When you are facing what seems to be an insurmountable problem, eventually you may come to the point where you just say, “ I GIVE UP!” The last thing that you may want to admit to is defeat, but you may have no other choice. Or at least that is how you feel.
When you are stressed, lost, without answers, and out of time, you may believe that you have no other options left but to throw in the towel. But in reality, you may still have hope yet.
Every situation is different, but there is one common theme. You cannot create a solution if your mind is still focused on the problem. Particularly if your version of focusing on the problems includes repeatedly saying and believing that your only choice is to give up.
Use one or all of these 15 pieces of advice to stop using I GIVE UP language and do what you need to do to get it done!
1. Carry Yourself with Confidence
Your body can look like you gave up before you have even uttered a word. Instead of slouching, looking down, and blinking back tears, take on a pose of confidence and invincibility. It is hard to hold a superheroes pose and act and feel defeated at the same time. Stand tall and take on your challenge with confidence.
2. Breathe
Deep breathing exercises help to create a sense of calm and regain mental clarity. When your brain is burned out and burden by a relentless problem, take a moment to breathe and refresh your thinking.
3. Pay Attention to How You Feel
The reality is that saying, I Give Up, can feel like a relief. But it can also be a proclamation of utter defeat. Pay attention and care about how you feel instead of dismissing your feelings as insignificant. Your emotions effect your thinking and can serve to empower or deflate your sense of self. Before giving up, take time to explore ways to improve your emotional status and influence a shift towards a more positive state of being.
4. Be Direct With Your Communication
Are you belting out into the world, I GIVE UP, hoping someone else will hear you? While mildly effective, you may not reach the real solution you need. Instead of shouting out your defeat and hoping for pity, say what your needs are directly to who needs to here it. Telling others exactly what you need gives opportunity for honest dialogue and a more precise resolution that may set you on the right path.
5. Focus on Solutions
It is pretty difficult for anyone to create a solution if all that you see is the problem in front of you. Create and hold the vision of where you want things to be and then attempt to create a path to get there. A problem without any thought of the potential outcome can seem impossible. But how would you draw a map if you have no idea where are trying to go. Determine your final destination with clarity and keep your mental focus on creating or finding solution to make your vision a reality. It is likely your problem has already received enough attention.
6. Believe in Possibilities
The easiest way to run out of solutions is to convince yourself that none exist. Then giving up seems to be the natural path to turn to.
Instead, truly consider and transition your mind into a state of belief. Even though a solution may not be clear to you now does not mean it is impossible. Possibilities always exist and are more evident to the mind that believes in their potential.
7. Test Your Boundaries
Sometimes you not only need to figure out a solution to a new problem, but derive completely new ways to create a solution. Your old tricks of the trade may not apply this time. Be open to try new resources, think in unusual and creative ways, allow yourself to feel uncomfortable and accept that you may still get it wrong with the first few tries. Test your personal boundaries and allow yourself to move into unknown territory. You will not only develop a solution but new skills in the process.
8. Ask for Help
Humility can be hard when you already feel lost and defeated. But a small blow to your ego could net you tremendous results. Allow your family, friends, co-workers, superiors, professors, outside professionals, and experts in the field to guide you on a new path. Don’t limit yourself when exploring new options. It is not a matter for finding the all-around perfect helper but finding the right help for the problem you are solving now.
9. Take a Break
How long have you been hammering away at the same problem and making no headway whatsoever? No wonder you want to give up, your brain already gave up 2 hours ago. Step away from your desk. Distract your mind from your constant overthinking. Get a drink of water. Relieve yourself from repetitive and overly persistent thought. It can be just the relief you need to let new ideas come to the surface.
10. Cry
Emotional release can be highly gratifying. When internal tension seems to be at the breaking point due to frustration, stagnation, and confusion of how to move forward, allow your tears to be your much-needed tension release to cleanse your mind and body of unwanted stress. With a release of tension can come a new open path to innovation and idea.
11. Look for Proof of Your Success
You may not be able to create a quick resolution to the problem in front of you. But in the past you may have figured out many other problems almost in your sleep. Don’t allow yourself to become so absorbed in what feels like failure to label yourself a total failure.
Remember when you have been successful in the past. And even if you don’t have answers right now, confirm that you know from experience that you are capable of creating solutions.
12. Be Relentless
Changing your language from I GIVE UP to I WILL NOT GIVE UP is a complete gamechanger. With the right words you have now proclaimed your intention and empowered yourself with conviction. This subtle but significant change of self talk can be just the boost you need to tackle what you have in front of you. Speak what you will to happen instead of being subject to what you fear to happen.
13. Have Faith
Faith in yourself is believing that you are capable and that whatever is necessary you will do. You will keep moving forward. You will attempt different resolutions. You will figure it out. Trust in your ability to be accountable to you and have faith that you will deliver.
14. Be Patient with Yourself
If you have been working on your problem and you just don’t seem to be moving fast enough or as smoothly as you would like, be patient. Even if you have a stellar success record, this time may simply be different. Giving yourself grace and allowing yourself to be a novice can relieve pressure and place you in a better state of mind to determine real solutions. Expecting expert level skill for a tough or never-before-seen problem can create unnecessary frustration and creative blocks.
15. Actually Give Up
You may have said, I GIVE UP, 1000 times but actually keep going back at it, trying and trying again. If you are in a clear state of mind, completely objective, and genuinely have no resolution to your problem, it may be time to surrender.
Give up. Being honest with yourself can be the right answer to move from belaboring a problem to addressing the consequences of a problem unresolved. Move on and be successful in your next steps instead of trying to force the impossible.
Giving up is not always failure. At times, it can be the most logical and thoughtful decision you can make to be kind to yourself.
Conclusion
It can be difficult to make a decision of what to do when you want to give up. Unsolved problems can create a pattern of stress and anxiety that can seem to strip ideas and solutions from your mind.
Take time to consider whether you have put yourself in the best frame of mind to support you to act in your own best interest. Create calm, release tension, and find better words to speak to support the outcome you seek to achieve.
You are more than capable to make what you want happen. Give yourself the support and patience to accomplish what you want and the faith to know it is possible.
Do you have a brilliant suggestion on how to move forward when you want to give up? Share it in the comments section below. And if you know someone who needs a few ideas of how to plow forward, don’t forget to share this post.
Knowledge of the law of attraction provides a basis of understanding for the experiences that occur within your life. Law of attraction affirmations complement your active engagement in directing your thoughts, raising your vibration, and working in harmony with the law of attraction.
Using the law of attraction affirmations can serve you by:
reinforcing the principles of the law of attraction in your mind
increasing your mindfulness of the law of attraction’s influence and power in your daily life, and
acting as a means to remember and reiterate to yourself your role as a powerful being who has a direct impact on your personal experience of reality
The law of attraction affirmations shared within this post are offered as a means to reinforce the basic principles of the law of attraction to whoever chooses to repeat them. The goal is to intentionally integrate positive thoughts and imagery, inspire optimism and gratitude, and make accessible one of many means to redirect thought in a direction that serves your highest good.
How to Use Law of Attraction Affirmations
The purpose of adopting regular affirmation use is to inspire, direct, and reinforce focus on the life experience that you choose to have. Specific affirming statements and phrases can be elected with either broad or specific content aligned with your desired outcome.
When the affirmations are stated on a regular and consistent basis the content becomes part of your conscious thought. As a result, you may find yourself reflecting on the content detail at several points within your day. You may also use these affirming statements and phrases to replace undirected, misdirected, or negative thoughts.
This list of law of attraction affirmations is written to reflect a positive tone and an optimistic and empowered view. These affirmations are also intended to act as a mechanism to resonate with you and your thoughts, emotions, and vibration and by doing so enhance your ability to manifest your intentions.
Building Your Affirmation Practice
As a matter of practice, you can use these law of attraction affirmations in whichever manner that provides you with a positive experience. Suggested usage includes:
Choosing a singular affirmation as a focal point for a morning or evening meditation
Repeating one or two affirmations when using mala beads
Randomly selecting an affirmation and using it as a journaling prompt.
Reading through an entire list or deck of affirmations three times and intentionally invoking positive emotion and inflection when reciting its content
Selecting an affirmation that represents a dominant personal focus and rewriting its content on paper or in a journal 10 to 15 times a day for a month (or for whatever repetition and frequency you see as a good fit for you)
The potential use of law of attraction affirmations is expansive and in no way should be restrictive. You can choose creative ways to actively use, review, recant, or display your affirmations so as to have the greatest impact on you.
