It’s Your Life. Make it a Good One.

Welp...2020...you were a tough one.  No need to go into detail on that, am I right?! (insert smiling sweating emoji)

And 2021...well see what you got in store for us.  Will it be better?  Could it get worse?  

But here’s the thing…

It doesn’t matter.  

Everything is going to be okay and even if it’s not okay...it’s going to be okay.

A friend of mine on a podcast spoke about the human experience and it really refocused and reinforced my own mindset on life.  And here it is…

You and your experience is unique.  No one ever in the history of the cosmos nor ever in the future will live YOUR life.  You are THAT unique.  You are THAT special.  How amazing are you that you exist, in the here and now and you get to LIVE this.  Who cares if we’re in a pandemic?  You are alive, you are here and you’re so ridiculously unique.  Why do we squander away the wild ride that life is and sink into (insert negative thought pattern here)?

So…

You get to choose how you want to experience this life.  It’s all up to you, babe.  Move through this life experiencing it from a lens of “I GET to do this! I get to be alive!”  You have a wish list?  Do allllll the things on it.  You have some trauma (we all do).  Heal that shit so you can be freer.  You want to change the world and help others.  HELLO?!  You totally can.  It’s all out there for you to have.  All the love and gratitude and peace and joy.  All of it!

So who cares (insert crazy thing that might happen) happens.  It is your perspective and approach to it that will afford you a mindset that will make it easier to process and handle.

I realize this isn’t that easy to just up and declare to do this so here are a few tips that can help kickstart this:

• Set a reminder every night right before your bedtime “Three Things I’m Grateful For” and recite them out loud and/or write them down.  Studies have shown that you can reshape your neuro pathways to create more of those lovely chemicals that are responsible for happiness*.  I personally did this for a year when I was coming out of depression and it worked for me.
• Read a book on presence practice.  For me “A New Earth: Awakening to your Life’s Purpose” by Ekhart Tolle changed my world on how to view and approach life. I’m also convinced Tolle is an alien.  Haha! Look him up on YouTube.
• For my writers out there, The Five Minute Gratitude Journal is an awesome way to start your day.
• Meditate.  I like Insight Timer (it’s free) and if you’re new to it I’d suggest Headspace.  It’s a great beginner app and it’s not “woo woo” for those non woo woo-y people.
• And finally, I’d suggest grace for yourself.  Give yourself a big ass hug for making it through 2020 and not losing your shit...we’ll maybe at least not publically and even if you did publically that’s okay too.

We’ve got this one, beautiful, crazy life...let’s make it a good one so when you close your eyes for the final time you can look back and say YES I made my unique, once in all existence experience a really f*cking good one.

I hope this helps anyone who’s reading this. I truly want all to live a wonderful good life full of love and joy.  Sending love and COVID-free hugs to you!

-LeiLani

P.S. Thank you to Wei Houng for your perspective.  I appreciate you!

*Source: https://positivepsychology.com/neuroscience-of-gratitude/