Anticipation and satisfaction - part 2

I had some great questions come up from last month's topic of anticipation and satisfaction! So, I wanted to follow up this week with my answer.

The concept of living a life of anticipation and satisfaction is great, isn't it? And it sounds so simple: wake up in a good mood and go to bed patting yourself on the back that you, "done good". But, as you and I both know, it's not that easy.

Here are some of my suggestions on how to manifest this lovely concept:

1. Know your strengths. It's hard to anticipate a day of being your best or feeling satisfied that you were your best...if you don't know what your best is! Figure out your strengths. Are you compassionate, intelligent, intuitive, a good listener, etc.? For some suggestions, email me and I will send a nice list. By the way, it's important to remember that these are the qualities that are about you as a person, not about the tasks you accomplish.
2. Know what you stand for. This is your code of ethics and morals. If you do not know what you stand for, your decisions, reactions, and judgments will be determined by people, places, and things outside of you. This is problematic because these can change from person to person and from situation to situation. Also, what happens when you get conflicting codes...from your parents, your teachers, your friends, the media, etc.? How do you know what's really right? I suggest you develop your true, personal code. For my clients, I call this the Declaration of Integrity: a brief statement of who they are and what they stand for. This DOI is applicable to all areas of their life and helps with decisions, behaviors, goals, etc..
3. Holistic stress management. We're not always at 100% of our potential. And that's okay! But to truly feel anticipation and satisfaction on a regular basis, we have to be as close to our true potential as realistically possible. This means consistent and regular holistic self-care. Are you eating, sleeping, and moving well? How are your relationships? Are you letting go of emotional baggage and trauma? If not, it will take more and more effort to reach and maintain high levels of potential.
4. Think small! Start off with one (or two!) small things and work at them until you create new habits and mindsets. Being successful at a bunch of small things is WAY better than failing at a couple big things. Instead of deciding to completely revamp your life tomorrow (?!?!) and flaming out, wouldn't it be better to have a greatly improved life even if you have to wait 6 months?

So...whatcha gonna do? Starting today?