“Happiness is the consequence of personal effort. You fight for it, strive for it, insist upon it, and sometimes even travel around the world looking for it. You have to participate relentlessly in the manifestations of your own blessings. And once you have achieved a state of happiness, you must never become lax about maintaining it. You must make a mighty effort to keep swimming upward into that happiness forever, to stay afloat on top of it.” –Elizabeth Gilbert (Author of Eat, Pray, Love)
This is how my brain feels when I begin running down new paths in life, or building fresh relationships. We all fall off-kilter sometimes. That’s the glory in being human. So I have chosen to share with you the things that keep me in tact, and I hope that you will be so kind in sharing some of the daily activities that keep your own wheel spinning.
1) Breathe- give yourself a break with your breathes. A beautiful friend and poet, Sarah, once told me, “Casey, we all do the best we can with what we have.” Remind yourself that if you’re working towards something, you’re making all the right decisions. They may feel icky in the moment, but those choices will lead you to a place you’re supposed to be.
2) Exercise- We’re taught to exercise for weight loss, but your mental health needs exercise for balance. Take at least a 15 minute walk everyday, because you are a beautiful person who is working towards your own internal wealth. You’ll begin to see exercise as a necessity and not such a dirty word. :]
3) Ax the past- the past has taken you to one place: right now. My thoughts often travel backwards so that I am allowed to second guess my words and sometimes feel embarrassed of them. Don’t! It already happened and there is absolutely nothing you can do to “fix” that. Use your past as only a tool to harbor a positive change for your future and for the moment you are currently working through.
4) Tell yourself how sexy you are- I have a friend that puts on a pair of red stilettos and struts around her house with a glass of wine in order to remind herself how great we can feel when we put our minds to it! I now do the same, because no one is around and all that sexiness is coming from within. It just needed a good pair of shoes to “keep on its toes.”
5) Give- I recently decided to paint my bedroom, so my friends have been plastering the walls with uplifting words. A dear friend wrote, “Focus on the out breathe- Everyone is happier when they care more about what they give than what they get.” Maybe it’s just a word of praise or going out of your way to give love through action. Do what you can for people. Everyone wins in these situations.
6) Write, Sing, & Scream- I don’t care how you get it out. You have to let it go. You cannot control how your body physically reacts to disturbing news, but you can control how you actively work to release it. Remember that you are able to handle only so much. Find what works for you and force yourself (if you have to) to squeeze those feelings out.
7) “My Body”- I’ve mentioned this one before in a past 10 Ways to Love Your Body blog, but it’s helped me incredibly. Create a list that starts with “my body” and mention the good things your body does for you. Hang this list in a visible spot that you’ll see it continuously. Even when I pass by the list and glance at the headline, my brain travels with those positive thoughts throughout the day.
8) Reach out- remember that we all have our good and our bad moments. The people in your life are there to support you through every one of those. If you give and you are gracious, you deserve exactly that in return.
As I said before I would love to hear some of the things that keep you on the up and up. Please feel free to share. Sending love.
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Tags: body image, body love, love, plus size, self esteem, ways to love your body
