10 Essential Practices for a Happy and Successful Life
Let’s be clear that there is no one formula, cut in stone, that guarantees a happy and successful life to each individual. Each person lives their life according to what they feel is important, and this is as it should be. However, in this post, I will share with you the ten practices that have allowed to get to a place today where I can safely say that I’ve had a very happy and successful life by all standard measurements—and most importantly by my own. They are not ‘my practices’ in the sense that I have discovered something new, but rather they are the practices that have evolved in my life as I have endeavored to lead a fun, interesting and successful life. This is your intimate look at the thought process of a man now in his seventies who has loved life and lived it fully. If through this process you find ideas to adopt in your own life and they resonate as true and valuable, then so much the better. Table of Contents 1. Have a multidimensional, holistic view of your life 2. Be creative with your life 3. Do what you love 4. Be thankful each day for something 5. Awaken your heart 6. Embrace change 7. Have fun each day 8. Have a daily self-help practice 9. Have a spiritual belief 10. Love the process of self-exploration and self-mastery 1. Have a multidimensional, holistic view of your life In my early twenties, a close friend of mine and I invented a card game called the ‘Cosmic Life Game.’ I won’t go into the details of the game; suffice it to say that the process of playing the game forced the player to make decisions about what was important in their life. We played it with many friends and it was always quite revealing. Over a multi-year period we probably played it more than a hundred times. Through that process, five main themes revealed themselves as “important’ in life. Financial / career Fun / adventure Spiritual Health Relationships: Family, friends, spouse, children The key in life is to not let any one theme totally dominate the others. Be vigilant in finding balance, and respect the need to nourish all five. I am not suggesting that each should get equal time. Earning a living and raising a family obviously does not allow for this, but we should still seek balance. Is there any one of the five that is being totally ignored? Is there any one that totally dominates? If all five are important, what does ignoring one or more do to you as an individual? Too often we fall into routines and patterns where we find ourselves in unhealthy lifestyles without balance. It’s a good idea to take the time, several times a year, to look closely at our life choices. What do we need to do more of, less of? Always look for ways to nourish the parts of you that are being neglected. A balanced [...]
