Adrenaline ran through my entire body and specs of mud splattered on my legs. The clouds had just opened up to unleash a warm summer rain shower and I was ripping through the tight single track trail surrounded by massive pine trees. Every so often I’d emerge from the forest to capture views of the ski town of Park City, UT below and a field of sunflowers. I was in total flow as I maneuvered my mountain bike gracefully through the tight flowy single track. Coldplay’s song “Adventure of a Lifetime” was blaring into my ears through my headphones and the timing and lyrics couldn’t have been more perfect.
Then it hit me. “I’ve never felt happier. Not just in this moment, but in my life overall.” Maybe you’ve had one of these moments in your life. A moment where you say to yourself, “I love my life and I truly feel happy.”
I pondered over the past 7 months at what had taken place in my life, and as soon as I got home I started writing down exactly what I’d been doing in my life to create this overall state of happiness. I realized I wasn’t just a little bit happier, I was 10x happier! And yes, in case you were wondering, I still feel that feeling at this very moment as I write this post.
I’d like to open up and offer some suggestions of some things that we can all do to 10x our happiness.
1) Leave Relationships That Don’t Serve Us
Please don’t mistake me, I’m all for working through problems and challenges with your intimate partner. That’s part of life. But we all have our breaking point.
Being in negative relationships that drain us of energy and peace of mind can be one of the key limiting factors to our happiness. One key question that we can ask is, “Is this person helping me to be the best version of myself?” If the answer truly is “no” then it may be time to reevaluate whether it’s best to stay in the relationship. Sometimes we just need a little break and some space. We need to be able to remove ourselves from the whirlwind of chaos and negativity. However if even that break is not enough to allow each person to grow and get back into alignment, then it might serve both people to move on.
In the end, your partner can’t make you happy, only you can make you happy. And a magnificent awakening can truly begin when we take 100% responsibility for our self. Can you relate to this situation? Are there people in your life that you need to sever intimate ties with in order to find greater clarity and joy?
2) Stop Kidding Ourselves About Work We Don’t Love
Do you have to talk yourself into why you are going to your office every day? Are you justifying your job saying, “It’s not that bad,” or, “It’s just for a little while.” What if you die tomorrow? There are no guarantees, so we need to create a little bit more urgency in this area to 10x our happiness.
Getting brutally honest with yourself about the work you are doing is key. Do you dread most of your working moments? That sounds a bit extreme and you might not be to that breaking point, but could you do something that you really felt charged up about? I know we can. Life is way to short to be doing something we dislike. It might not take that long either to find your dream work or career once you put it out there to be manifested.
3) Begin to See Each Moment As Perfect
Whether we are stuck in traffic with kids, flying on an airplane, or spending time in nature, we can begin to notice moments more. Some are amazing, and some are well, less than ideal. We can begin to reflect at the end of each day and ask one simple question which can be written in our journal; “What did I learn today?” This will be a game changer! You’ll begin to see that on the challenging days you actually learn more about yourself than on the days where everything seems blissful.
4) Begin Eating Cleaner and Healthier
My downfall in eating has always been that I justify eating crap because of my workouts as an endurance athlete. Have you ever done this too? One very simple shift we can do to start eating cleaner is to commit to eating 1 pound of raw veggies per day and 1 pound of cooked veggies.
Start your morning off with a massive green smoothie adding your favorite mixed greens. That alone will be close to 1 pound. Then in the evening, cook up 1 pound of your favorite mushrooms, spinach, Brussels sprouts, or whatever you can imagine. Use great spices to enhance the experience. Once you have the 1+1 down, add in 1 can per day of organic beans. I personally love chickpeas. I either add them to my cooked veggies or I just cook them up by themselves. This little shift of focusing on what you can add in, versus just focusing on cutting stuff out can be a massive shift to eating cleaner and getting leaner.
5) Become More Adventurous
Enhance your “adventure factor.” So many people don’t ever try anything new and they lead very dull lives. Don’t let be the person at the party that has nothing new to catch people up on. This doesn’t mean that you have to put on a hat like Indiana Jones and trek through jungles, although that can be cool. Adventure can simply be mixing up your routine. Do you like to typically do the same things? Next time you go running, veer off and take a trail or path that you’ve never taken before. Try that new restaurant that you normally wouldn’t consider. Listen to music or pick up a magazine just to get a creative perspective. Simply ask the question, “How can I make this situation more fun and adventurous?” Have fun with this question. It gets your brain working at a whole new level!
Give these things a shot or do what you know works for you personally. There’s likely 25 more things that you already know in your heart make you really happy. It definitely takes a lot of courage to implement significant change to become happier, but I know that everyone can do it. Even if you just start small, begin. Life is too short for you to not live at a 10x happiness level.
source and courtesy: sivanaspirit.com