Image Title & Credit: “Flying or Falling?” from garlandcannon
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Total read time: 16 minutes
This is a list of 10 life-enhancing truths to help you become more of your innermost greater self. It includes tips on mindset, interpersonal relations and practical action. All that remains is for you to implement what resonates by acting on your inspiration.
1 – Inspiration Is Cheap – Implement Immediately
Inspiration is found on every corner of the streets of internet. We are showered with information all the time. Headlines of articles and videos pop up in our newsfeeds like neon light-signs on a drive down the Strip in Las Vegas. Pictures with quoted pearls of wisdom on them fly through social media, giving short bursts of inspiration to whomever seeks it. Inspiration is abundant. Our brains are bombarded with input.
This storm of online content brings immense possibilities to learn. However, one needs to filter through a lot to find gold. Trying to swallow every piece of information out there would provoke a serious feeling of ADD, at best. It could also leave you confused and clueless, thumb twiddling while you wonder how to put your newfound knowledge into practice.
Inspiration is cheap. Inspiration without action is worthless. Failing to implement what you learn is a common condition. Implement immediately and you will integrate your new skills, making them your own.
You can read the manual a thousand times before you start a task, but you will never really learn until you do. You can consult the manual as you go.
Doing is key.
Take the step
Countless missions of mine have been put on hold because I have not yet felt ready to take them on. The time will never feel right. The time for action is always now! You will never feel completely ready until you jump into life, learning and implementing as you go.
You need references from real life experience to be able to understand and utilize what you learn from the manual.
The way to make use of inspiration is taking action right away. Implement immediately!
Taking action was also covered in 6 Universal Principles to Set You Free.
2 – Be Grateful
Gratitude is a pillar to lean on if all else fails. It is a way to shift your focus back to a more positive point of view; To get back on the road when you are driving your car deeper into the ditch. It is the lifeline you can use to pull yourself back on your path. Gratitude can get you out of a downward spiral.
By consciously shifting your focus onto something that you are grateful for, you will eventually find more things that you appreciate. You can do this by taking 5 minutes every day writing down things you are grateful for.
In scientific studies gratitude is almost always among the top three personality traits that are correlated with happiness.
When you feel down and look out the window at the pouring rain, appreciate that you have a house, with windows. Appreciate that you have your senses to see, hear, smell and feel the rain.
If we’re not grateful for what we have, there’s no reason to think that having more would change anything.
Gratitude is one of the things that will be covered in our upcoming course 5 Steps To Inner Peace
Gratitude is closely related to several items on this list. For example, you can be grateful for your friends’ success and for having awesome friends. Being grateful can also help you see the abundance that is everywhere. Proceed to the next item on this list: Abundance.
3 – Have an Abundance Mindset
Abundance. Wealth. Overflow. Excess. Cornucopia. Life. Infinity. This is real. Life is abundance.
Lack. Poverty. Scarcity. Limited resources. No love. This is illusory. There can only be abundance. There can be an illusion of lack and poverty and limited resources. The illusion of lack is part of the abundance.
Focus on what is abundant and you shall see that there is nothing but abundance. Infinity includes no lack, only the illusion of it.
An abundance mindset can spur from gratitude. When you start focusing on what you have and start knowing that “you can”, all sorts of possibilities and ideas will reveal themselves to you.
Changing what you believe to be true – your paradigm – will completely change your life. Obtain a point of view that allows you to become excited by all the possibilities rather than brought down by limitations (which are illusions). Live in a world based on giving instead of taking, and know that there is enough for everyone. This knowledge has the power to eliminate greed.
Knowing that abundance is all there is, and ever will be, also diminishes stress and so it is related to taking breaks and having hobbies. Time is abundant!
Related article: See Through Illusions of Scarcity, Find Abundance
4 – Accept and Let Go
Accept what is because it is already accepted by existence itself, proven by its very existence. Resisting and reacting to what is will cause unnecessary drama. Transform all of your negative beliefs by observing and identifying them, and then forgive and love the beliefs as well as yourself for believing in them.
