Create a life you love
I was recently gifted a personalised ‘friends book’ (the one where everyone writes a little something about themselves), and this line
‘Create a life you Love’
was printed on the very last page.
It wouldn’t normally be something I would pay much attention to .. perhaps because like many motivational quotes, they tend to be overused and sadly lose their meaning, as a result.
But the words got me reflecting ..
Life does offer a choice of either following through with our passions and dreams (however small or big) or succumbing to the tendency to drift through life, existing but not really living fully.
Sometimes it’s through no fault of our own that we find ourselves in the latter category. It takes awareness, courage, discipline, and perseverance to get closer to the first.
Like most people, I too have had my experience with procrastination .. delaying taking up new projects and hobbies, distracted by what appears to be of higher priority. But this very curious strategy of the mind is what can hold us back and keep us feeling stuck.
Mindfulness helps us gain clarity of thought patterns that can drive such unhelpful behaviour. In other words, what you tell yourself in that very moment when you put something off.
By learning to step back from our thoughts as they arise (often containing self-limiting, harsh and judgemental views), we can begin to disentangle from habitual thought / behaviour loops that don’t serve us.
To use Jon Kabat Zinn’s words:
”This liberation of the tyranny of our thinking mind” .. is how we can begin to create the life we love.
While mindfulness is not the answer to everything, I firmly believe that it can lead us on that pathway for more purpose and fulfilment.
