Since ancient times, many wars have been fought battling the ‘good’ armies versus the ‘bad’ armies. But what does this mean to us in our modern day lives? Perhaps we can extend this ancient good versus evil concept towards developing ourselves. In today’s world, each of us has personal battles between the good and evil forces within us. Evil aspects can be represented by modern day struggles such as eating disorders and addictions or with age-old feelings such as anger, jealousy, greed, impatience and hatred. On the other hand, examples of good traits are positivity, good habits, good thoughts, good feelings and good actions. The complexity of these traits battling each other is a reminder of just how complicated each of us is with our own unique daily struggles.
So what are your personal struggles? It can be proven that you also have a daily internal battle between your good and evil forces and that the outcome of this struggle will represent how you envision your ideal life. If you are able to overcome these inner demons, then you will most likely be closer to living your dreams. And these dreams are reflections of your own strengths and attributes that support you in achieving your authentic and best life.
Your life journey may be different from the person sitting next to you, but each person is searching for the basic ingredients that we need in creating a life recipe for happiness, love, and peace. At some point in our lives, each of us has wondered what our life’s purpose is and how we can achieve this purpose. We then may have visualized what this ‘dream life’ might look like, feel like, and most of all be like.
These positive feelings should then start to balance with the positive thoughts and actions. But we can only appreciate these positive feelings and experiences when we experience and compare the feelings of pain and suffering to feelings of euphoria, excitement, love, and passion. Clearly, most people would like to have more of these ‘good’ feelings, but without the negative ones, we cannot truly appreciate the positive emotions and experiences. And it is this appreciation that will lead each of us towards finding that meaning in our lives and to strive to become ‘better’ human beings.
The road to self-discovery, self-love, acknowledgement, gratitude, humility, patience, kindness and tolerance all starts with one step and this step is called self-development.
You have many roles in your life and each role is intrinsically connected to a relationship with a person, family, or community of yours. And did you know that eighty-five percent of your happiness lies in the quality of these relationships with others? So, if happiness truly comes from how we relate and connect with others – perhaps we need to focus more on the quality of our relationships, rather than focusing on who owns the most material belongings or who has the most money.
So now, let’s examine what your dreams, wishes, and goals were for this year. Which ones did you achieve and how can you keep this momentum going? One strategy is to focus simply on your strengths, skills, aptitudes and positive qualities and to keep using them more frequently. But there are other ways to achieve your goals.
Things you can do to Live your dream life
1. Ask yourself: a) “What’s my life’s purpose?” b) “How do I achieve this?” c) ”How would I like to be remembered when I die? d) “What legacy would I like to leave for my future generations?”
2. Map out what people, things, circumstances, & situations make you most happy and closer to your ideal life.
3. Surround yourself around positive people & limit your interaction as much as possible with negative people & entities that keep you from attaining happiness. Also focus only on positive things – think, feel & act positively.
4. Construct a personal vision board. A vision board is simply a collage of cut outs, magazine pictures, phrases & quotes arranged on a poster that symbolizes your dream life.
5. List what dreams, wishes and goals you have for 2011.
6. Write a weekly list of goals or items to achieve.
7. Write a daily list of 15 affirmations that are in the present, positive & personal. These are your goals as if they’ve already occurred. For example, if one of your goals in 2011 is to have a closer relationship with your family – you will write down that you value & enjoy a very close relationship with your family. Or if your goal is to earn more money – you will state that you earn ‘x’ amount of dollars this year & that this amount is increasing by ‘x’ amount each year. Always aim for higher & you will begin to think about this list throughout your day.
8. Work on nurturing all of your relationships in your personal & professional life.
9. Meditate by yourself every day – even just for fifteen minutes.
10. Create one new positive habit every month. We may not be able to change ourselves as easily – but our habits can be replaced with positive ones. These habits will support us in getting closer to the finish line. This final destination is when you become ‘successful’ & ‘healthy’ in all areas of our life. Areas of health include: mental, physical, emotional, spiritual & financial aspects.
11. On a regular basis, attempt one new activity that you’ve never tried before. For example, if you’ve never gone rock climbing & hoped to try it at least once – try it! This simple act will help you to re-connect with your deepest aspirations & will help you re-discover that spontaneous, child-like innocence which is crucial for being happy, content & in harmony.
12. Think about your achievements, reward yourself, feel excited & allow yourself to connect your thoughts, feelings and actions. Try to prolong these thoughts & feelings while you are envisioning your dream life.
It is important to write down your dreams, wishes and/or goals. And these goals must be ‘S.M.A.R.T’ – Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Timely. By writing them down, you are connecting the conscious part of the brain to the subconscious part. In doing so, these goals are given a solid foundation towards becoming your reality and you are completing the first step towards becoming transparent and accountable. And in order to remain accountable you must also become proactive by no longer viewing your dreams as passive. Your dreams are now real entities that you can achieve. Last of all, only you can embrace your own strengths proactively to develop yourself.