15 Law of Attraction Affirmations
I excitedly anticipate good things to come into my life
I am happy for any opportunity to be inspired to want more and to dream bigger
I know that my powerful thoughts and positive emotions create my reality
I have gratitude for all the good things that exist in my life today
I am heavily focused on everything that makes me happy
I know anything and everything in my experience has been attracted to me by me
I am a powerful being
I know that the law of attraction exists in my experience always
I am aware that what I cannot see at this moment can still exist
I can expect the experience in my life to be exactly what I believe it to be
I still my thoughts and open my mind to gain inspiration for my next aligned step
I am thankful in this moment
I honor my thoughts and emotions as essential parts of my life experience
I embrace relaxing and welcoming as the pieces of my life harmonize and come together
I anticipate that this day will be a very good day
Share this post with those you care about who are looking to expand their affirmation practice. Do you have a favorite affirmation that you use daily? Share it in the Comments!
Home organization can seem perfect in theory, but be a tedious chore in reality. Using home organization affirmations as part of your decluttering and cleaning process can be a big part of keeping the right focus.
All too often you lose the momentum of cleaning your home even before you start. When you look around your home at what seems like an endless sea of mini-projects, papers, and random paraphernalia, it is daunting. And when nothing has a home in your home, you can feel like everything has taken over your house.
This may be the perfect motivation to have a beautiful home. But it may not necessarily be the motivation to organize your way there.
When you don’t feel like cleaning or organizing, before you push through and do it anyway, pause and get mentally prepared. Don’t let your mental energy be yet another hurdle to jump. Instead, let your mind align with your goal to get your to-do list done. And feel good all the way through your organization journey.
Affirmations are an excellent way to focus and build intention with your thoughts. So often the mind will run from topic to topic seemingly without pause. And scattered between subjects there can be a number of negative and demotivating thoughts.
Allowing the negative thoughts to run without borders can cause your energy to run away with it. And when you are looking to build your inspiration for action, you find that you are already mentally drained.
Affirmations can replace a negative train of thought and energize your mind with positive momentum. With the right words in mind, you can find yourself hopeful, inspired, optimistic, and generally in a good mood. This revitalized mental status can be the perfect frame of mind to make your vision and your actions come to life.
Why Are Home Organization Affirmations Useful?
Affirmations for home organization can infuse power thoughts and actions into an otherwise mentally draining project.
Declutter, cleaning, and organizing can result in a ton of thinking and overthinking. What do you want to do with this? How do you create a home for that? Will we need this one day?
To organize well you are:
being intentional and thoughtful about your needs
creating the flow of your home, and
making long-lasting changes for order and harmony for you and your family
But if all of this is new for you, you are also organizing a brand new train of thought!
With new trains of thought, come even more thinking, and therefore even more opportunity for negativity and self-sabotage. As soon as you are unable to create an immediate solution for your clutter and chaos, you could be faced with thoughts of your ineptness for the entire project.
Home organization affirmations help you to keep the right thoughts about your abilities and capabilities at the forefront of your mind. You can create a new order for your home. You are completely capable of creating or researching new ideas for order and putting them into action.
Home organization affirmations help to sustain the right thoughts in your mind regardless if you are at the easiest or toughest part of your project.
Keep Your Home Organization Benefits in Mind
More than having a picture-perfect home, home organization helps to reduce the clutter in your mind.
Your surroundings are a reflection of you and your thinking. When you are disorganized in your home, you likely are carrying clutter and disorganization within you. Your true home base is within. Lacking organization in your home and personal mental clarity day after day can cause you to suffer from stress, anxiety, and mental fatigue.
When you are constantly in search of something you have lost or you find your eyes land on a project to be done, you are simultaneously exerting mental energy. Mental energy or attention on unnecessary subjects can be significantly reduced when you know where things are, know where to put them, or lay eyes on empty spaces instead of clutter. With a less taxed mind, you can then have opportunity to enjoy the peace within your home and in your thoughts.
Less distraction, less stress, and less wasted mental energy all contribute to your peaceful, focused, and clear mind.
And with a positive mental state, you have room to be more creative, more innovative, more inspired, or simply more relaxed. But you knew this already, which is why you began your decluttering project in the first place!
How Do You Use Affirmations?
Affirmations have many applications. Be open to experimenting and find what works for you when using them.
The simplest method is to find or create a statement that has positive meaning to you and to read or say the statement aloud. You can repeat the statement once or repeatedly. The number of times said is not as important as the statement becoming your focus in the moment.
When you have a list of affirmations, you can read them all at once. You can also choose to take one or two from the list and repeat them as if a mantra. When doing difficult or tedious tasks, it can be helpful to repeat your chosen affirmations while performing your task to keep maintain positive mental energy aligned with what you are doing.
You can also choose to create a project initiation with your affirmations, for each day or each segment of your decluttering and home organization project. Choose to consciously and intentionally clear your mind before taking any action. Close your eyes and perform a few deep breaths. Once you find yourself centered, you can light a candle or take a moment to write your affirmations to signify a start to your new thinking.
Then take time to read your affirmations, settling on every word, and purposefully aligning yourself with the meaning to you behind each statement. Allow the vision of your completed project to be your focus and your home organization affirmations to compliment this vision. When you have completed this, you are now ready to take on your tasks with the proper mental energy with your mind and actions in full alignment.
Take time to learn what works for you and practice using your home organization affirmations when creating the environment you aspire to have.
Home Organization Affirmations
10 Home Organization Affirmations for When YouDon’t Feel Like Organizing
Conclusion
Keeping a positive state of mind and being kind to yourself as you live your life’s journey can be tough at times. But the rewards can be significant. When doing tough projects like home organization, keep yourself motivated with positive affirmations every step of the way.
Looking for more ways to create a clear mind, positive atmosphere, and enjoy more personal balance. Take a look at these posts:
Making your dreams come true is what makes life worth living.
However, the best-laid plans happen year after year and within weeks those best plans are forgotten.
Making your dreams a reality may not require work but it does require intention.
Not to mention it can also require consistency, commitment, drive, and, well, remembering what your plan even is.
When you are starting to really wonder can your dreams come true, use these tips to finally see success in achieving what you dream of.
1. Having the Mindset of a Dreamer
Do you believe that your dreams can happen? If not, then you are probably right.
Opportunities and big achievements happen when you are open to the possibility of them happening.
This simple yet crucial mindset shift permits you to find the seeds on the trail.
How will you ever own a business if you never click yes on the random business ed webinar in your inbox?
How will you meet the man of your dreams if you decline every time a friend randomly asks you to go out to an event?
Yes. Dreams do come true in unexpected ways and from unintended sources.
And being open to life permits the inspiration and chance meetings to come to you.
What to Do If You Are Not Dreamer-minded
If you really want your dreams but know that you struggle with staying optimistic about them, you can start your work here.
Your work is not your dream. Your work is to develop a dreamer’s mindset.
A dreamer believes in what isn’t present today. And a dreamer believes that what looks impossible at this moment is still possible.
Today, you may not have faith in your specific dream. But you can have faith in yourself that you can make possible things actually happen.
Examine your history. What have you accomplished that either you or someone else did not believe possible for you?
It doesn‘t have to be large or look like some type of miracle. What is important is that you didn’t believe it was possible and then it was.
How did you create the possibility?
What changed in you that sparked your creativity?
When met with the challenge, what did you say to yourself? And what did you continue to say to yourself until you achieved your goal?
Take the best parts of your process and apply it to your now.
This is the recipe to make dreams happen. Knowing that you are an alchemist of possibility.
What If I Have Never Made the Impossible Possible
You may not be giving yourself enough credit. But that’s okay.
Maybe you have never had an impossible achievement. But you do know others who have.
Take time to speak with or research achievers that you know.
Learn what made them dreamer-minded. And take what resonates most to you and adopt it as part of your mindset.
What type of influence influences you?
A Dreamer Mentor
Spend your time with a person you know that already possesses the dreamer’s mindset.
Get in their head. Let them get in yours. Find out how they developed the skill that you now are looking to have.
You may be amazed to find that many dreamers did not start out that way.
They also were skeptical, cynical, and doubtful.
However, those attributes do not make dreams come true. Find out how they abandoned the mindset of disbelief and adopted the art of the dream.
Affirmations for Dreamers
Mental chatter can be pre-programmed to repeat what is. However, in the land of the dreamers, you need to speak on what isn’t as if it were true.
For many that is too far of a jump.
It can feel like a lie to say something that does not actually exist.
It is important not to take too far of a leap in what you say that it tears away at your faith.
Affirm what you believe and as your beliefs get stronger challenge yourself to stretch further.
For example, you may not be able to tell yourself that you are a millionaire today when you’re not.
But you may be able to believe that you are a millionaire in the making.
Or you may feel better to say that you believe that you attract abundance.
Accepting the value of what is currently around you lays the groundwork for believing what else could come.
A dreamer will see themselves as a millionaire in their infancy stages and build belief that what they desire is sure to come.
Dreamers Inspiring Stories
There are a million dreamers who exist who made the impossible happen.
