We can’t control the world or others, but we can build a solid foundation that allows us to be happy and experience joy even in tough times. Here are four steps I incorporate into my life to give myself that solid foundation. These are things you can do to ensure your peace and happiness regardless of what is going on around you.
Step One: Surround yourself with good, loyal friends that build you up and want to see you happy.
Step Two: Do things you love. For me, I love to hang out with friends/family and laugh, read, write, run, go to the gym and meditate. Unfortunately, it’s easy to get caught up in what you have to do and not make room for what you want to do. To avoid this, incorporate the things you love into your daily life.
Step Three: Have life goals. I list five things I am grateful for every day and plans I want to achieve. An excellent exercise to help define your goals is to write out what you want your dream life to look like in 5 and 10 years. Then, write goals that help you achieve that life. For the most part, my goals remain the same every day. However, they may evolve over time. It’s exciting when you reach goals knowing that they were just a dream not too long ago. This helps me stay focused on what I want from my life and filter out any noise that contributes to meeting my goals.
Step Four: Find joy every day. Everyone has challenging times; even in those times, you can find moments of joy. A good friend, the sun is shining, a hug from your child are all great examples of joy. Breathe those moments in and savor them. The more you practice this, the easier it becomes, and you will soon be finding joy all day long.