3 Lifestyle Lessons For Living A Happy & Fulfilled Life
Live as if each decision you choose makes a difference to the quality of your life, because it does.
Are you evolving as the woman you imagine yourself becoming? Knowing your purpose, your strong reasons for living is one of the vital lifestyle lessons I talk about with April Disher on her Better Health podcast.
Wake-up calls come in all kinds of packages. These signals are not concerned with sex, age, race, or gender. Although this podcast is focused on women’s health issues, men are not exempt from waking up to what their strong reasons for living are and living a happy and fulfilling life. Welcome, everyone!
Choose Life! Let courage guide you to more joy and lasting happiness.
Life-changing moments
The call was confirmed on 31 August 2016. A big, black tumor growing in the colorectal area of my digestive tract.
The healthy body I once knew revealed a new reality to me and the reverberation of the shock was so deep that it rippled across all the buried layers of my reality. Through the disbelief in my mind, I recognized a sound, my soul whispering, “Hello, do you hear me now?” My life was shattered and only two questions remained: do I want to live or do I want to die?
I’ve heard Carolyn Myss say, “that when your soul speaks (or your intuitive voice) you need to listen to it if you truly want to heal and if you have a serious health condition (like cancer), you are not in a position to negotiate.” These words resonated with me. The hard part is not hearing the voice, it’s deciding whether or no to act on what you’re hearing. Often, what you hear requires a change in the outside world. And change can feel scary and has the potential to catalyze eruptions to smooth and controlled routines.
Releasing responsibilities
Instinctively, I began to make simple lifestyle changes that began to reflect shifts in my values. At the time, I wasn’t completely aware of what I was doing, I just knew that I needed to follow the inner prompting I was getting and trust as the path unfolded.
One of the things I spontaneously did was to slowly let go of all the responsibilities I was carrying in my mind. As I became aware of things I thought I needed to do, I let them go. Many of these thoughts I carried in my mind like worrying about family members and people at work. Self-created ‘shoulds’ that needlessly took my energy.
What extra responsibilities do you place on yourself and carry around in your mind?
How would you imagine yourself feeling if you took a chance by letting one or two of them go? Maybe a feeling of lightness would come over you? Or more energy or a glimmer of happiness would come streaming in and slowly fill up your body.
I was overloaded with the weight of thinking that I was the only one who could take care of others or specific jobs. This self-created invisible force was exhausting and calling on my energy reserves, reserves I could no longer afford to carry.
I am always searching for the silver lining and I found many along this journey. I began to see how much energy is needed to go through surgeries and various treatments. Everything that was not about the treatments, recoveries, and healing needed to fall away.
Taking responsibility for my own life became very clear to me and this was a major shift I made
My conversation with April goes into more detail about what this value shift looks like and why it’s so important to put yourself first. As a woman, I emphasize this point since I know how easy it is to put your children, husband, partner, work, everything else in your life, first.
Are you honoring your energy?
Am I alone in putting myself at the end of the long list of daily tasks, I don’t think so. It’s not that I wasn’t happy doing things for my family and others in my life, I enjoyed it although, I did not realize the toll it took on my body and how much my energy was being depleted. Honoring and exploring what my energy balance needed to be was an area of my life that was out of whack for me.
I really needed to learn the motto: “less is more” and how to nourish and replenish my energy in deep and meaningful ways.
Listen to the podcast and learn how the 3 vital lifestyle lessons I focused on revealed to me the purpose of my life and a path for true healing.
During the time of the podcast, I only had two lifestyle lessons that began with the letter ‘M.’ April was wondering what the third ‘M’ was going to be. After my dear friend, Michelle heard the interview, she naturally said, “the third ‘M’ is Mining. Brilliant insight from a cherished listener.
So here are the three M’s you will find out more about in the podcast.
Mindset: Adjust your mind as you discover what your passions and purpose for living are.
Movement: Ancient meditative movements for greater healing, vitality, and mind-body-soul connection.
Mining: Dig deep and find out what really matters to you. Let go of the rest
Leave your comments below. I’d love to hear from you and what resonated for you in this podcast.