Everyday people have had their dreams come true.
Let the stories of those who made what seemed like miracles happen serve as inspiration for the possibility of what can happen in your life.
Too often we abandon our child-like belief of the potential of what can be in exchange for what we can see, taste, touch, or smell.
When this is the case, make the impossible more real by showing yourself the reality of dreams coming true.
The model discovered walking down a city block. The movie star who had their start by only coming to accompany a friend at an audition. The iconic meeting of a CEO in the back seat of a cab.
Believe that dream-come-true moments happen more often then you think. Many dreams have very humble and simple beginnings.
Creating a dreamer’s mindset brings your dreams closer faster simply because you believe. So give yourself something to believe in.
2. Defining Your Dream
What exactly is a dream? We all want and desire different things at different times. But is that the same as having a dream?
A true dream is significant, possibly life-changing to you. It’s not just a passing interest.
A dream is something that if you could achieve, you believe that it could change your life for the better.
Your dream can be a physical item like a home. Or it could be a new way of doing something like earning more money or crushing it playing a particular sport.
It could also be an experience that you simply long to have like traveling to a foreign country or having a dream wedding.
Dreams can also be a state of being.
You may want to be the happiest, healthiest, or the most creative that you ever have been.
Dreams are not SMART goals(specific/measurable/achievable/realistic/time-based), though sometimes they can resemble them.
Remember that you are framing for yourself what you truly want, regardless of whether or not it seems achievable or realistic.
You also may have never experienced any part of your dream before, so you may have no idea how much time it takes or how exactly to achieve it.
The way to your dream can be hazy, but make what your dream is crystal clear.
The 3Cs of Dreamweaving
Compelling
Your dream is one that you feel compelled to achieve. There is an energy or passion that resonates when you think of achieving your dream.
This energetic signature is a necessary component. When practical action is absent sometimes you will move forward simply because you are compelled.
When considering your dreams, consider whether or not you feel compelled to bring it to life in order to live your best life.
Clear
The nature of your dream should be clear to you.
You should be able to translate your dream into words or expressions that you clearly understand.
At times you will be faced with unusual life circumstances that will lead you to your dream. Understanding what you seek with clarity will make it easier to follow uncommon or unexpected paths toward your dream.
Also, while it is not necessary to share your dreams with others, clarity can serve you when you do.
When you are able to easily articulate what you want, others may be in a position to support you.
Know what you want, why, when, or even how if the journey to achievement is part of what is important to you.
The more clear you can be the more tangible your dreams can become in your mind.
Central
Your dream should be central to you at this moment. Wants that you have that are a future priority are not dreams, but ideas.
A dream is a must-have of value. It is a centerpiece to what you define as your good life.
And while you can have more than one dream and more than one priority, there is a carved-out place of importance for any single dream that you have.
Just as you can have many close family members, friends, and possessions, your dream deserves a place in your heart all its own.
Ensuring this centrality to your dream ensures it will remain a priority until it is fulfilled.
3. Maintaining Passion for Your Dream
On most occasions, the hard part isn’t writing out what you dream to be, do, or have. The hard part is the follow-through.
The fire goes out and then there is no heat left to get it burning again.
Dreams are not always easily translated into daily priorities. But making what you dream a daily priority will make it a reality.
What small idea or movement can you incorporate into your daily schedule that directly corresponds with your dream?
Take a picture of your dream and save it as your screen saver on your phone. Acknowledge your plan to have your dream daily
Make a savings jar or box and put any money you can into the container daily toward your dream. (Create a regular schedule of when the money moves to a savings account).
Take a class. Watch a YouTube video. Read or listen to a book. Listen to a podcast. Ingest information related to your dream daily.
Take actual action. Invest. Buy equipment. Set meetings with important stakeholders. Create a business plan. Visit a jewelry store. Go to the gym. Based on whatever your dream is take action daily, big or small, toward your goal.
Sweat the Small Stuff
Creating small micro-steps toward your dream can make the progress more achievable.
Every single sign of progression will not happen in leaps and bounds. And that’s okay.
The goal is to keep mindful, to keep positive, and to keep moving.
If you do not have any logical or inspired step to take today, simply focus on your mindset.
Review your Vision Board or make one if you have not already
Journal regarding your dream, what you have accomplished thusfar, and how you will feel when you complete your goal
Talk to others about your dream, especially those who have similar interest
Just take a simple moment to say and believe, one day.
While these steps may seem small, they are significant.
Your dream does not need to be your obsession but it does need to be a part of your daily thoughts.
Even keeping the thought of your dream in the forefront of your mind is a powerful step in moving in the right direction to achieve it.
When Your Fire Flutters
Now, there may be days that no motion forward makes you feel negative. Even a micro-step of thought on your dream makes you feel sad that it is not yours today.
In these moments, you may even think to give your dream away.
Don’t let your fire die. Instead, fan your flame differently
Your small step forward may be to abandon the thought of your dream’s absence in exchange for a happier moment.
Give into the joys that you have and remember that you already have so much to be thankful for.
Return to focusing on your mindset and becoming dreamer-minded. The belief in the possibility should feel just as good as your dream.
When you have returned to center then you can return to putting your dream into action.
But remember no dream can exist in a mind focused on its absence.
4. Plan to Change Your Plan
When making a dream happen, there really is no exact plan. Dreams come true. But plans are meant to fall apart.
Be prepared to be flexible.
And be alert for reasons to become flexible.
Like life, your path to your dream will never be straight. Learn to like living Life on The Curve.
Because one door has closed does not mean that another one will not open. So always keep your eyes open for alternatives.
Also, life will bring you more inspiration regarding your dreams. What you once wanted with a passion may change because you have been introduced to something else.
Learn to appreciate that this may be a part of the process.
Your first dream may have always been intended to be the catalyst for your next. Once you were inspired, you essentially completed the first step on your path.
Give room for your heart’s desires to become bigger and more meaningful to you.
When this occurs, don’t forget to recalibrate your system.
Check on your mindset.
Create your definition
Fuel your passion
And be prepared for anything
Once you’ve mastered the process, you can change your dreams into whatever you want them to be. And have 100% faith that you can make them happen.
Conclusion
Making dreams happen is not for everyone. Some people are only meant to pick up the pen sitting right in front of them.
But some are willing and able to reach into their mind and imagine the invisible.
Some can name what they want and believe it can happen. Others will continually let their dreams evolve.
No matter what, be one who is willing to think about your dreams and breathe life into them every day.
It is the art of dream-weaving and dream-believing that will make the biggest difference in your life.
Once mastered you will become one of those special few who get to say:
Isn’t it wonderful when dreams come true!
Looking for more inspiration to live the best life possible? You may enjoy these posts:
The Giving Spirit takes its form in many ways and inspires many people. We all can use inspiration at times when living such busy lives to find ways to energize and maximize our Giving Spirit.
When you want to be more and give more, your heart can be in the right place and your mind can be all over the place.
You can find yourself saying that you would do more if you only knew how or where to go.
It seems easy for some but the reality is:
Not All People Know Exactly What to Do.
It is the reason why donating money at a supermarket cash register or contributing through auto-deduction at work is effective.
When you don’t know what to do, you try to at least attempt to do something.
When you are looking for ways to fire up your Giving Spirit, know that you can energize the gift of giving in 100s of ways.
To maximize your Giving Spirit, you need only a little ingenuity and a willing heart to make more happen.
Here are a few ideas that can inspire you at any time of year to energize and maximize your Giving Spir
Give Time and Give Back to Your Community
There are many organizations that look for helping hands to reach their charitable goals.
Food Banks need support to organize and box foods to share with families within the communities.
While we may live in a land full of abundance there are still many who do not have access to meals day-to-day.
Providing meal access is both through food donation and food material organization and distribution. Helping hands help to keep the process chain moving.
Now is not the time to be modest, embrace what you know and be open to sharing.
Share your talent and get your Giving Spirit in gear
If you know marketing, you may be able to help support advertising a fundraising campaign
Have talent with business writing? You may be able to support creating grant applications
If you know recruiting, you may be able to teach out-of-work individuals how to create a resume or how to interview
Are you a local leader? You may be able to mentor local students studying in your field
If you know accounting, you may be able to teach a budgeting class or help an organization improve their bookkeeping processes
As an experienced event planner, you may be able to support organizing a charitable drive
If you are a community or public servant, you may be able to help with local organization networking and resource sharing
And, if you can simply read, you may be able to spend time reading to an elderly person in hospice or reading to a children’s group at a shelter
The options are endless and the leverage of your skills to support non-profit organization needs could be of tremendous benefit to many.
Give Materials and Invest in Your Community
We are constantly surrounded by things and not everything that surrounds us is something that we need.
