HEALTHY ATTITUDES

“The aim of life is to live, and to live means to be aware, joyously, drunkenly, serenely, divinely aware."~ Henry Miller

There are healthy attitudes that when developed and lived from, support you in living a more satisfying and peaceful life. I have created a list of ten healthy attitudes for purposeful living. Here are the first two:

LEARN TO EMBRACE UNCERTAINTY

You cannot be 100% sure of any outcome, at any time, ever, and trying to know and control the external world around you is a futile game, yet the need for certainty is deeply ingrained. This drive for a rational explanation, can be helpful, but when it moves into an attempt to control others, results and circumstances it can be harmful. When you assume to know how things are going to turn out or why someone did something, you leaving no room for the mystery or the ambiguity that is life and the danger here is, what if your assumptions are wrong? What if they are based on self-limiting and unhealthy beliefs? What if you are missing a perspective and in your search for a 100% money back guarantee you are limiting outcomes and therefore stopping yourself before you start? If you are so sure you already know or you need to be so sure, you will rarely move from your comfort zone and growth and possibilities are thwarted. There is a sweet spot between assessing past experiences to determine a likely and hopeful outcome and the opposite, which is completely avoiding any contemplation or structure. This sweet spot is called, embracing uncertainty and is about learning to trust yourself to know and control what you can, when you can. When you are looking for certainty, you live in the future, leaving a gap missing in the present where your mind and body need to reside in order to make the most powerful and creative decisions, in the here and now.

“As for the future, your task is not to foresee it but to enable it.” 

~Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

HOW?

Anytime you find yourself wondering, "what will happen and what if", bring yourself back to the present and ask, "what can I do now, to give myself the best chance at the best outcome?" Avoid defining outcomes and past experiences as good or bad; instead look for the opportunity and learning that is present in each circumstance. Lastly, practice flexibility by dropping assumptions and becoming open to multiple perspectives and options. This invites a myriad of potential results and rationale and encourages certainty of the only thing you can truly be certain of – what you can do, in this moment.

"Nothing will ever be attempted if all possible objections must first be overcome."
~ Samuel Johnson

  

ACCEPT THAT LIFE 

IS NOT FAIR

The idea of fairness can be crippling because it is easy to become a victim of your circumstance when you have attached the need for fairness to your endeavors and the outcomes of your efforts. Looking for or insisting on fairness can cause you to overlook the choices you have in the moment and the internal conviction needed to move your life in the direction you want to go. Life is not fair becomes a mantra, when you believe that you do not have any impact or influence on your circumstances.

“The only thing that makes life unfair is the delusion that it should be fair.”
~Steve Maraboli 

HOW?

Embrace the possibility of power that is a result in no longer simply wanting things to be fair, but to have meaning. No longer trying to replace what was missing but embracing what is and what could be. No longer comparing but creating. Life is not fair, but I am fairly certain you can create meaning, joy and live life On Purpose.