An extraordinary life – there seem to be trends to so many of the topics I write about here on this blog, and there are numerous recurring themes that I thought I’d highlight here today because if you incorporate some or all of these things, you’ll find it much easier to lead an extraordinary life.
“I have been terrified every day of my life, but that has never stopped me from doing everything I wanted to do.” – Georgia O’Keeffe.
Life requires courage. It doesn’t mean that existing requires courage – anyone can exist. But, to really live an extraordinary life, we have to be brave enough to do so. To fully live, one must be willing to take risks, and sometimes step out into the world, trusting who and how we are.
Have you ever thought what your life would be like if you made just a few simple changes with the aim of making your life extraordinary? Have you ever wanted to live a life full of zest, vitality and full of satisfaction and happiness?
“Life and business is like the changing seasons. You cannot change the seasons, but you can change yourself. Therein lies the opportunity to live an extraordinary life, the opportunity to change yourself.” – Jim Rohn.
Ultimately, an extraordinary life = life on your terms. (have a read of this article on that very topic: How To Live Life On Your Own Terms.) This is different for everyone. But no matter how you define what a truly magnificent life is, there are some skills that you’ll benefit from mastering. These themes appear again and again in the world of prominent authors and within the research and science literature. Here are 8 ways to lead an extraordinary life:
1. Express Gratitude:
“True joy, as it turns out, comes only to those who have devoted their lives to something greater than personal happiness. This is most visible in extraordinary lives, in saints and martyrs. But it is no less true for ordinary people like us.” – John Ortberg.
Having an attitude of gratitude, the most important characteristic you can have. By showing gratitude and being thankful, you open your heart to receive more abundance in your life. It’s not about material things, although that can happen as well. It’s about increasing your spirituality, becoming more heart centered and selfless. You can improve your relationships with others, reduce your stress level and have a happier life.
According to Harvard Health, “In positive psychology research, gratitude is strongly and consistently associated with greater happiness. Gratitude helps people feel more positive emotions, relish good experiences, improve their health, deal with adversity, and build strong relationships.” So, one of the things you can do is to have a gratitude journal and make a list of 3-5 things you are grateful for on a regular basis. Here is a great article all about how gratitude can greatly help you.
2. Be Optimistic:
Speak more positivity into your life. See the brighter side of things by changing your perspective. If everything you speak out of your mouth is negative, then the world around you will be negative. Every time you speak something negative out of your mouth replace it with two positive statements instead. If you begin to see your glass as half full instead of half empty your perception of how you view the world will become a more positive experience.
Here are a couple of great articles to help in this regard:
a) 11 Ways to Be More Optimistic and Increase Optimism.
b) Have Increased Optimism: Using Self-Hypnosis To Be More Optimistic.
3. Forgive:
If forgiveness were simple and easy, we probably would have done it a long ago.
Very often, the very thought of forgiving a perpetrator who has caused us harm in one way or another is unthinkable. For many of us, forgiveness feels like we are making the other person right – you do not have to condone what the other person did in order to forgive them. This is a tough one for a lot of people. But, it will set you free!
When we hold on to negative experiences from people that hurt us it is quite natural to have resentment and bitterness towards that person. In order for you to move forward towards living an extraordinary life, it is incredibly liberating and empowering to forgive. By you holding on to what someone has done to you in the past only keeps you in bondage, it only really continues to harm you and for many, holding onto the negative feelings results in actually giving your power away; they still have some sort of power over you that the mere thought of them can bring you to so much anger or distress, for example. Consider forgiving, or letting go of what you no longer need.
4. Nourish:
“One skill you want to master in this day and age we live in, if you want to have an extraordinary life, is the ability to learn rapidly.” Tony Robbins.
What needs nourishing in your life? What aspect of you and your life would benefit from nourishment? Is it your health, finances, your career skillset, social life? Whatever it may be, you need to do something about it, you need to nourish those areas of your life. Read more, study more, train further, go out socially, spend time with family and friends, go get the sustenance you need to develop and nourish areas of your life that require it. Find things that you enjoy doing. Even consider writing out a bucket list of things you would like to do and set a date by which to tick each item off.
5. Eat Healthy:
It is really tough to be successful without good health. Health is literally wealth. Do you find yourself feeling fatigued or drained due to lack of energy? If so, then the first thing you may need to look at is what are you putting into your mouth? It may be what you are eating that is sapping your energy. Are you eating a lot of fast food, refined sugar or processed foods? Just simple small changes can make a difference in your health. Fresh fruit and vegetables will always help you in this regard.
6. Move More:
Get up and Move! Start taking the stairs instead of the lift, walking during your lunch break or simply dance to your favourite songs at home (this is an essential family activity here in the Eason house). There are even 10-minute videos on YouTube that you can use to help get you going!
Get active! Take more steps each day. Here are a couple of excellent articles that explain this more and will help you greatly.
a) Ways Physical Exercise Boosts Mental Health.
b) How to Find Time to Exercise When You Have a Busy Life.
7. Don’t Compare:
“Abandon anything about your life and habits that might be holding you back” – Sophia Amoruso.