Sharing items from our homes, our workplaces, our vehicles, or purchasing items to share is a beautiful way to make accessible useful items that others may need far more than we do.
Donating goods and materials is not only of benefit to the people or organizations looking for support.
It also is a tremendous way to honor the various products that we are able to craft, make, construct, and use to enhance our lives.
Look at your old possessions as once needed, useful, decorative, or simply required for your daily living.
If today, you no longer require these items then give thanks for what they once provided you and then pass on the blessing.
Many items, any items, new or gently used can be of a true gift to someone in need.
When thinking of what to give, focus on the need and be inspired
Often when thinking of giving, we look to serve the most desperate in our communities.
This is our Giving Spirit coming to life and shining light where it is most needed.
However, we do not have to go in search of those in need to give life to the art of giving.
We instill a Giving Spirit when we naturally give to anyone we see at any moment of the day.
Do not hesitate or wait for an organized event in order to give of your heart
Simple acts of kindness to share anytime
Open a door for the next person you can
Pay the toll for the person behind you in line
Carry the bags for the next person you see who may be carrying too many
Offer help to your co-worker at work just because
Visit a neighbor with flowers, a plant, or a dessert
Acknowledge the good job of those who can sometimes get passed by like a cashier or a gas station attendant
Ask your child’s school if you can participate in a preschool, kindergarten, or 1st grade class by reading a book or talking about your work
Write an email or text to a relative or friend randomly and share why you think they are special
Say thank you to those who keep your community in order like your garbage collector or postal carrier
These may seem like trivial actions and not exactly as if you are giving.
But the gift of kindness is how the Giving Spirit is born and grows in all of us.
It is when we show that the needs of others outweigh our own that we spark feelings of gratitude and love between us.
As a giver, we are thankful to give and as a receiver, we are thankful to receive.
Conclusion
This Giving Spirit exchange is far bigger than the action between two people, it is the energy, emotion, and impression that we share that can literally span across the globe.
It is in the spirit of giving that we remember that we are a vast community across the planet, living together, supporting each other, and thriving together.
Energize your Giving Spirit every single day by looking for ways to Maximize what giving can be in every moment you can.
Do you have other ideas to spark the Giving Spirit? If so, please comment below and share with everyone looking to give a bit more today!
Starting a journal can seem pretty simple, but journaling effectively can be challenging.
There is no absolute right way to journal, but even in your free spirit of writing you can feel as if you should be doing something more.
Effective journaling can elevate your journaling practice where you gain a heightened sense of self-awareness and a useful vehicle for self-improvement.
Knowing what you can gain out of the experience and how to achieve it can help to give your journaling practice true momentum.
The Benefits of Effective Journaling
Effective journaling can provide a regimen of self-expression, self-reflection, and awareness. The benefits that come with a regular journaling practice can include, but are not limited to, a:
method to release and relinquish thoughts or problems that may be repeating themselves in your mind
means to pour out ideas, solutions, or stalemates that have no other opportunity for release or expression in your daily life
place to put private queries and soul-searching questions of what you want out of your life
useful tool to document the special moments in your life, recording your impressions of your experiences and reflecting on your relationship with those who are close or special to you.
All of these uses and more can provide personal benefit and self-development through your investment of time and energy when journaling.
What is even more beneficial is how much regular expression could potentially grow to become a therapeutic, emotionally-balancing, and calming practice positively impacting your daily life.
The following steps will put you on your path to begin owning your highly effective journaling practice.
Establish Why You Want to Start Journaling
As mentioned, journaling has a countless number of uses and therefore there can be countless reasons why you would want to start.
However, narrowing your purpose to 1 or 2 reasons of why journaling and its benefits are important to you is important.
You want there to be a purpose behind the process that motivates you to start and to regularly commit to interjecting an additional new task into your life.
Set your direction to reach your destination
Journaling does not have to be rigid and regimented and can be purely for enjoyment.
However, as with all commitments, you want to put yourself in the best place to finish what you have started to gain the most value.
Establishing your why puts you in a good place for focus and direction within your journaling practice.
What Is Your “Why” That Motivates Your Motion?
You may have considered journaling for your own creative expression and simply to enjoy the act of writing your thoughts.
Journaling could have been presented to you by a good friend or even a therapist as a way to release your emotions and ideas in a constructive way.
Maybe you received a beautiful journal as a gift and decided you wanted to put it to good use.
Beauty can inspire action
In all cases, be clear to yourself why you are journaling and what you would like to gain from the effort.
You can only define how effective you are if you first determine your goal with the journaling process.
Define what you see as your rewarding experience and enjoy the process of reaching it through journaling.
Create a Journaling Atmosphere
Your journaling atmosphere is one that is set for the purpose and easy flow of your self-expression.
This is your time with you, your thoughts, your ideas, and your emotions.
Your space for journaling should be one that gives you the freedom to express all that you need to and the comfort to do so without distraction or concern.
Any little corner can be your special space to spend time with you
While the process of identifying your space does not have to be elaborate, it does at least require thought to set the proper direction.
The Right Space Supports Writing Flow
Journaling is not a contact sport, but it is amazing how many people you will come in contact with the moment you sit and start to write.
Interruptions can be an inside job, at times. To-do lists and conversation replays can clutter your thoughts and cause distraction.
However, it can be even harder to control outside interruptions that interfere with your writing flow.
You may consider early morning or late evening as your journaling time.
Or any alternative when a spouse, a child, or other family and friends are less likely to look to connect with you.
Make a point not to answer your phone, check emails, or become distracted with unnecessary to-do items in your eyesight.
Create focus so that you do not lose focus.
Focus is defined by seeing what you choose not by what chooses to be seen by you
You may be helped by creating a writing regime where you go to a certain place at a certain time, bring your journaling materials, and even have a favorite beverage handy.
When all the same familiar pieces are in line you know it’s writing time.
Your environment should be comfortable, easily duplicatable, and functional.
You can certainly have more than one space and likely will benefit from the flexibility should your go-to area become unavailable.
The overall goal is to set space for your journaling and create an atmosphere to let your words come from you freely.
Creating space for your self-expression is as important as the expression itself.
Define Your Journaling Method
Now that you have determined your reason for journaling and created space to undergo the process, it’s time to get the deed done.
Journaling is essentially recordkeeping and you get to decide the best method to capture your records.
Finding the journaling method that appeals most to you will make the process more enjoyable and one that you will want to return to.
The variations to the process are many and can be customized to meet your needs, preferences, and interests.
Enjoy the Freedom of Self-Expression
A common method is to put pen to paper and write your thoughts until you have no more to write.
Free-writing can be an excellent method to see what is on your mind without overthinking the process.
There is no need to create a priority subject or system of prescribed content.
You do not have to have a bigger purpose than to empty your head.
Just write.
After a few days or weeks, you can look back at your content and learn what subjects weigh on your mind the most.
You can also notice if you trend more positively or negatively in your running thoughts overall.
The gains from this method are that you are not forcing an outcome.
Relaxing into the process you can see an honest and transparent reflection of your life that you then can evaluate for yourself.
Prompt Yourself to Express Your Thoughts
Another form of journaling is to use prompts, or introduction statements or questions, that trigger subjects to write about.
You can choose to create your own based on areas you want to attend to more in your life.
Almost like a habit tracker, you may want to capture daily your thoughts on family, work, love life, finances, or health.
You may also want to keep note of your mood, energy levels, or your strength of focus.
There are also an innumerable number of standardized prompts that you can respond to, even journals pre-populated with them. Content may include statements like the ones below.
Find journaling prompts to explore the aspects of your life that you would like to examine closer.
Your investment in certain segments of your life may provide you with greater insight, appreciation, and opportunity for growth.
Get Your Internal Dialogue Out in Front of You
To see yourself differently you first have to be willing to look
Another fruitful journaling process is to engage in self-dialogue.
How many times have you heard that no one knows you better than you?! Self-dialogue give opportunity to put your self-knowledge to the test.
How do you self-dialogue when journaling?
One way is to write out all your thoughts, emotions, and insights on a subject that are constantly on your mind.
Then write out the questions that you seek to resolve around those subjects.
Are you confused about what to do next?
Or maybe you want to understand why things happened the way they did.
You may question why you made a decision or why someone else did not understand your decision.
No matter the query, once you have written your questions, change your position as if you were listening to the question instead of asking it.
How would you answer the question?
Are there different prospectives to the situation than what you first saw?
Is there another conclusion to a problem than the first one you originally came to?
Can you be unbiased or less emotional in order to give a more objective response?
You may find that by pushing yourself to answer the questions or finding different prospective, new thoughts and emotions emerge.
Some questions may feel impossible to answer but in your daily life you expect others to answer you and be accountable.
Other questions may be practical and realistic, but difficult to respond to well without more information.
Sometimes asking questions only causes more questions, but even this can be a good learning experience.
