How Do I Live My Best Life?

How to live your best life?

Living your best life is different for everyone due to the unique nature of human beings.

Getting to know ourselves and understanding what’s important to us as individuals are the starting block to living the best of life.

Continue reading to discover 16 tips about life to guide you in your journey of being the best you.

Explore concepts that allow you to use the gifts of life to put you on the path of happiness. Read about forest bathing, SMART goals, and mindfulness to start living your best life now.

 

1. Aim To Be The Best Version Of Yourself

To live your best life, you must become the best version of yourself.

Appreciate the unique things that make you who you are, embrace them and learn to have confidence in yourself.

We all make mistakes, and it’s important to not beat ourselves up with them and engage in negative self-talk.

Instead, utilize the opportunities that come your way to learn and grow physically, mentally, and spiritually. 

 

2. Set Intentions For Yourself

Living your best life means that you identify what your best life looks like for you.

Set intentions of how you want your life to look: Set daily, monthly, and yearly goals of what you want to achieve, using SMART goals.

SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-bound. Setting specific goals means that you can pinpoint the key actions you need to take to achieve them.

Key measures and time-frames mean that you are more likely to stick to your goals and achieve them in the desired time frame.

 

3. Live In The Present

Too often, we ruminate on the past or worry about the future.

When we learn to live in the present moment, our focus improves, we experience less stress, and we can truly appreciate each moment of our lives.

A good grounding technique is to utilize your five senses.

• Name five things you can see.
• Four things you can hear.
• Three things you can smell.
• Two things you can feel.
• One thing you can taste.

 

4. Declutter

A cluttered space can create a cluttered mind.

By decluttering the environment around you, you can help to bring balance to your sense of inner peace and focus.

If you struggle to get rid of things, refer to Marie Kondo’s simple method and ask yourself, “Does it bring me joy?” If you answer yes, keep it. But if you’re unsure, it’s probably time to let go. 

This method of decluttering can be applied to the people in your life too.

Ask yourself if the people in your life bring you joy and encourage you to grow?

 

5. Learn How To Flow

Flow is becoming so engrossed in what we do that our entire focus and thoughts surround that practice.

We could experience flow when reading a good book, playing an instrument, or writing a story.

Learning how to flow not only makes you more productive but also allows you to be increasingly aware of the present moment,

The characteristics of flow are:

• Complete concentration on the given task.
• Feeling at ease in your practice.
• Balancing challenge with skills.
• Avoiding rumination.

 

6. Develop Routines And Positive Habits

Routine can help us remove the clutter and distractions from our lives and better focus on our values, plans, and goals.

To set the right routine, you need to personalize it to suit yourself. This routine is for you and you alone and should work to optimize your life. 

Write down a daily or weekly checklist to help you stick to your routine.

Allow yourself flexibility with time as things that are out of our control often crop us, but make sure you complete your checklist each day. It’s the behaviour that are important, not the timing.

 

7. Spend Time In Nature

If you’ve ever walked barefoot on the grass, you will understand the soothing and healing power of nature.

It offers a whole sensory experience, from plants and flowers coloured by every shade of the rainbow to a dry pile of autumnal leaves that crunch as you step on them.

Additionally, nature is proven to reduce your stress levels.

Studies in Japan have shown that “forest bathing” or mindfully immersing yourself in the natural world can decrease cortisol (the stress hormone) in the body.

 

8. Change negatives to positives

Negative self-talk and future anxiety are key factors that hold us back from living our life fully and with intention.

Two states battle within us; one is strong and resilient, but the other is scared and full of self-doubt. We have to choose which of these states we feed.

When we feel overwhelmed or at a crisis point, we have to find a way to stop the panic rising in our bodies.

Stay “stop” out loud to yourself as a way to break the negative thoughts and try something such as a cold shower to allow the sensation to calm the body physically.

Try playing devil’s advocate with yourself. Remember that thoughts are not facts.

Imagine a reality where the opposite was true and visualize yourself coping effectively with the situation. 

 

9. Practice gratitude

While working towards your goals is an effective way to learn and grow, it’s also important to appreciate what you already have. 

As a famous quote states, “If you have food in your fridge, clothes on your back, a roof over your head, and a place to sleep, you are richer than 75% of the world. 

If you can read this message, you are more fortunate than 3 billion people in the world who cannot read it at all.”

Practicing gratitude is proven to boost daily positivity, and studies have shown that these effects are long-lasting, causing our brain to process information differently.

 

10. Exercise

Exercise increases your good cholesterol in the form of high-density lipoproteins while decreasing unhealthy triglycerides.

This combination allows for better blood flow, minimizing your risk of cardiac conditions.

In addition, exercise reduces your risk of stroke, type 2 diabetes, anxiety, depression, arthritis, and many types of cancer. A healthy body equals a healthy mind.

 

11. Spend Less Time On Social Media

The average person spends 145 minutes a day on social media; that’s over 12 hours per week.

Social media can provide an excellent platform for catching up with your friends, or it can be an unproductive abyss that we fall into.

Assess how much time you spend online or watching TV. While some relaxation each day is essential, living your best life means taking control of what you really want. You can only receive things by working for them.

 

12. Read Books

Reading factual books increases our knowledge base; we can learn more about the world around us, widen our interests, and gain a new perspective on an issue.

Fiction books allow us to understand characters, their motives, and how they interact with the world around them. This can help deepen our understanding of other people and increase our emotional intelligence.

 

13. Open Your Mind

There is often some truth in everyone’s unique thoughts and opinions.

Allowing yourself to be open-minded enough to seek out the element of truth in another person’s perspective will enable you to expand mentally and spiritually.

Additionally, don’t allow your beliefs to limit you. Be curious enough to ask yourself what you really want – not what someone else wants for you. By identifying what you want, you can set the steps to achieve your goals and establish how to start living your best life.

 

14. Write often

Albert Einstein, Frida Kahlo, and Marie Curie all had something in common – they kept a journal.

Journaling can help you to outline your goals and intentions while tracking your progress against them.

Journaling also allows you to get your thoughts onto paper. Often when we look back at our thoughts, we see them differently. 

Writing can also build your creativity and allow you to formulate new ideas. By allowing your consciousness to stream, you may uncover thoughts that you didn’t know were there.

 

15. Learn How To Take Criticism

No one enjoys criticism. Often it feels like a personal attack, and naturally, we step up to defend ourselves.

But, sometimes, people offer feedback because they care about us and want to encourage us to be the best of ourselves. When someone directs negative feedback towards you, take a step back and assess their intentions before acting on impulse.

Being open to feedback allows us to examine our weaknesses and find new ways to grow into the best version of ourselves.

 

16. Forgive

Forgiveness is the conscious decision to release our feelings of anger, vengeance, and resentment towards another person or ourselves.

When we forgive, we extend mercy to someone who has hurt us even if they don’t deserve it.

Meanwhile, revenge is a useless weapon. It ruins the holder while causing little effect on the perpetrator.

Bitterness is a toxin to a soul that only works to destroy our own character.

We don’t get to choose who hurts us. What we do get to choose is our response. We can bind ourselves to the feelings of anger and injustice, or we can let them go and experience a sense of freedom.

Best Tips for Life

Reading this article has hopefully given you an insight of how to start living your best life.

Living your best life means prioritizing what matters most to you and setting realistic goals to ensure your development in these areas.

It is continually learning about ourselves and the world around us, while grounding ourselves in the present, that will enable us to truly make the most of each moment.