Take your focus away from someone else and focus on You! Don’t be concerned about what your neighbor has or what your neighbor is doing. Never determine your value based upon the opinion of others. You don’t have to fit into anyone’s circle. Know that you are unique and money is not a definition of who you are and does not define your character nor your integrity. Be Extraordinarily You! These two articles will help greatly in this regard:
a) Stop Comparing Yourself to Others.
b) How to Accept and Depend Upon Yourself – Because “No-One Is Coming!”
8. Spend Quality Time:
You should spend quality time with your loved ones, closest friends and family members. Don’t make little excuses such as “I don’t have time.” This is your life, own it. You’ll benefit from finding time for your family and loved ones.
“Don’t wait for extraordinary opportunities. Seize common occasions and make them great. Weak men wait for opportunities; strong men make them.” – Orison Swett.
Here are a couple of great articles to help with this in more detail:
a) The Importance of Quality Family Time.
b) 9 Ways To Make The Most Of Your Time.
If you incorporate these above mentioned 8 tips, you will find yourself to be happier, healthier, loving, more vibrant and you will enrich your life better than ever! These are simple processes that you can incorporate into your life right now. These details are those that will start (or continue to advance) your extraordinary life.
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1. Do you need help or support in a particular area of your life?
Coaching with Adam Eason Or Hypnotherapy with Adam Eason
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Thank you Adam for this amazing post! Keep up the good work:)
Thanks for taking the time to write and say so Ben.
Best wishes to you, Adam.
How strange it is nowadays, that people have to get the motivation to live their own life freely.
And we are saying the world is modernizing.
Thanks for this awesome post,
Your tips are really awesome post.
Thanks for taking the time to describe this twice as an awesome post – I also think it is a doubly awesome post.
Thanks for the awesome comment, your comments really are awesome comments.
With my very best wishes, Adam Eason
Ps. I removed the link from your comment. I only allow them when people contribute something (awesome) of use to the thread.
Love your awesome response to this. Reminds me of a time someone kept replying to my Instagram, “Hypnosis is the real deal!” I replied to one of his posts about Chicken Paillard, “Chicken Paillard is the real deal!” He promptly blocked me, but seemed to stop posting those comments on my friend’s pages. 🙂
It’s annoying to get vapid comments being used as a link to a site that want your traffic – and yes, same thing happens a lot on Instagram.
Best wishes to you Joshua, Adam.
Love that you started this with a Jim Rohn quote! His ideas changed my life a great deal, but particularly on the seasonality of things and that “Discipline is weighed in ounces; regret is weighed in tons.” Wish he had more original programs as most of his stuff is just a rehash of his other stuff, which is a bummer. But I probably needed to hear those lessons over and over, so I suppose it’s not that bad, haha.
I wonder though if you have any advice for getting friends or clients that aren’t really ready for forgiveness to get over that hurdle. A LOT of people tell me that they’re not willing to forgive, anger is their right, if they let go people will hurt them again, etc. I often remind them that to forgive doesn’t mean to accept or allow, that forgiving is more about them than the perpetrator, and that it’s harming them more than the perpetrator to hold onto it. This works in some cases, but in others, it’s just a waste of time… Found anything that can give one better leverage on this position or is it one of those things to just let go of ourselves? Ironically, maybe I should forgive them for not allowing themselves the space to really change because I often take it personally, especially with friends that bemoan situations over and over (I love them and want to help them, see the issue, etc.)…
Nourishing is an area most of us, myself included, neglect or we just do in order to get better at our chosen areas of study (also guilty). Truth-be-told, I created a new 2019 goals list today and after reading this, I went back and added a new category, “Personal Development/Self-Care” so I make sure I plan this into my life. It’s so easy to plan in work, work, and more work, but this leads to intense burnout.
One I would add to this list is to run into the things you fear. I know the hangups and the pains of this well. For instance, I feared I wouldn’t be able to get into the graduate programs I really wanted to. So, I went to a lackluster graduate program I knew I could get into. Now, it’s hard for me to do anything with my degree, it doesn’t help me in any of the areas I really want to work in, and it doubled my student loan debt. Had I taken chances and jumped into my fear, I’d be in a drastically different place in my life. I did the same thing with relationships, roommates, buying property… I learned this lesson the hard way. At this point in life, I run HARD into the things I fear because I’ve seen what happens to your life when you settle for pennies when you could have had dollars… Brutal lesson, but one that I think holds many people back.
I’m excited to read through the rest of your blog! 🙂
Hi Joshua,
Re: “I wonder though if you have any advice for getting friends or clients that aren’t really ready for forgiveness to get over that hurdle….”
Forgiveness is often something people struggle with as they may believe that by forgiving, they are condoning the perpetrator and their actions. Sometimes therefore, not referring to the word ‘forgive’ is useful and frame things in terms of releasing non-useful feelings.
How we explain forgiveness becomes important – holding onto anger may be someone’s right, but it only really hurts the individual holding onto it and becoming embittered or generalising anger as a defence mechanism may feel right and virtuous, but turns lots of people into far lesser versions of themselves.
Best wishes to you, Adam.
I like that a lot! “Releasing non-useful feelings” is great way to frame this. I’m going to use that. Thanks. 🙂