Go back and forth in dialogue as both the interviewer and the interviewee. Put yourself in the position to see situations from a dual perspective.
Get out of your singular point of view. Open up new ways to resolve what on surface could seem as unsolvable problems.
Learn yourself and your pattern of actions in a completely different way.
Permit yourself to be the guide to your life’s questions through self-dialogue. Build your confidence in solving issues independently.
Take opportunity to gain more trust in yourself to be objective. And regularly explore more comprehensive views regarding your life decisions.
Let What Works Lead You When Journaling
These are just samples of different journal methods you can explore. You can use a single style or allows different methods to blend as you see fit.
Self-dialogue can be interspersed in your free-writing or can be the entirety of your writing style. Journaling prompts may trigger an exploration of self-dialogue depending on the topic.
You may choose to keep a consistent journaling method as means to train your consistency or it can vary daily .
Do not feel confined to stick to a certain structure versus staying consistent with the process overall.
It is much more important that you journal regularly as a means to make the process truly effective.
How you choose to journal is for you to define by what works best for you.
Consider Your Journaling Tools
Part of making journaling consistent can be the method that you capture your thoughts.
Writing is a brilliant way to bring focus to your thoughts. As you motion out each word in your mind through transfer to paper you can experience a deep personal connection.
You can use a notebook, legal pad, or an actual journal.
For some, the look of their journal, its pages, or its color can stimulate the act of writing.
Even the choice of pen can make a difference.
These finer-tuned details all lead to making the process one that you want to come back to again and again.
Not everyone enjoys the exercise of writing and can even experience pain from over-writing.
If this is your case, you may enjoy using a digital journal if you prefer to type instead of write.
When using a digitized version for capturing your thoughts you can use a simple, blank Word document as your canvas.
Additionally, there are online journaling apps like Penzu and Daybook that are specially designed for journaling.
These apps offer a cloud-based option that creates password access to your content but also flexible access from different devices.
You could also choose to bypass using your hands altogether and instead use a speak-to-text app to create your notetaking.
In all cases, you want to create a system that is easy to use and easy to refer back to should you want to re-examine your thoughts at a future time.
The means of capturing your thoughts is not as important as capturing the words themselves.
Your self-expression needs a place to reside that is meaningful and safe for you. Whether spoken, digital or created by hand, you will know what works best.
Reflecting on Your Journaled Thoughts
At some point, you may decide to review your journal entries.
While not a required step, journal entry review can be another means to make the journaling process effective.
When just beginning your writing journey, you may study your last entry right before starting the next one.
It is not uncommon that you frequently journal on similar subjects when you first begin.
However, there can also be advantages to putting space between review periods.
Having intervals of weekly or monthly review can provide an opportunity to allow trends to build and problem-resolution to occur.
Do you have people or events in your life that spark immediate joy?
Are there deep problems that seem to just never get resolved?
Have you developed creative ways to handle your daily life challenges?
You may know yourself better once you are recording your thoughts and reviewing your stories at regular intervals.
So much can happen in a day that in an instant you forget most of it
Reflecting Can Bring Light to Your Life
So often life happens and we just let it happen.
We unconsciously go through the motions and do not realize our ups and downs, our challenges, or our champion-moments that make up who we are.
Journaling creates an outlet for our thoughts and opinions but also evidence of our diverse and unique life experiences.
Because you know your thoughts, actions, and ideas more, you may use this information to change your life in the future.
After reviewing your entries you may make a plan to intentionally spend more time with certain people or on certain activities that make your life worth living.
You may also highlight areas of opportunity for your own personal growth and learning.
Don’t pressure yourself to make anything happen, however.
Sometimes your journaling will be nothing more than a mental release of chatter in your mind.
And nothing needs to come of it other than to permit the release.
The goal is not to fix you or to capture your every move. Instead, it is simply to develop a healthy self-awareness, a productive mental cleansing, and to reach your defined goals of an effective journaling process.
Conclusion
Journaling is a tool of self-expression that can be most effectively used for mental clarity, internal problem resolution, and improved self-awareness.
You can become effective with your journaling efforts by establishing exactly why journaling is important to you. And equally necessary is noting what you want to gain from the process.
By setting your space, determining what method you want to use, and taking time to review your entries, you can gain the best experience of your journaling practice.
To be effective in journaling, identify your goal, commit to the process, and trust that the expression of your thoughts will help deepen your self-awareness and life experience overall.
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If you have journaling techniques that have been life-changing for your, please share your input in the Comments section. What works for you may work perfectly for someone else too!
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The decision to change jobs is not always easy. You may be onboard with not wanting the job you have but how do you really know it’s time for a job change?
One of the hardest parts of making a decision is when you have no idea where to start. A job change can feel like one of those hard decisions.
Choice is an endless burden when the information you need to make a decision is not available.
How do you know what job is right for you?
If you change jobs, how do you know if you won’t have the same problems as before?
When selecting a new job, how will you know if you made the right decision?
Reducing the questions and building confidence in your decision through self evaluation can help to ensure you know whether or not it is time to leave your job.
Am I Making the Right Decision to Change Jobs?
When you are making a job change decision or any decision, it is important to feel connected with your thoughts on the subject.
Taking a moment of self evaluation can go a long way to solidify a sense of certainty and trust within yourself and your decision-making.
Before you evaluate the state of your job, it is important to examine your level of trust in your decision.
Do you trust yourself to make sound decisions?
Are you comfortable with living with the consequence of your decisions?
Do you put more faith in outside opinion than your own internal judgment?
Have you developed a habit of questioning decisions once you have made them or staying in indecision?
If you suffer from some or all of these circumstances then it is important to first address your insecurities within yourself. You may not be able to fully transition your state of mind before you are faced with making a job change decision. But minimally you should acknowledge that fear, lack of trust, or indecision may have an impact on your evaluation of your next best steps.
Knowing when to change jobs is a practical and yet emotional decision and for these reasons should be made with great care.
Let’s examine a few scenarios where a job change may be warranted that can help to further solidify your decision to change your job.
Job Change Scenario #1: A Terrible Company Culture
When you don’t feel good about the environment that you work in it may be due to the company’s culture.
Company culture can include what the business stands for, the common values shared by the employees, or how it treats its employees. Examine if your company may be a bad culture fit for you.
For example, if you believe that business practices are not being handled responsibly, professionally, or ethically, you naturally may want to leave.
Your company may not work with ethical partners, may not follow proper safety rules, or may condone employees speaking or acting unprofessionally with each other.
These types of work environments can make you question your own integrity for working for the company, make you question if you are in a safe environment, or may even make you feel as if you are in a toxic environment.
Other evidence of poor company culture is a lack of response by the business when you express problems with the work environment or business practices.
No business can control every action taken by every person within its walls. But a good company will react quickly, professionally, and with proper sensitivity when things go wrong.
Neglect to complaints or serious infractions of the law, company policy, or professional business conduct can be clear reasons to want a job change. Constant exposure to a poor company culture can be a drain on your energy and may render you in conflict with your personal standards and ethics.
Job Change Tips When Company Culture is Important
When transitioning jobs, company culture can be as important or more important than the work itself. The environment that the business promotes can have a direct impact on your productivity, sense of belonging, and connection with the business.
Take confidence in your decision to move on for these reasons and prepare a plan of action so you do not mistakenly experience the same issues at the next job.
When exploring other job opportunities, look to see what type of culture the business promotes:
Review the company website, job posting, or any other published work to see how it describes its culture, mission, vision, or core values. See the intention behind the company culture the business promotes to have.
Research to see if any customers, vendors, staff, or community members have rendered opinions or reviews about the company using apps and websites like Glassdoor, Indeed, or the Better Business Bureau.
Investigate to see the associations the business has with other business entities, professional associations, and community projects. Where a business invests its resources or donates time to charitable causes can reflect on its priorities.
Above all, use your interview as an opportunity to ask direct questions regarding company culture. Don’t hesitate to ask for real examples of how their values show up on a day-to-day basis. Companies that focus on strong ethics and positive engagement share this openly to gain the attention of future employees with similar values.
Finding and evaluating a company to have strong business ethics and conduct can help to build your confidence with making your job change decision.
Job Change Scenario #2: Limited Access to Professional Growth
Another potential poor company fit is when the company or your boss does not focus on professional development.
Professional development neglect can take the form of:
Limited options for position advancement due to the business structure, lack of systems, or lack of leadership support
No means to increase compensation, benefits, or other retention incentives to support independent development investment
Lack of focus or financial support on continued education, training, or other professional development
When broadening your skills or furthering your career is important to you but is not important to your business then it may be time to find a company aligned with your priorities.
While you are always in the position to manifest your own growth opportunities, you cannot live to your fullest potential if you feel hindered from being your best by your current job. Your job change reason may solely be to find a company that aligns with your long-term career goals.