What you resist persist. Observe free from judgement, then accept and love what you see. Transformation and ease awaits.
Relieve yourself from drama and suffering by surrendering to what is. This moment is unchangeable. Enjoy the freedom of life and gaze in awe upon what unfolds when you accept and love what is, trusting in life to support you.
Let go. Flow. Float gracefully through life knowing that everything is impermanent.
Every thing is impermanent.
All is taken care of, in this moment. Your past, your future, everything. Accept this. Surrender to it. Do not resist it if it seems bad. Do not cling to it if it seems great. Accept either way without attachment. Nothing is permanent.
No thing is permanent.
You can cry, scream and get angry at the universe for losing your job. “It’s not fair”, you may say, refusing to accept what is. When you surrender completely to what is you step out of the victim mentality and move on to something better.
Related article: Acceptance and Surrender – Die Before You Die
5 – Strive to Get Better – Set Goals
This is a cliché one, and for good reasons. Having goals are paramount if you want to accomplish specific feats.
By setting goals you are forced to think about what you want out of life. This brings you closer to your dreams and allows you to visualize milestones on your way to them.
Goals transform insurmountable misty mountaintops to walkable and welcoming hills.
When we set goals and work towards them we are constantly re-assessing what it is we want, feeling into what excites us, navigating our chosen path. At first you might think you want money, only to figure out that what you really want is to connect with others.
If you know that you want to experience some specific things, goals are of the essence.
Say you wanted to go to a beautiful and magical spot in the woods that you have heard tales and legends about. Sure, you could just wander aimlessly around in the woods without directions. That may lead you into great adventures, but the chance of going where you initially wanted to go is small. If you instead had some directions – some milestones – you would still be able to divert from them and go chase any adventure that might present itself along the way. You would also have the opportunity to go to the awesome and fabled spot that was your initial goal.
Strive to get better by setting goals, long term and short term. Know that they can and will change as you move forwards.
Setting goals should be done from an abundant mindset and acted upon immediately.
Ultimately, the path is the goal. Have fun!
6 – Take Breaks
To create and live the life of your dreams you need to put in a lot of effort. It does not have to feel like effort if you are following your excitement and joy. You pick a course – something to focus on for a while – and accelerate in that direction. You get things done, learn heaps and propel yourself into a ton of new experiences. This is great fun and will expand your mind’s horizon in all directions.
To sustain such high speed living you need to be able to relax and disconnect. Take time out to do something completely different. Meet up with friends or family, meditate during the day or take a vacation.
Slow down and notice the beauty around you
You might want to dive into a new thing, seemingly related or unrelated to your original course. If you start beating yourself up over not doing enough or not keeping up the pace, you will not be able to sustain your work. Allow yourself to take breaks without thinking about what you should do. Live a flowing life free from needs, expectations, hopes and fears. Do both your work and your time off without attachments and the two will seem indistinguishable.
Time is abundant, remember? Take breaks in good conscience to hang out with friends or spend on your hobbies.
7 – Have a Hobby
Following your joy and doing things that you love to do is important on so many levels. Even though you might enjoy what you are doing for a living it is still important to have a hobby. Having one or more things you do just for fun is not just fulfilling and relaxing; there are also emotional, mental and physical benefits.
Hobbies are great ways to challenge yourself without the deadlines that often come with work related activities. This can open your mind up and give you new perspectives of the world. Also, when we take on challenges that we are excited about we promote the healthy kind of stress, eustress, that gives you a rush of excitement and joy. Eustress promotes the release of the longevity hormone DHEA in the body, as well as adrenaline. The opposite of eustress is distress, which promotes the release of cortisol, the stress hormone.
Scientific studies have shown that eustress is correlated with a longer life than both distress and no stress. Our Udemy course “Master Your Inner Peace – Remain Positive and Unaffected” covers how to transform distress to eustress more in depth, with practical exercises.
