- Define happiness for you
Ask yourself, when is this life have you been happy? Like really in bliss and content and filled with joy. What where you doing? Where were you? What caused you to feel that way. And most importantly why? Write down as many happy memories as you can remember
- Recognise your strengths
For some reason, we tend to pay more attention to the negative things people say about us rather than the positive ones. Let’s flip the script! What are you good at? What do people always say – WOW you are GREAT at that! For me, it was always writing, but like many of us – I didn’t really pay attention to that because it came so naturally to me. What comes naturally to you? Pay attention to these things, play to your strengths.
- Review your performance
We all know actions speak louder than words. There are some things we are quite good at but don’t believe. This could be for various reasons, perhaps they make us uncomfortable, or we don’t realise just how good we are because nobody tell us, and when they do, we don’t believe them. For example, I used to be a brilliant high jumper at school, my P.E. teacher would enter me into all sorts of competitions across the county. But I hit my teens and developed really bad anxiety. I would dread competition days so much that I failed to sleep dreaming about them. My teacher noticed I was more reluctant and said we could work through the nerves, but I was too scared. *insert sad emoji here*
- Reflect on the hard times
So this one is interesting, but have you ever gone through a low patch? Has your friend gone through a low patch? How did you behave during that time? You are here today, maybe you are going through a rough time right now, but you’ve made it through before. How? Some of our best qualities shine in the darkest of times. Last year on my birthday trip to Miami, we were caught up in hurricane Irma. We had to evacuate South beach and find somewhere safe to ride out the storm. We had no electricity and tornadoes hit us night after night, but I got to experience a different, very protective side to me. My number one goal was to make sure my best friends were safe. I now add ‘protective’ to my list of qualities. What characteristics did you display in times of difficulty?
- Celebrate your differences
Despite the world wanting us to believe there is only one way to be intelligent, beautiful or talented, there are several different versions of these things. We were all made for a unique reason and our differences are what drive the success of our being. It’s very dangerous to try and be like everyone else, I recall at one point having some identity crisis in my teens when my characteristics became a trend. But it took me a while to learn that my natural hair, love of avocados and vinyasa yoga are not what made me who I was. My soul makes me who I am, other people can do exactly what I do but NOBODY can do it like me. That’s the difference. You have gotta stay you because authenticity lasts the test of time.
No-one is you and that is your power.
Love and light x MC