Professional Development Tips
Companies who prioritize investment in their staff are often proud to share it.
Professional development is not a requirement of any business but many offer options to be competitive and as part of their culture. Examples include:
Education sponsorship or course reimbursement
On-the-job training, mentorship, or coaching
Flexible work schedules to accommodate attending in-person classes, exams, or studying needs
Leadership or vocational development programs, including on-and off-site assignments, multi-year programs, and rotation programs
Interviewing with Professional Development in Mind
When professional development is a priority, be sure to examine this closely in your future interview process.
Ask questions not only about what programs exist but eligibility requirements
Share what you intend as the plan for your future and see how a new company is structured to support your plan
Learn the number and types of options, particularly as you continue your career path with the company over time. Some opportunities are only available after you have had some tenure.
Be mindful that professional development opportunities and the long-term vision related to this subject may be different based on the size of the company. Therefore tailor your questions according to what is reasonable to expect for the size and scope of the business and the role to which you are applying.
Discussing professional development during an interview can feel uncomfortable at times. Some business representatives may get nervous that you are more interested in what is ahead versus the job available now. Always balance your discussion with how you will fulfill the immediate needs of the business.
It is important that you project interest in the role available as well as long-term opportunities to invest in your career growth with the company. When you can align on both the current job opportunity and your future ambitions, you and the company can feel more confident in working together.
Job Change Scenario #3: Toxic Work Environment
Another reason for a job change is when your relationship with the company has been tarnished in some way.
Maybe you have had some type of stigma or bias against you. Maybe you feel disconnected or feel wronged by your boss, department, leadership, or company practices.
Poor business relationships can create a toxic work environment filled with targeting, harassment, micro-managing, and gaslighting. None of these behaviors are healthy for work or your mental health and well-being.
When a toxic environment exists and reporting it does not resolve the issue or you feel it would make things worse, it’s time to find a new company and create a clean slate for yourself.
Examine further, however, if you are ready for that move.
Self Evaluating After Exposure to a Toxic Work Environment
Extended time in a toxic work environment can have negative effects on your mental, emotional, and physical well-being. And while it is a valid reason to leave a job, the reality is that you may not be in the best condition to search and interview for a new job.
Be mindful that working in a toxic environment for a length of time can create different patterns in your behavior. You may have become overly suspicious, watchful, and sensitive to others’ words or actions.
You may not currently be in your best state of mind and this imbalance can travel with you to a new job. Be aware of how past feelings of distrust may impact your ability to transition to an unfamiliar environment.
Examine through others the level of impact on your person that you may not recognize. Connect with family, friends, and possibly a therapist to work through the emotional scarring that may have occurred.
While working in a stressed environment can be taxing, starting a new job in a new environment carries its own level of stress.
Take time to evaluate whether or not starting a new endeavor helps or hurts your situation at this time.
If you have the financial stability to do so, you may want to take a break between jobs to get yourself emotionally readied for your path ahead.
With timing, self care, and preparedness in mind, when you have experienced a toxic work environment at your current job, it likely imperative to start your plan to make a job change.
Toxic Work Environment Transition Tips
Working in a toxic work environment can bring to the surface many thoughts and emotions that simply are not positive. While valid for your current job, it is important to transition your state of mind to a positive outlook for your future position.
Most employers are searching for a person capable to do the job that they have available AND a person who is happy and excited to take on the new opportunity.
Considering these steps when making your transition:
Set the proper energy and focus for your interview. Place your attention on the positive aspects of the new opportunity and speak neutrally about your old job. Never slander or recount negative experiences but instead focus on any learnings you may have gained from your past experience. Always be professional as your goal is to represent your best self.
Learn about the onboarding process and specifically how new hires are integrated within your department or with others. See if the new business has systems in place to foster positive relationships and an overall collaborative working environment
Talk to your direct manager about their leadership style, expectations they have around performance, and how they define a winning team. Understanding your potential manager’s way of leading can help you determine if you will be compatible in the future.
Ask whether or not a tour of the working environment is possible or if you can speak with an experienced team member. Gaining first-hand knowledge of the business will allow you more direct exposure to the relationships that already exist and the general tone of the environment as a whole.
Take special effort to find a company that represents the way you want to be treated and feel confident that your job change is the right decision.
BonusJob Change Scenario: I Just Don’t Like My Current Job
It may seem like it’s not enough, but it is possible to simply not like your current job. There is no reason to feel that you have to justify your reason any more than confirming confidently to yourself how you feel.
When you feel a disconnect with your current job, it is important to pay attention to the signs. Work is more than where you earn money or get trained for developing your skills. It also is a significant part of your daily life and contributes to your total well-being in life.
Choosing a job that you enjoy in addition to it satisfying your basic needs is possible and can make you more balanced in your life overall.
That said, if you enjoy your work but do not like the specific job then your next steps are to create your exit plan. When developing your plan do your best to identify what you didn’t like in your last experience so you do not recreate it in your future!
And, don’t worry, no matter the reason that you elect to leave your job these tips can still be applied.
Exit Plan Tips
Make a firm decision to move forward with leaving your job. If you need a little encouragement, read my article on The Best Affirmations for Confidence When Quitting Your Job. In addition to providing empowering words, this post reviews the self-affirming steps of validating your decision to yourself.
Develop a job search plan for your new job. This ideally will include the work you prefer to do, the opposite experience of what you have at your current job, and what key elements are part of your ideal or dream job. If looking for more inspiration for your preparation read How to Get the Job You Really Want for more ideas.
Prepare an updated resume. This is a critical step as your resume is many times the first impression your new job will have of you. If you are not familiar with creating a resume, it may be better to get help from family, or friends, or to hire a professional. Even if you prepare one yourself, always have another person proofread your end result. If you need assistance with creating your update, take a look at my Tools for the Best Resume Rebuild Ever.
Get interview ready. In addition to the recommendations outlined within this post, be sure to have any important interview questions prepared and written down. Ensure your clothing, transportation, and state of mind are ready so that you can create the best impression. Most of all, remember that an interview includes you. Always ensure that you are observant of the impression you receive from the business. Because you are evaluating them as much as they are evaluating you.
Conclusion
A job change may be a difficult decision. Learning what has motivated this decision within you can help to define if this change is right for you.
It is important to know what may be wrong with the job you have. But it is more important to know yourself and what you need in your career and job environment to be your best in any business environment.
Take time to consider your options, define your desires, and then prepare your next steps toward the right job change for you.
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You need to live a balanced life. Or at least that is what you say to yourself. But where did that idea come from?
Somewhere the narrative created was that a balanced life equals a happy life. There is nothing wrong with that math, except no one shared how to solve the equation.
You can say, “I want to live a balanced life so that I can be happy now”. But what do you do next?
Think of all the questions that come with solving this mystery:
What if you don’t know how to become balanced?
How do you control the balance in your life if everything that makes you feel imbalanced is someone or something other than you?
When do you know that you have achieved balance and, if you do, how do you keep it?
Can you live a happy life and not be in balance?
These are just samples of what comes to mind around the subject of happiness and balance. The good news is that you are not broken, off track, or a bad person if you don’t know how to answer these questions.
The real answer is that there is no one answer. But you can create a solution that works for you and lets you feel less broken and more balanced. Here are 7 Tips for What to Do When You Feel Broken and Need More Balance in Your Life.
Tip #1: Claim Your Definition for a Balanced Life
You are the only one who can create the definition of balance for yourself. You are the master carpenter erecting the structure that is your day-to-day life.
This empowered position is an excellent starting point toward gaining the joy in your life that you want. And it is the kick-off point to establishing exactly how to achieve the balance you believe you should have.
You, and only you, get to decide.
How to define your everyday balance
While you may not know what balance for you is in this moment, you have every day of your life to create your definition.
Balance for you can mean that you are able to well juggle the obligations of family, work, personal health, and finances, or
It could also mean that you are able to be equally mindful of your goals for your physical well-being, your educational pursuits, and your spiritual priorities, or
You may want to have a fabulous career, raise a beautiful family, and also travel the world, or
You may just want to pursue one idea, one dream, or one plan at a time.
Life overflows with potential and opportunity. You decide what options are the ones that make sense to you and for you.
Choose which life experiences lend to what you are and which ones pull away from where you want to be. You do not have to do everything and you do not have to make all things a priority.
By mindfully selecting the life experiences that are meaningful and enriching to you, you have the opportunity for defining your happiness. And you decide the amount of time, attention, and focus you dedicate to the experiences that you want to have.
In this way, you have defined balance by what you choose to do and what you elect not to do. When you place the most focus on what you love you have a better chance of experiencing a life that you love.
Tip #2: Learn What Balance Feels Like to You
Feel good music just feels good
Sometimes words just don’t do justice to describing a feeling. Feelings are meant to be…..felt.
