When someone asks you about the happiest moment in your life, how would you answer? Most people answer with events like a promotion, the birth of a child or a wedding day, but reality is, those moments of joy are surprisingly short-lived and life goes back to normal the next day.
What if these moments of fulfillment were a regular part of your everyday life, rather than being a fleeting moment? Being fulfilled means that we are happy and satisfied because we are fully developing our abilities and character. It’s about the process through victories and failures, rather than being focused on a single, passing moment.
To live a fulfilled life, we need to build habits that create joy and with that a fulfilled life isn’t defined by moments of success and accomplishments, but by the healthy habits we have. So in order to increase our levels of fulfillment in life, we need to put in some work to develop the habits that give us the fulfilled, satisfying life we are looking for.
Here are our TOP 10 ways you can start living a more fulfilled life today.
#1 Commit to a Growth Mindset
Your mind is so powerful that it can morph into your greatest asset or your worst enemy. If you want to live a fulfilled life you have to commit to a growth mindset, where you believe that there is enough for everyone and the world is a place of abundance. Realize that intelligence, skills and talents can be developed and expanded if you put in a consistent effort. You are the master of your own universe and steer the direction of your personal as well as professional life trajectory in whichever way you want. Keep in mind, you are the only one who has the power to stop yourself from achieving your dreams, so make your mind your friend rather than your enemy.
#2 Let Go of Control
One of the biggest obstacles to living a fulfilled life is that we try to control the uncontrollable. There are certain circumstance that we don’t have power over, we can’t control the weather and we can’t control another person. The only thing we do have control over is how we respond to certain circumstances and people and adjust our perspective to specific situations. Everything else is out of our control, so relinquish the control and notice how stress melts away and you can enjoy life a lot more.
#3 Only Compete with Yourself
If you want to live a fulfilled life, don’t get caught up in the daily rat race and stop comparing yourself to others. When you compare yourself to others, you are devaluing your own self-worth and you forget to realize that you only see someone else’s journey from their highlight reel without ever knowing what’s really going on behind the scenes. The only measure that is important is your own personal one. Make it a point to compete with yourself and get at least 1% better than you were yesterday and if you can achieve that, forget everything and everyone else.
#4 Experiment with Failure
Whether we like it or not, failure is part of our human experience. It is important to realize that when we fail, that doesn’t mean we lack talent or are destined to live without success. It doesn’t mean we are a failure, it just means that we hit an obstacle that we need to overcome and when we learn to accept failure as an amazing opportunity to learn and grow, we are able to accomplish any goal we set our mind to. There is no such thing as a failed experiment, there is only feedback that helps us to find our way, so experiment with failure and learn how to overcome it.
#5 Develop an Attitude of Gratitude
An attitude of gratitude leads to a fulfilled life as research demonstrates over and over again. Gratitude has the power to shift your focus away from your problems and to the wonderful things and people in life that will help you to overcome a negative mindset. Focus on your blessings and keep a daily gratitude journal. Every morning when you wake up and every night before you go to bed, write down three things or people – and don’t forget yourself on that list – that you are grateful for and you’ll be amazed how quickly this simple act of gratitude will lead to a life of satisfaction.
#6 Exercise Regularly
Our modern life is more sedentary than ever and our bodies move less and less, which has huge consequences not just for our physical health, but our emotional and mental well-being. Besides giving you the body of your dream and making sure your body stays healthy, exercise releases a plethora of feel-good hormones like endorphins, dopamine and serotonin, which make us feel happier, more productive and more focused. To live a happy, healthy, fulfilled life, exercise is essential, so make it a non-negotiable on your schedule and commit to a regular workout routine.
#7 Eat Better
In order to live a happy and fulfilled life you need to fuel your body properly to have the energy and mental power to do what you love. Besides of course affecting our health, food also has a huge effect on our mood and brain function. To get the most out of life drink more water, increase fruits, vegetables and whole grains and eat less artificial, chemicalized junk food, sugar, caffeine and alcohol. A balanced diet of wholesome, nutritious foods that are high in protein, healthy fats and fiber will give you the best results.
#8 Sleep More
Sleep in the foundation for emotional well-being and restoring energy. Without proper sleep your brain suffers as sleep helps the brain to retain new information through a process called memory consolidation and it will be a lot easier to learn and remember things. Additionally, lack of sleep can result in impatience, irritability, moodiness and the inability to concentrate and you are too tired to do the things you love to do. And let’s not forget sleep is detrimental to keep your weight and metabolism in check, because sleep deprivation affects the way our body processes and stores carbohydrates by altering the levels of our hunger hormones.
#9 Develop a Beginner’s Mind
If you can develop a beginner’s mind, you are ready to accept and take on every new challenge, because you don’t have a concept of how things should be. Your mind is full of openness and energy and this is why it is such a joy and pleasure to start something new. When we stay in our comfort zone, our mind gets lazy and prevents us from growing to new heights. Keep your mind open and hungry, leave space for serendipity and the unexpected and you will experience a fulfilled life.
#10 Live in the Present
The present moment is where life happens, it’s the only place where you can experience fulfillment and happiness – or anything else for that matter. The only place worth living is the present moment and while it might sound obvious, realizing this is a life changer. Get into the present moment by using your senses – sight, sound, touch, taste and smell – whenever you enter a new place, to get into the now and you’ll be able to feel better, think better and act better.
Life is about opening up our world to new experiences. It may be that you are a bit bored or stuck or frustrated. It’s not like you don’t like your life, but you feel like there is something more. Reality is, those opportunities are within reach because every single day presents us with countless possibilities to get a little bit more out of life.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF EVERY OPPORTUNITY AND LIVE A FULFILLED LIFE
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked