Enjoying the Journey - Choosing Your People to Empower Your Progress
It sounds cliche'. You’ve heard it before. “Life is not just a destination, it’s a journey,” and “Enjoy the journey!”
So, who are the five people in your life that you have invited on your journey? You know, those that you associate with on a regular basis: friends, family, your spouse, co-workers, acquaintances.
Are they upbeat, positive and encouraging people?
If not, you are in need of investing in some fine tuning. You know, a tune-up, an oil and lube job, some new spark plugs? Perhaps a little maintenance to make the journey a little more reliable or smoother?
An investment on your part by expanding your circle to include at least two additional positive, supportive, optimistic people will encourage confidence and add new smiles in your day. Adding people that support and nurture your journey empowers you to obtain your goals, encourages a healthy outlook, and will energize your spirit.
Adding some new friends does not mean that you have to suddenly disconnect from those other people that are not as supportive as you’d like. Each person you have grown to know has some redeeming qualities, or you would not have invited them along to begin with!
As with any worthwhile investment, you’ll need to invest something to obtain a valuable return. In this case your investment will be some of your time and your own enthusiastic support. One way to start to nurture a positive relationship is to BE that person to others. One example would be inviting a new person to lunch and being a great listener as well as a talker.
Be patient but persistent in finding a few new supportive people in your life. Spend some time this week thinking of ways you can meet supportive, like-minded people and then take steps to connect with them. Before long, you’ll find yourself surrounded by upbeat, enthusiastic people you admire. They will admire and respect you and help you be all that you envision for yourself.
Change your attitude, change your life.
Denise C. Williams, CLC
denisew@lifestylesols.com
Showing posts with label encouragement. Show all posts
Showing posts with label encouragement. Show all posts
Thursday
The Courage to Step Out of the Darkness and Into the Light
By chance I met up with an old and dear friend of 20 some years recently. In days gone by, we were very close, but as time passed we moved on to new lives and had lost touch for more than a decade. It was really wonderful to hear of all the adventures he had lived especially the stories of his experiences in the Peace Corps in Africa. Some of those adventures seemed pretty scary to me but he told them with a contagious enthusiasm that made them seem entertaining and soon I was wondering how a person could be so comfortable in such precarious circumstances. I thought to myself that should I take such a risk living, I might develop PTSD (Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) thinking of what could have happened!
Some people just have the urge to do something fantastic and edgy. My friend said he was at a point in his life that he now describes as "bored" when he decided to join the Peace Corps. His relationships were unsatisfying and he felt stuck in every area of his life. He said he needed to "shake up" his world.
Many people get bored when their life seems to be stagnating. Some feel the need to know a higher purpose, to be contributing to something bigger, to be doing more with their life. A darkness seems to loom around them. They feel it there. It is sometimes described as being "blue" or having "mild depression." To be sure, without these feelings of despair or being "blue", there would be little incentive to pick yourself up and move towards your true calling.....
These "dark" times can be the perfect time to begin a new chapter in your life...to look beyond the darkness of your feelings and decide to find the light in your life. Recognizing and admitting how you feel and then making a decision to find the light in your life takes courage. It can be more comfortable to continue an unpleasant lifestyle than to take the first step out of the box, out of your comfort zone.
Can you visualize taking that first step? When you truly step into the light, you begin to live with enthusiasm. You can do anything, including living a satisfying and meaningful life. It takes courage to take that first step. It means leaving codependent relationships with stress, anger, unforgiving and unhealthy habits of self abuse behind.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
