It’s easy to do, simply because we’re so used to them we don’t notice what we’re doing. So do your best to become aware of habits that keep you from becoming the person you want to be.
Trusting a set of habits that don’t work leads to a day that doesn’t work, which eventually becomes a life that doesn’t work. You’re more worthy than this.
Don’t do this to yourself.
Starting today begin to take stock of your habits and ask yourself if you’re likely to feel happy at the end of the day if you continue them? When the answer is no, change whatever you need to change to help you be more organized, feel better and live a happier, more effective life.
Remember you are in charge of your life and it can never change until you change something you routinely do.
2. Practice picture making
No matter the experiences, mental pictures help set up creative solutions to any situation. There’s always a way: Imagine it.
Imagining is the creative power that gets you from where you are to where you want to be. Practice making pictures in your mind of how you want your day to be, how you want a situation to turn out and in ways you couldn’t possible know, what was an invisible picture in your mind eventually becomes your reality.
Imagination is the power that brings your dreams to life. “It’s the preview of life’s coming attractions.” You can use it to create worry or wonder. Nothing is too big to imagine, it’s the origin of all progress.
Imagination can bring peace where there was pain, and rest where there was trouble. Challenge yourself. In your possession is an awesome force that transforms dreams into reality. Imagine the impossible.
3. Practice sleeping on it
It’s true that you won’t always win. It’s true that things don’t always go right. But it’s also true that tomorrow is more than just another day; it’s a new beginning, a new opportunity, another chance. Grab it.
If you’re worrying about something, or have a problem that’s difficult to solve, put it out of your mind. Tell yourself the answer will come to you after you’ve slept on it!
None of us can solve our problems from the same mental state that created them. Sometimes you just have to stop over-thinking, calm down, take a deep breath and allow your inner knowing to lead the way. Keeping your thinking mind out of the way is more easily done when you’re sleeping.
Close your eyes, start the wheels turning by telling yourself you’ll have whatever you need tomorrow. Intend to get it, and fall asleep, safe in the knowledge your sub conscious mind is going to work on your behalf, connecting ideas and concepts that your waking mind hasn’t yet worked out.
4. Practice doing only one thing at a time
One of the main causes of worry, anxiety and stress is the habit of feeling you need to be doing a hundred- and-one things right now. Stop letting yourself focus on how many things you’ve got to do, instead accept that however great you are at multi-tasking, the truth is you actually can only do one thing at a time. Properly.
No matter how busy you are, your filled to the brim hour comes to you one minute at a time.
It isn’t all the things you have on your plate that cause stress, it’s how you think of them. Instead of working yourself up into a jittery, nervous state, concentrate your attention on the one task in front of you.
When you come at life from this relaxed, carefree state of mind you tune into your best self, the self that understands everything is easy and it becomes so.
5. Practice becoming an artist of life
We can’t all be artists or poets, film makers or sculptors of marble or clay, but we can all sculpt our life and mould it into the perfect one for us. Let your life be your canvas, devote yourself to creating the happiest, most successful life possible.
Are you ready to see your life as an art form; something wonderful and amazing and brilliant, something that is truly, uniquely you? Begin now. Change your perspective on life from something that just happens, to something you create anew every day.
Be willing to dig deep because somewhere inside you is the power of the universe.
“In all creative endeavors, we risk the fear of failure in a society that is very success-oriented:
What will happen to me if I fail?
We risk not being accepted: What will people think?
We risk giving up the familiar, the comfortable: What if I don’t like the new reality that unfolds?
Yet in the face of all this looming threat, we, as artists of life, continue to brave on and take risks, because deep down we know that risks are what pave the path to our healthiest and best selves.” (read Digging Deep: Unearthing your Creative Roots through Gardening by Fran Sorin)
Do your best to remember you weren’t put here on this planet to be ordinary, you’re here to connect to and release your awesomeness. You’ve been designed for success and all you have to do is keep moving towards it; when you do, universal magic will support you every step of the way.
I’d love to hear from you in the comments below. What practices do you have that keep you in touch with your awesomeness? Or what’s a practice that you’d like to begin today to help create your best life so far?
Thanks in advance for sharing your perspective and insights with kindness. Your story may be exactly what someone else needs to bring the light of encouragement into their world.
