What Are Your Priorities this Season of Life?
And 3 Guided Prompts to Help You Create a More Joyful Life
More balanced? More joy? More peace? Isn’t this what we all want? But how often do we put these as our priorities, and by that I mean, choosing to lead with joy and consciously creating the emotions and experiences we want each day. With that, it also comes with reviewing your life and minimising instances, experiences, and people who no longer bring you joy and growth.
1. Where is there resistance in your life? What is it telling you?
Perhaps it could be a job you are in, a relationship, or a side project you are growing, all of these are common things that we could hit points of feeling stuck or a growing sense of resistance. Instead of resisting the resistance, tap into it and see what you can discover.
“Resistance is the first step to change.”— Louise Hay
If we are able to see our emotions as inner wisdom redirecting us, be it frustration, anger, or any other negative feelings, it actually can be extremely precious and powerful energy to drive change within us.
Examine the areas in your life where you feel there is resistance, and dig deeper into the layers by asking yourself why at least a few times. By the time you get to a few WHYs, you will realise that a lot of the times you know what you need to do, but you are just afraid to do so!
2. What is one courageous action you can take today and for the next 30 days?
Once you’ve identified where the resistance is and where the fear is coming up, it’s time to tackle your fears with small, impactful actions that build momentum towards the direction you want to go.
“Fear is a reaction, courage is a decision.“ — Winston Churchill
Decide today that you will start owning your choices and experiences in life. It’s so easy to forget (and I need to be constantly reminded as well) that fear is a universal experience, and it isn’t about eradicating fears as that will never happen, but it’s about learning to dance with it and to take consistent actions despite feeling the fear.
Tell yourself, “I am allowed to feel afraid and empowered at the same time.”
And I’ve included in the prompt a time frame for taking an action for the next 30 days as there is no use in waking up one day feeling courageous and the next day feeling defeated and defaulting to easier and old ways. As consensus in science have told us it takes at least 28 days to build a new habit or neural pathway.
What we want is consistent action, and by the time you see your little wins stacking up, be it making a pitch per day, writing 250 words for your book, meditating 20mins daily, you will be intrinsically motivated to continue, as backed by research and my personal experiences.
3. How can you show up with your best energy each day?
I believe the best change comes with practical concrete actions and a fundamental awareness of how our energies, emotions impact our thoughts, actions and behaviour. By monitoring where we are on the emotional vibration scale, we can be more in touch with our everyday being and adjust accordingly to move up the scale.
Personally, I find journaling, being in nature, meditation and being in good company are some of the best ways to tap into these joyful emotions and help move through our doubts, fears and frustrations.
Here are some further good prompts to set yourself with the right energy each day, by focusing on joy, appreciation and hope:
What am I happy about in my life right now? What am I grateful for? What am I looking forward to? What am I committed to in my life right now?
The key to answering these questions is to go one step further and get specific about that emotion or experience, e.g when asking ‘What am I happy about in my life right now?’ expand further by asking:
‘What about that makes me happy? How does that make me feel?
This allows you to really embody the experience, desirable emotions and see the connections between things you are doing and how it makes you feel. It’s important to note that when we set goals, we are unconsciously seeking to feel a feeling and if we clarify what that is, the WHY of certain habits, actions we want to take, you will find less resistance and more motivation and meaning.
“Find your why and you’ll find your way.” — John Maxwell
As we come towards nearly the end of 2021, I encourage you to do some self-reflection, journaling to reset your priorities and goals:
- Map out where your ‘resistance spots’ are in your life and further examine.
- Decide 1 courageous action you can take from today and the next 30 days.
- Monitor your emotional vibration and set intentions for the day by expanding on your desired emotions and tapping into your WHYs
If you’ve enjoyed this piece and would like to learn more about mindset work and personal growth, here are some of my other work: