Heart Overflowing: A Call to Flourish...Simple Tips to Thrive Rather than Merely Survive

This morning as I write my heart is wide open and my eyes are teared up.  It is difficult to explain and express just how full I am with deep love for humanity.  This translates today into a deep desire to share with each of you that there IS more.

We each have this deep, often unspoken, feeling that "There Must Be Something More".  That little whisper within that sometimes build to a piercing scream in our soul is meant to be heard.  As we pay attention to our inner yearnings and our deeper knowings, we enter the space for miraculous transformation.

Today, I want to bring you a bit of exciting news.  I had the fortune this weekend of spending 2 full days with 40 amazing new friends at a course for Applied Positive Psychology offered by the Flourishing Center.  My inner cup was filled with information and inspiration to the point where I am literally OVERFLOWING with possibility.

Before I give you a few nuggets of opportunity, I want you to know that we each have the possibility to Thrive rather than Survive.  Too often we think that living in dread is "just the way it is."  We have learned to accept high levels of stress as normal.  We experience states of dismissal physical and mental health and figure that we just have to get by.  We have come to believe that since everyone else is doing it this way, it must be the way it has to be. Hmm, is it?

What if we would begin to honor our inner yearnings?  We can begin to pay attention to the constant signals our bodies, minds and spirits are offering us throughout the day.  We can begin to find new ways of being, of thinking, of feeling and doing that allow us to feel better on daily basis.

In fact, the research shows that while 50% of life satisfaction is related to our genetics (our biological set point), only 10% of our happiness is based on life conditions. Guess what?  The remaining 40% of our Happiness Pie is attributed to intentional activities--what we think, do and feel!  We each have the power to influence our daily well-being and happiness in more ways than we have been aware.

You may ask, "Why the heck didn't anyone teach me this in school?"  GOOD QUESTION!  I wondered the same thing.  The good news is this -- we can learn now to find very simple, practical ways to increase our well-being.

Friends, GET EXCITED!  We can begin to choose to feel better each day!  We can begin to experiment with new possibilities--to not just trudge through each day--but to foster enjoyment each day and feel better each day.  Are you ready for that?  I know I am.

So, as a small start, here are a couple of easy opportunities for the day ahead that will begin to re-orient you to a new, fresh perspective:

1.  Shift your questions.   When we ask a question, we get a certain type of answer.  What we seek, we find.  So many of us have been programmed to ask, "What's wrong?" Focusing on what's not working can causes us to feel sad, upset, depressed and dis-empowered.  What if instead, we started asking:  What's right?  What's right with me? What's right with this person?  What's right in this situation? What's right in the World?  What's right with this situation?

When we search for what is good, we open ourselves to feeling better.  As we feel better inside, we increase our energy, our creativity, our sense of possibility to handle and deal with the vast set of opportunities to improve ourselves, our lives and the World around us.

2.  Appreciate the good.  Practice gratitude.  Guess what?   Research shows that taking the time to express gratitude increases happiness by helping us see the good things that are already happening! It has been shown that those who take time for gratitude sleep better, have more optimism and find grater satisfaction with life.

Establish a daily gratitude routine and place reminders to express gratitude all around you.  Place a note on your bathroom mirror, a gratitude alarm on your phone, a post-it in your cubicle at work that keeps you asking throughout the day, "What am I grateful for?"  You can even put a gratitude journal by your bed and before sleeping, write a quick list of the good things that happened throughout your day.

Want to make gratitude even easier?  Get a friend, family member or co-worker to commit to doing this with you for the next 30 days.  Imagine how invigorating it would be to spend a few minutes in conversation doing gratitude "Ping-Pong"--going back and forth in conversation sharing specific things in your life that you are grateful for!  (Use your break at work to do this together rather than lamenting about the negative news or chatting about politics).

You may even want to take gratitude a step deeper.  Who is it in your life that you know it's time to write a letter of gratitude to?  Choose a person.  Write a deeply, heartfelt letter filled with specific examples of why you are grateful for them.  Then, rather than mailing it, go visit them in person.  Don't hand them the letter--read the letter aloud to them.  Imagine the depth of connection and beautiful emotion that will come about by sharing an experience like this with someone in your life who you deeply care about.

I don't want to overwhelm you friends.  So, I will stop there for now. There will be many more blogs to come where I share proven ways to improve your life experience.

If you are hungry for more right now, check out the hundreds of blogs I've already written!  There is a treasure trove here of information to increase your well-being.  And, then, take it a step further--share this blog with your realm of influence.  You have the power to start a positive wave of change!

My heart yearns for a happier, more positive world where we all THRIVE together.

I'm practicing with you!

With all my love,
Patricia Omoqui, The Thought Dr.
www.patriciaomoqui.com