Another great thing about hobbies is that you get in the zone and stay fully present to the moment. Hours can fly by when you are in this state of flow and it feels awesome. You might postpone things like eating and going to the toilet because you are having such a good time.
Having hobbies allows you to take breaks while still being productive. Also, hobbies are a great way to meet new people, as well as having shared activities to do with friends.
This brings us to the next item on the list.
8 – Nurture Friendships
Relationships of any kind need to be nurtured in order to stay strong. Friendship is going to dwindle away into memories, if there is nobody to nourish and cherish it.
It doesn’t take that much to keep contact with old friends even though they may be far away. You may think that there is no use or feel that since the friendship already has faded from its prime you should just let it go. It is not too late to rekindle the relation.
Take action when you think about that old friend. Get out of apathy. Write a short message and catch up or socialize. Meet up for a beer or a cup of coffee from time to time.
The other person is probably the same as you when it comes to keeping in touch. It is much more comfortable to just interact with the people around you, I know, but make the effort to interact with old friends occasionally. Having friends to socialize with or being there in each other’s hour of need is never a bad thing. You cannot have too many good friends. You will both appreciate that you kept your ties of friendship in the long term. Your friendship may even see a renaissance one day.
Be grateful for all of your relationships, take action to nurture them when you have some time off. It will fill your life with more meaning.
When you do catch up with your friends, support them in their valleys and be happy for them on their peaks.
9 – Be Happy for Others
Do you feel genuinely happy for other people’s success? Do you see that there is enough for everyone and that you do not lose value when other people accomplish great feats? Do you view other people’s success as a threat or as inspiration? In other words, do you have a mindset of abundance?
Seeing other people succeed and excel can be hard. We have all experienced envy. Sometimes seeing people succeed leads to feelings of inferiority. Such comparison can spark the flame of jealousy, evaporating any drops of joy for others’ success.
Feeling so separate and hustled out of resources by the rest of the universe that you rage upon the success of others is a gift that keeps on giving. It feeds the malevolent illusion of separation, lack and scarcity, the false beliefs that are the roots of the conflict.
When other people are successful, share their joy. Take part in the celebration. Show your full support – Be in awe of their accomplishments. They will love you for it. You will love you for it. The true gift that keeps on giving is your support of other people. Think of it as you having a ball of support and love. This benevolent ball is of a certain size and you love it. If you give this ball to others, the funny thing is that you will not lose it. In fact, your ball will get bigger. Love and support flourishes when shared.
The capacity to feel happy for others is tied to the concept of abundance. If we enter scarcity mode we will keep our ball to ourselves, slowly killing it. If we enter abundance mode we will gladly share our happiness ball, nurturing and growing it.
The essence of this is captured in the Golden Rule, a maxim that probably is about as close as we can get to Universal Truth. Many religions and prominent figures have restated it over thousands of years.
One should treat others as one would like others to treat oneself.
10 – Don’t Take Yourself Too Seriously
Knowing the true impermanent nature of everything, including your own body, don’t take yourself too seriously. We all make mistakes, we all have insecurities and we are all going to die. Enjoy the ride.
Laugh at life. Laugh at yourself, and you will never cease to be amused.
See how small your problems are on a cosmic scale. Think about how many people that are worse off than you. Your human life is only so many years. Nothing compared to the age of the Universe.
“If you ever start taking things too seriously, just remember that we are talking monkeys on an organic spaceship flying through the universe.” – Joe Rogan
If you delve into the mysteries of life and contemplate what you are and what you are not, you will at some point find that you are independent of all appearances. You are independent of thoughts, emotions, physical sensations and even the body. All these appearances come and go. They appear and disappear while you observe as Presence-Consciousness.
On the deepest level you have always existed and will always exist. Your body is limited by birth and death, but the true depths of who you are – of who we all are – knows no boundaries.