Encourage one another.
Love Elle
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20 Comments
#4 is the one that stood out for me….I do tend to think of doing too many things at the same time and get in a tizzy! Thanks for the reminder, I will begin to rethink and not be such a “busy body”
Now that made me laugh Christine – I haven’t heard that expression in donkey’s years. Love it. No need for ‘tizzys’ just a bite more relaxing. 🙂
I loved this, Elle: ” Struggles don’t signal the end of your happiness, but the beginning of a new, more dazzling life.” If we could all realize this, life would be so much easier.
I feel the draw to spend more time outdoors. It’s a habit to be on the computer and sometimes I end up there too much. Outdoors feels like where I need to be so I’m breaking the habit of too much time online.
Hi Sandra, I most definitely resonate with what you say. My intention is to actually take a whole day away from the computer once a week…now there’s something I haven’t done in a while. I started to ask myself, how much does this really matter in the scheme of things and mostly the answer is not much! 🙂
Love this line, “Do your best to remember you weren’t put here on this planet to be ordinary, You’re here to connect to and release your awesomeness.” “Practice doing only one thing at a time” is great advice. That has been one of the biggest changes for me, to just slow down and do one thing instead of multi-tasking. Thanks for the great tips here, Elle.
Glad you enjoyed the post Cathy. You know what they say, we have these experiences in our consciousness so we write about them. It reminds me to be aware and pay attention to my focus. A good thing for someone who’s easily scattered to the four winds. 🙂
Hi Elle
Such wonderful post and it is what I need for this new week. Yes thank you for reminding me of my abilities. That my mistake isn’t a big deal and that I can create a better lifen as an artist. Each day when I am up in the morning, I am always happy and grateful for being unique because I know that there is much to accomplish with my talents and gifts.
However reading this post, I am super inspired and ready to design my life for the week. Thanks for sharing.
Hi Ikechi…great and wonderful that you’re ready to put your uniqueness into action. We only have one of you in the world. Your gifts and talents are much in need. 🙂
Elle-
Some wise words that will be put to good use by me this first day of the work week. All 5 points had meaning but on this particular day, the one about remembering that struggle will lead to something good is what I needed to hear. Thanks for the quote from my book Digging Deep- I do very much believe that each of us has the ability to be the artists of our life. And we do have a choice- either to let life design us and react to it. Or we can design life and paint our journey with broad, vivid brush strokes.
As always, thanks for such a meaty post Elle- xo-Fran
I loved your book Fran..it gives some valuable insight to us all in designing the life we desire. Thank you for allowing me to use it. 🙂
Elle the Tony Robbins spoke to me when I opened up your post and no 4 stands out for me and 2- doing lots of visioning and actually creating time each day to see my future 🙂
Hi Suzie…I’m with you on investing time in envisioning your future. Apart from anything else, it feels good doesn’t it? 🙂
Thank you for these tips. Number 4 is a huge one for me. I tend to try to do 5 things at once and I end up stressed out and a nervous wreck. Thanks for the reminder that it’s okay to focus on one thing at a time 🙂
Hi Maxx, welcome to the party! If it helps at all, you are most definitely not alone my friend. We’re living in a world where multi tasking is king and it’s taking it’s toll on us in so many different ways. Good for you being aware, that’s always step one. Awareness, then practice – works for us all. 🙂
Here\’s to a great list that helps our lives become happy and awesome. Great read!
Thanks Lynne, so glad you enjoyed it. You are so encouraging and I truly appreciate that about you. 🙂
Thanks Elle for another great reminder. I will be sure to practice these for the new year.
I enjoy the one on taking and maintaining that mental picture of what I want my life to be like. I am very excited about 2015 and all that it has to offer.
How wonderful that you are so excited about 2015 Rose. I can feel your excitement flowing through your words. I can’t wait to hear about all the wonderful things that happen for you. I hope you will share them with us throughout the year.
Reading these inspiring lines I understand there is one practice I’m seriously neglecting and this is no 4 doing only one thing at a time. I’ll have to sleep on it 🙂 which is a practice I found very useful
Hi NoeliA – I know what you mean. They say we teach/write what we need to learn and I’m still working on this one! 🙂 I’m a true believer in taking into sleep the things that I want to see in my reality too.