01 — We are all good inside.

Dr. Becky said it best. I truly believe we are all good inside. We are born good. Events and circumstances take place which allow for hard times. We are all doing our best with the skills and knowledge we have at the moment. Every person is on their own individual journey. With hope, help and courage I think everybody has a chance to change and grow. When you live your life from this perspective, hate, anger and blame fall, and love, empathy and compassion rise. Watch the difference this belief will make in your life.

02 — This moment is all that matters.

Where are you at the moment? Are you here? Or are you there? Are you in your mind or in your body? Are you wishing something had gone differently in the past? Planning how you hope an event will go in the future? The only moment that matters is this one. I have spent many years ‘living’ inside of my own head, only to realize that I was missing out on everything right in front of me. Let go of your thoughts. Be here now. Be somewhere else later. Be in your body, not in your head. Choose one place to be, and be fully there. You can only feel all of the joys that each moment has to offer you if you are fully in the present moment. And these are the very moments that come together to make a beautiful life.

03 — Feel all of your feelings.

I used to think life was here to make me happy. When I wasn’t happy I felt like something was wrong. I felt like something needed to be ‘fixed’. Now I know there are no wrong emotions. There are just emotions. And they are all right. Whatever you are feeling is what should be felt. When you acknowledge your feelings and feel them in their entirety they are able to dissipate. Unprocessed feelings can get stuck deep down within you. Whenever an emotion comes up whether it’s from the past or present, let it be. Give it the voice it needs and the freedom to move on. Feelings will always pass, but you have to first feel them completely.

04 — There will always be resistance.

Our bodies are programmed to do what feels comfortable. When we are doing something new, taking risks, moving into the unknown, our bodies will resist. Resistance is universal. No one escapes it. The more you care about something the more resistance you will feel. The more you care about something the higher the stakes. The greater the chance that you might fail. But we have no control over that. What we can do is get used the resistance. Know why it’s there. See it as a sign that you are stepping in the right direction. Trust that you can do it. It feels hard because it is. It’s supposed to be. That resistance is learning. That resistance is growing. It is worth the hard. Feel the resistance and keep on moving little by little. Your resistance muscle will grow and you will start to fly. There will always be resistance.

05 - Wherever you go, there you are.

As the old saying goes, no matter where you go there you are. It’s not what you do, it’s who you are while we are doing it. If you were a million miles away you would still be the same person. Your environment has changed, but it is the same you that is there. The same mindset, values, likes, dislikes. Same you, different place. Your eyes could be set on a picturesque landscape but your lens will still filter it in the same way.

06 - Uncertainty is guaranteed.

One of the most difficult parts of life is dealing with uncertainty. There is no way of getting around it. We don’t have control over how everything will turn out. It’s hard to accept this. We don’t know what the future holds years away or even just in the next moment. We don’t know when we are going to die, how successful our next idea will be or what will happen on the way to the grocery store today. This causes us to look ahead often to take control of future outcomes. But we can only control so much. At some point we have to let go, trust that we will respond accordingly to what takes place and return back to the moment. To live life is to live with the uncertainty of it.

07 - Acknowledge and accept.

Sometimes I find myself pushing against my thoughts. When something doesn’t go the way I had hoped or planned I subconsciously try and resist what is taking place. There is this friction. This anger that I have no control over the outcome of the situation. But the moment I stop and acknowledge what I’m feeing something begins to change. The resistance stops. The friction lessens. Suddenly I am no longer angry. By acknowledging what is happening and how I’m feeling I start to accept what is. I am no longer trying to change and fight against the situation, I am accepting what is taking place and letting things be.

08 - It’s not what you do, it’s who you are

Growing up the question is always asked, what do you want to be when you grow up? But what about who do want to be when you grow up? Do you want to be kind? Do you want to be brave? Do you want to try new things? Do you want to be a good listener? The question assumes that what we do…as in a ‘job’ IS who we are. But, in fact, they are separate. We should be teaching our children that our jobs don’t define us. We define our jobs. How we come to our jobs makes us who we are and should be what is of utmost importance. Not the jobs we choose. Jobs are just the vehicles stemming from who we are. We need to spend time on building our foundations first.