Trying to define balance as a feeling can therefore be difficult. However, it is important to define the feeling of balance for yourself so that you can recognize when you have achieved it.
Balance can take on many characteristics based on what life experiences are at any moment.
Go to bed on time and wake up feeling rested
Complete the work you planned in your day and leave work feeling productive.
Spend time with your kids playing ball in the backyard and after you’re feeling energized and thankful
Step out of your 20-minute shower feeling fresh and relaxed
You take all of these parts and pieces and reflect upon them before you go to sleep. And you say to yourself, you had a good day. Defining and then prioritizing these experiences can create good feeling days, weeks and months.
The summary may be that you simply feel good. But if asked, you may also say that you feelbalanced.
Give language and meaning to your balance
It may be hard to describe your feelings let alone know what invokes them within you. But when your balance matters to you, you want to make clear when you have it so you can repeat it again and again.
The sensation of
being in flow
achieving your goals
satisfying others’ needs
enjoying the people you love
gaining your wants and desires, or
receiving unexpected but pleasant surprises
All of these and more can feel like balance to you.
Defining and feeling the experiences that create joy is how you define and feel being in balance.
Tip #3: Embrace Your Imbalance
Imbalance in life is not exactly the opposite of balance.
If balance equals good feelings and happy experiences, being out of balance does not necessarily equal bad feelings and unhappy events.
A lack of balance can be chaotic or it can be fun. It can be irrational or spontaneous. When you realize that life is never perfect you can appreciate the perfect chaos that is life.
Find balance in the pleasure of a little imperfection
You can find hidden benefits in many aspects of life where you least expect it. The trick is not to fall to pieces when imbalance shows its ugly head.
Dinner burned? Perfect time for pizza night!
Boss created a new project in the middle of your day? Perfect opportunity to learn something new and abandon your same old boring tasks!
Left your wallet at home when trying to checkout at the store? Guess you’ll spend a little more time listening to your favorite song in the car on your way back home!
The bottom line is that you dictate what imbalance is to you. And don’t let life’s imperfections take your balance away from you.
Imbalance can be embraced as a welcomed part of life. It can be an opportunity for gratitude in all that life has to offer, the ups and the downs, and everything in between.
Tip#4: Believe That Imbalance Can Actually Make You Better
The reality is that living an imbalanced life can be a significant part of achieving happiness.
When you are cramming for an exam or prepping for a major presentation, you may not sleep for 2 days, barely eat, and talk to no one. But the outcome of this extreme focus may be the biggest accomplishment you have ever experienced.
A relationship gone bad can make you laser-focused on the type of romance most important to you. A job you must quit can create a desire for a business you must build.
When big transitions happen, you may first only see the pain in the situation. And that’s okay.
Your biggest deviations from balance can inspire your most substantial dreams for blissful existence.
You can be on top of the world tomorrow just because you allowed yourself to live in imbalance today.
Understand when imbalance can serve you, educate you, and even motivate you to become more.
Your living in imbalance can be the way that you define your goal of balance with better clarity and increased certainty.
Tip#5: Learn to Navigate Through Imbalance (Life on The Curve)
There is another side to imbalance. That’s the imbalance burn that sets the whole forest on fire.
The times when you become consumed in any one area of your life and feel as if you completely neglected all other priorities.
Your family suffers because your work has become your everything.
Your relationship suffers because you have placed your children on a pedestal above everything else.
Your own health wanes because you have to make sure that everyone else in your life gets your time and energy.
When you abandon balance for obsession on any subject for too long, you drain the essence from all the other aspects of life that bring you joy.
The assortment of pleasures that life has to offer is there for you to make the most out of your life. When you sacrifice the all for the one, you simultaneously choose to limit your access to life’s pleasures.
Gaining joy, pleasure, happiness, satisfaction, and fulfillment in life is what gives life its purpose.
Limiting your access to these treasures can make life feel like a purposeless burden.
Sometimes bad balance is just good sense
The reality is that life may call upon you to be imbalanced at times:
a sick child
a serious work obligation
a parent in need
an almost foreclosed home
These are not the times to worry over your life balance. These are times when true balance is putting all your focus on the one, big thing and knowing that other parts of your life pale in comparison. And it’s not only necessary, but it’s okay.
Know the difference when what could appear as an imbalanced approach is actually a well-balanced decision.
Bonus Tip: Don’t Let Yourself Hide in the Imbalance
Some parts of life demand acting with urgency and treating parts of your life as an emergency. But there are also times when imbalance can become an unhealthy habit through patterned avoidance.
There are parts of your life that can be damaged or difficult and not an immediate source of happiness for you. So, to avoid having to confront the challenge of correcting these problems, you may elect to be imbalanced and focus all of your attention where you can feel better.
Initially, this is not a poor choice or a bad option. Placing attention on the areas of life that provide you joy can lead to feelings of balance that can eventually be shared across all subjects. You are allowed to fill your cup in any way that you choose that puts you in the best space to live your best life.
But perpetual avoidance can become an addiction.
Living only in safe spaces can be another way that life becomes limited
If you only live to work because this is where you succeed, then what happens when work becomes dysfunctional and you lose your only source of joy?
Your work cannot love you like a spouse or guide you like a parent. But you may misplace your needs for care and attention in unhealthy places because you have avoided nurturing other aspects of your life from where it should naturally come.
And when the one place you put all of your energy into falls apart, you have nowhere left to turn.
Purposeful imbalance due to obsessive pain avoidance can lead to a very unhappy life.
Creating ways to balance life through a diversity of joyful outlets can make finding balance a much easier mission to tackle. Even when some areas of life need a little work, focusing on the prospect of a better condition can create joy in the process.
Avoiding a problem may seem like a quick and easy resolution but can lead away from the much bigger picture of a better and more balanced life.
Conclusion: Create Your Version of a Balanced Life
Now that you have defined your balance, your imbalance, and gained clarity of purpose and feeling, it’s time to live what you know.
Living as balanced is an everyday adventure. Take time to explore and identify the different parts of life that you see as a priority. Intentionally set as priority those aspects of life that bring the most joy and happiness, even if that means a little work involved to get them to their fullest potential.
Take pride in yourself when you have chosen imbalance as a way to propel yourself into a more favorable place. Remember it is okay to trade a little pain for a lot of gains. Be mindful to not let your imbalance tip the scales and take you to a negative place. Too much of a good thing can be bad, and too much of a bad thing can be devastating.
Find ways to fill your cup, regain your focus, and live life with purpose. You choose what a balanced life looks life and feels like.
Remember, you are not broken if balance is not in your life today, but you can decide every day if you need to be balanced.
Creating life balance is the key to living a better life.
It is energizing to live each day in flow. And it is empowering to feel that no matter what comes there is comfort that awaits you. Knowing that you are in balance gives both a sense of relaxation and excited anticipation to any day.
However, imbalance is also a part of life. At times it can seem like the only part of life that you are living.
The days strung together when it feels that nothing is in flow. The moments when nothing goes as planned and the worst scenario seems to just keep showing up. These are the times when you just want the day to stop and start over.
Feel empowered to know that you don’t have to remove the experience of imbalance to have a good life.
You couldn’t even if you wanted to. But that’s okay. Make peace with your times of imbalance and learn ways to regain balance once it has been lost.
Take a look at these 7 ways of creating life balance when imbalance has become way too much of your life.
1. Give Yourself Grace
Sometimes life is just hard and it’s okay to say it
Giving yourself grace is permitting yourself to simply be human when things fall apart. Be angry, cry, feel defeated, and frustrated. It’s human to feel bad when it seems like everything could get no worse.
Sometimes the fastest way to regain balance is to release trying to have it. (Yes, you read that right).
Pause in your discomfort and honor that your emotions exist and feel them. Even when it feels the worst try to accept your feelings instead of pushing them away.
Beyond the hurt, what do your emotions tell you?
Are you disappointed in yourself for not trying harder?
Did someone you love betray your trust?
Have you given up on trying because you fear failure too much?
Do you criticize yourself more than loving yourself out of habit?
Acknowledge where you are. Give yourself grace for getting there. And learn what you can from the experience.
Developing a habit of pause and reflection in the midst of imbalance and emotional disarray permits you to build the muscle of self awareness. It is from here that you can move forward with purpose and direction.
How does self awareness help with creating life balance?
Self awareness gives space to experience your thoughts and emotions and examine your personal interpretation of them. You can give yourself time to answer the simple questions of “what do I feel” and “why?”
In absence of taking this reflective moment, you can become lost in your emotion and directionless in your actions solely inspired by your discomfort. This aimless movement can create even more painful imbalance.
