love your life

A new year is the perfect time for reflection, goal-setting and visioning all we want to achieve in the coming 12 months. The first few months can be a flurry of resolutions, best intentions, and dreams! In the constant push to better ourselves, to advance, to improve and live our best lives, it’s good to remember that we are already good enough. While it’s great to focus on fitness plans, new nutrition goals, career wishes or leisure pursuits, there is a place for gratefulness too.

 

Often, we can get caught in the trap of seeking more and more. In this cycle, we are actually running away from the present moment and from who we are right here and now. We are seeking, the new improved version of ourselves, but what’s so wrong with the current one?

 

With so much advertisement and social media, we are subconsciously feeling not-so-good about something in any given moment. ‘I wish I had nicer shoes’, ‘I need a new pair of jeans!’, ‘My hair really needs an update.’ ‘I need to stop drinking coffee.’ ‘Why did I eat that chocolate bar?’ This keeps us in a perpetual state of stress, of reaching, and ultimately, it takes us away from experiencing the beauty, the gifts and fulfilment that already exists. We are living in a time of anxiety and excess, of mass-consumption, of environmental crisis. Reframing who we are, what we have and what we are grateful for can really help to shift our perspectives.

 

I tried this out for a week recently. Every time I criticized something about my life, my appearance, my apartment, my running shoes! – I stopped and replaced it with a thought that celebrated who I am. The things that don’t need to change. How would we feel about ourselves if we wrote lists about all the things that are working, all the ways we are doing our best, what we love about ourselves and our lives? For many, February is the month of love, so let’s look at what we love about right now. What we can celebrate about ourselves, as the red hearts, flowers and love notes come around...

 

Here are a few I’ll share that surprised me:

◦ I’m very good at looking after houseplants, they thrive in my care.
◦ I have the most wonderful, deeply nurturing friendships.
◦ I love my little nephew and adore spending time with him.
◦ Learning to surf has changed my life in positive ways.
◦ My eyebrows are actually pretty awesome.
◦ I am so grateful for all the decisions I make every day that keep my body fit and healthy.

 

See? When we put our minds to it, even in the midst of all the self-work, the constant evolution and the desire to live our best lives, if we take some time to celebrate and love what is already great about today, chances are we’ll feel better about tomorrow. Send your amazing self a Valentine’s this year – you deserve it.

 

To learn more about Ere Perez, click here.

 

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