"A healthy outside starts from the inside."
– Robert Urich
When it comes to sustainable good health, wellness begins in our mind and is built from the inside out. Choosing to become a better person on the inside will automatically make the outside fall into place with less effort and frustration. Any step you make to improve thoughts about yourself and your overall mindset about life will show in the many ways you communicate, live your life, and treat yourself and others.
What does it mean to become a "better person" on the inside?
Becoming the best version of yourself means living with a clear understanding of who you are and reaching a place of acceptance for what is. This place of acceptance is not easy to achieve and will most likely be a lifelong journey of learning, growing, and practicing new skills. Focusing on your true and genuine self makes life less complex and more simplified, therefore living with less stress and pressure to be something you are not.
It's easy to get caught up in improving our outside appearance to look good for others. However, this outward focus creates a more complicated, stressful, and less happy life because it may not reflect who you are.
Here are a couple of challenging but worth it improvement goals toward becoming the best version of yourself:
You are learning from past life experiences while leaving them in the past as history where they belong. The past is in the past, and you cannot travel back in time and change it. Therefore, your only options are to acknowledge the experience, do what's needed to make any repairs today, then learn from it and leave it behind you—then move forward, unburdening yourself from carrying it with you in the future. When emotionally free of past events, you improve your present outlook and find tremendous value in present-day life. For me, this is a continuous and lifelong journey I hope to get better and better at.
You are working toward a more positive reaction and response to others. We do not have control over what others choose to think, say and do, but we do have control over how we react and respond. Having a clear understanding of what is and is not in your power will go a long way toward improving your response to others. You benefit from less stress and anxiety when you better manage your reactions to others and become less reactionary to various life experiences.
You are focusing on becoming the best version of yourself through internal improvements and wanting to share these skills with your loved ones so they, too, can experience a higher quality of life and self-worth. Although this kind of life practice must be a personal choice, there are gentle and straightforward ways to guide someone toward a healthier mindset.
Here are a few subtle gifts of self-improvement you may consider:
Living LEAN DIY gift cards are provided in this month's newsletter! Use this month's activity DIY gift cards to give the gift of time and conversation to someone in need of a little bit of encouragement.
Gratitude Journals are the perfect gift for someone who might be focusing on all that is wrong with their life. Evidence proved that being thankful and writing it down has positive mental health benefits and physical and emotional advantages. Being grateful will help lower stress, improve sleep, and build more positive relationships. It can be as simple as purchasing a blank notebook and a pen and writing a handwritten note inside telling a loved one what you are grateful for because they are in your life.
Meditation and Mindfulness are becoming more and more important in these current times in our history, and scientific evidence proves the many health benefits to this practice. With all the added stress and anxiety brought on by the global pandemic, improving mental health through meditation is vital! The gift of meditation through a meditation app, self-guided podcast, or retreat is the perfect way to introduce a loved one to the many health benefits meditation brings.
You may not have much control over someone's thoughts, mindset, and perspective, but you can be a positive influence by your life example. If you have developed a healthy attitude through specific life practices, share them with those open to learning and growing from you. The gift of a positive outlook is priceless and can alter the course of someone's life for the better.
We'd love to hear from you, so please share your ideas in the comment section below and let us know how you have positively impacted someone else's life?
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