10 rules for a more meaningful life
Everyone needs a little push sometimes, this Corona Virus lockdown thinking inspired me to come up with something I've put on paper and something I should have done a long time ago, a list to follow but fit for yourself, something that represents you, feel free to make adjustments according to your personality and behaviors, all of this is gathered along time and something most of us relates, so here’s something that can help:
1. Be grateful for what you have
The times we’re living are all attached to materialism, social media and capitalism are two major influencers of why sometimes we feel we don’t have enough and have a desire to have more and more, we often find ourselves craving for something we don’t have and sometimes we can’t afford and because of that, we experience anxiety, fear of missing out, stress and sadness, and the only impact we will experience will lead to both an unhappy life or career.
I wanted to write for quite a while something very special to me, a letter I am carrying for a few years now, a message from one friend to another, both disabled fencing Olympics that I had the honor to meet them and learn a valuable lesson, for data privacy I cannot disclose their names but here it is:
“My dear friend X,
I found it hard to accept my wheelchair
Even harder to accept that my world had changed,
All I was doing was looking back
Searching for a past that was forever gone.
But you gave me the courage to challenge myself
And be open to new ideas
Fencing gave me purpose and ignited my energy within
You can’t always control what happens to you in life,
But you can control how you respond.
Thank you, my dear friend,!
Z”
If you’re ever unhappy with your life or career because you’re missing something reading this, it will make you realize that you have more than you think to live a happy life and plenty of resources to do what you want to do.
2. Self-development
This particular rule has changed my life, ten years ago an amazing person borrowed me a book that later on had become my Bible, it is a book about how to use positive words to get positive results, written by Hal Urban, after using the learnings of his book I understood how important is self-development and got more into it. We have the ability to learn new things and be better if we really want it, take as short as half an hour daily and read a few pages from a book you wanted to learn a new idea, or watch a self-development video or listen to a podcast, audible books are also available as we all learn differently.
3. Practice awareness
Self-awareness, is one of the most challenging parts of our lives, have you heard the lyrics:
“A wise man said knowledge is king
Know thyself and you can do anything
Know thyself and you could shine like bling
Know thyself and you the king of the ring, ha” of Black-Eyed Peas’ “Ring The Alarm Pt.1, Pt.2, Pt.3.”
The same motto “know thyself” is also written on the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, Greece and what self-awareness teaches us is how to achieve a conscious state of mind where we know what our capabilities are, our strengths and weaknesses, knowing our goals and how to get there, awareness also increases emotional intelligence. We are most aware when we are in the Now, Eckart Toll’s book the “Power of Now” explains how the mind shifts either in the past or the future, it’s like your thoughts become an independent part of you that acts also independently, he refers to that as “watch the thinker” it’s the state when you realize how your thoughts shifted without your approval, once you understand that we can be more aware and more connected with the Now and the actions we’re taking.
Something that helps me is meditation, it was recommended by one of my mentors, I was reluctant to try it although it was recommended a few years ago, I started late and seen improvements, I started to be more aware of my bad habits and be more conscious with my decisions, try it you won’t be sorry.
4. Don't judge anyone by their cover and the most important don't judge yourself
You’ve probably heard the phrase “everyone is going through something you don’t know anything about it” and that’s because it’s true, nobody’s perfect and life is full of surprises, some good and some less good, just because someone hasn’t reached your level doesn’t mean they aren’t worthy, they may have struggled with personal issues or other circumstances that stopped them to accomplish what you had accomplished and for anyone fighting a battle like this you have to show your greatness and help.
“Don’t judge yourself”, I know a lot of us can easily relate to this, stop being hard to yourself, you’re only human, yes, you made 1, 2, 10, 100 mistakes…instead of thinking what is wrong with you, start working on a way to bounce back and discover what determined you to do things the way you did it and build from there, and know that tomorrow is another day and you can start all over again, be good to yourself.
5. Be kind
Kindness will soon be a currency when your kind “the world around you changes”, kindness goes a long way both in life and business, you can consider yourself a winner following only this rule that’s how important it is and I did write more about it in one of my previous blog posts, please check my blog post about kindness.
6. Don't take anything personally
This is something I learned and had experienced, the writer Don Miguel Ruiz said it best in his book "The Four Agreements", "Nothing others do is because of you", each and everyone acts on their own projection of reality and he is right.
7. Learn to accept and love yourself
This may sound a bit selfish but it’s not, again, this is related to the gratitude rule when we don’t have, or we aren’t enough. When you have self-esteem for you and you embrace everything that means “you”, a loving and caring human being, you will transmit the same feelings to the ones around you and vice-versa, when you are struggling to embrace who you are.
When I asked a colleague of mine who is the most important person in their life, she told me it’s her, I asked how come because I knew she has a daughter and then she said “if I’m not fine” how can I look after my daughter and that just opened my eyes and started to see the things different, so, on your way in life make sure you accept and love yourself so you can do the same for the loving ones around you.
8. Exercise
There is an old saying I used to hear since childhood in my home country, a Latin phrase “Mens Sana In Corpore Sano” which means a healthy mind in a healthy body. We grow positive thoughts when our body is happy, can you believe that even 10 minutes a day is influencing our bodies to function much better hence the brain and the decisions we make during the day.
9. Have fun
Take time for you, make sure no matter how busy you are taking some time off, start a hobby like photography, chess, football, dancing classes or martial arts it can be once a week or more often, watch a movie, make time to see your friends and hang out, being social in extremely important in a technology disrupted society.
10. Don’t take anything for granted
There’s so much going on today, world pandemic, who would’ve thought of that, it paralyzed everything, people are taken away, the economy crashes, jobs and careers at risk, the world is so fast-paced and guess what… so are we, my advice is to make time for what and who is really important for you, don’t believe everything you hear. Be grateful for what you have, what you take for granted someone else is praying for, a today well lived will make a beautiful tomorrow.
I hope this list will help you with your well-being and the things you want to accomplish, I would love your feedback and please let me know if there is a specific area you would like to discuss, you can email me, my address is in the about section of my blog, don’t forget to share this with your tribe and subscribe.
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