In these moments you can
turn on yourself simply for being in a poor emotional state
frantically spin your wheels trying to blindly fix everything that’s wrong
blame others for your emotional state and blast others for their wrongdoings
become hopeless and wayward with no understanding of how to stop your pain
All of these conclusions come sweeping in when all of your energy is placed on removing your pain and not learning from it. You want your world back in control now!
Grace is accepting when everything is out of control it is time to stop trying to control it and just let all things be. In this way, you begin healing for yourself, acceptance of everything around you, and creating balance.
2. Invoke the Power of Positive Self Talk
What you say to you matters so think before you speak
Words are powerful. Therefore, there is good reason to choose your words wisely or suffer the consequence of self-created imbalance.
As if a mantra, you can at times repeat over and over again all the negatives about yourself or your experiences.
This is a horrible day.
Why is everything going wrong?
Here we go again!
I’m an idiot.
I can make a mess of everything!!!
The list of imbalanced words and phrases has no end and so with it no end to the problems that come with it. The words that we repeat become the reality that we live. When we speak negativity to ourselves then a moment of discomfort can become a full day of regret.
You are the key to the life that you manifest and your words are instruments in the making of it.
In the midst of imbalance, you may not be able to change what you are facing. But you can change the words you say, think, or repeat.
Choose to soothe yourself instead of aggravating your frazzled nerves more. Start small but purposefully. Try affirming to yourself,
“it will be okay” or,
“I know I am doing my best”, or
“it can only get better from here”
Be creative with your means for creating life balance through your words by singing a song that you enjoy or reciting a prayer or poem that brings you peace.
Choose words with emotions that represent where you want to be even if you feel very different in the present. Affirm the balance that you aspire to experience.
10 Positive Affirmations for Creating Life Balance
I know that as things get better and I will get happier and happier
Tomorrow is a new day and I can’t wait to wake up to a good morning
I am thankful for every peaceful and relaxing experience I have ever had
I am grateful for the calm I give my mind through focus
I appreciate feelings of relief and conclusion
I embrace the all experiences that life brings
Every day that I am I have another opportunity to just be
I am proud of myself because I try
I love myself and all that I am
I create balance in my life and am grateful to myself for doing it
Say the words that you need to hear to become the balance you need to have.
3. Champion Your Own Chivalry
Protect your needs for well-being and your right to balance
To take care of another before oneself is only one form of chivalry. Do not hesitate to become the champion of courtesy and honor for yourself.
Put a gallant effort toward defending your right to peace when imbalance has seemingly taken over your life. You can be your own knight in shining armor. Take the necessary actions to smite the sources of the imbalance that confront you.
Make choices that honor your personal needs for importance, priority, andself-care. And be proud to take life balance as a reward.
Chivalrous actions you may take for yourself can include:
Leaving work early whenever the day permits it
Deciding not to answer a phone call to reduce your distractions
Escaping for a private moment within your work day by getting water, taking a walk, or even going to the bathroom
So often we deny ourselves simple courtesies in exchange for pleasing others or satisfying imbalanced expectations of ourselves.
Make decisions that serve you and become an ambassador of your sanctity and sanity. When life becomes too much it is okay to pause what you can so that you are in a better place to handle what comes.
Be chivalrous to yourself regularly and you may thwart many occasions of imbalance on the horizon.
4. Relax and Replenish Your System
Recharging your battery gives you the energy to stay strong when you need it most
Within the most basic human functions lays the most critical of needs, replenishment.
Rest, relaxation, and sleep each serves to provide replenishment to the body. Replenishment of the body secures a foundation whereby you are in the best condition to perform at your highest capacity.
The pressures, stresses, and frustrations of the day are regular occurrences that place a demand upon your physical and mental disposition. Replenishment is a defense against these attacks on your balance and provides you the strength to carry on.
When feeling imbalanced examine your rest, relaxation, and sleep schedule, and if poor, address it immediately and with urgency.
Fighting the internal war of fatigue will invite imbalance and potentially subject you to even more. This can leave you without the strength to find your way to balance.
Know also that replenishment is more than sleep, though getting the length and depth of rest through sleep is important. Other forms of replenishment exist too:
While replenishment will not always cure imbalance by itself, it can provide you with centeredness that can support your return-to-balance journey.
5. Create a Space to Reclaim Your Balance
10 minutes of peace and positive focus can feel like a miracle
When your whole world has toppled and there is confusion everywhere you look, finding respite in your sanctuary away from the storm can immediately make you feel better.
Create a space that provides you with access to your balance even if only temporarily.
Balance at Work
Let a simple image transport you to another place
You may find that at work your place of balance is your desk, your locker, or even your screensaver.
Here you can place positive messages, photos of family, or a memento that has special meaning to you. Create an inspired, peaceful vision and gain the power to provide calm within your line of sight.
At home, it may be your bedroom or a spare room where you find your quiet place of peace from the world.
Dedicate any small corner to include symbols or images of calm that are meaningful to you. A small candle or a place to burn fragrant incense can be enough. A beautiful bouquet of flowers can touch your spirit and invoke a recall to balance.
Visiting your sacred space or creating one for the first time can represent giving to yourself. This gift of balance can be critical when it feels like the whole world is only taking. Display items that have a special meaning that provide a sense of grounding and control in an otherwise chaotic existence.
Imbalance can seem to walk with you no matter where you go. But creating a space for peace can allow you to release your burdens and step into balance when needed.
6. Connect with Nature
No matter the season or time of day, it may be a perfect opportunity to step into nature when you feel that imbalance abounds. There is almost always an opportunity to experience nature if you choose to prioritize the experience.
When the walls feel as if they are closing in and the place you stand feels unstable, turn your sights to your nearest window or open door.
Close your eyes and take a deep breath allowing fresh air to fill your lungs and graze across your body
Take a walk and focus your attention on every planted step as you feel the surety of solid ground supporting your stride
Look to the sky and embrace the beauty, expansiveness, and freedom of a never-ending horizon
Nature represents simplicity but also manifests itself in substantial ways representing the eternal access to balance in life.
How can nature help when creating life balance?
When creating life balance we can look to engage with nature and claim our place with its natural harmony:
Watch the movement of life around you. Birds in the trees, squirrels running across the ground, people bustling to their destinations all represent the beauty of intersected life around you.
Allow your skin to feel the rays of the sun or the coolness of raindrops on a cloudy day. The connection between you and the elements is a reminder of your union with the world.
Take in the fragrance of sweet flowers in the spring, freshly mowed grass in the summer, or falling leaves from majestic trees carried in the wind on a fall day. Allow the subtleties of life to show how easily calm can seep into your day.
Go out and experience the abundance of eternal balance that surrounds you. And reassure yourself that your personal balance is only steps away at any moment.
7. Find Your Tribe
Surround yourself with loved ones when you need it most
There is no rule that your road to balance must be traveled alone. So when you find yourself in the thrusts of imbalance make use of your resources.
When you are fortunate enough to have special people in your life, trust in the strength of your relationship that they will want to support you.
Loyal companions who always have a positive disposition and a helping hand to lend are a treasure. Good people with good dispositions are great resources to have.
When your path has gotten too dim for you to find your way home alone, a good friend will act as a lighthouse across your dark sea and guide you back to balance.
A burden shared between two people can be much lighterweight than a crushing problem held by one
Remember also, you may not always have access to live support every time you need it. Late-night hours, travel, or just life can make it hard to connect with family and friends at times.
So it is important to also build a tribe of indirect connections and support to guide your journey towards balance.
The vehicles of peace are endless. Search for support and know that it is always there.
These resources can come in the form of musicians, artists, writers, podcasters, YouTubers, bloggers, and more. At a moment’s notice, no matter the time day or night, you can tap into their message and be transported to a better place.
Listen to music. Create playlists designed to lift your spirits when needed
Read a book or your favorite highlighted passage
Watch a motivational video or a heartwarming movie
Learn from an online educator a new way to ease your stress or bring order to your life
Your favorite artists, creators, and entertainers can be your lifeline in bad times.
Curate your tribe with care and reap the rewards of partnered effort towards balance. Invest in creating your team for balance and see the fruits of your labor flourish with positive connections and peace.
Conclusion
While imbalance is a part of life, and not always an enjoyable part, balance also exists.
The path of moving from the discomfort of imbalance to creating life balance can be challenging but achievable. Find comfort in knowing that any struggle is only temporary by nature.
The keys to creating life balance are to accept your imbalance, learn from it, and use your learning to choose the best path ahead. Ready your tools and resources so you can gain the support you require on your path and feel empowered on your life journey always.
Take command of your ability to create balance in your life. And know that no amount of imbalance can keep you from living the quality of life you choose to live. When you prepare ahead for the imbalance you know to come, you can be in the best position to bring yourself back to the balance that keeps you whole.
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Have you found the perfect way to face imbalance in your daily life? Share your method in the Comments section below.
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