This blog post could’ve been titled any number of motivational things- “follow your heart”, “do what makes you happy”, “treat every day as if it’s your last”, etc. These are all fantastic quotes but what do they really mean? I want to share what they mean to me and how I find myself embodying them.

Slow down and be grateful

I often pause and reflect on the amazing-ness of our world by taking a look at where I am in life from a sort of high-level, birds-eye view. I take a step back from my immediate surroundings and emotions and look at where I am from a different perspective. Like I’m viewing my life as a scene in a movie. It’s so incredible and we’re all so ridiculously blessed to be alive and part of this world. You can see the beauty of it in everything if you take the time to look. We’re spinning around the sun on a planet, gravity constantly holding everything together. Trees, plants, and animals are alive and thriving all around us in perfect harmony. It’s magical! A lot of really crazy, intricate things had to happen a certain way for the world to be as alive and beautiful as it is and I’m filled with so much joy and gratitude that things have worked out the way they have. I love life.

sunrise
sunset
I spent 3 days on Lake Pend Oreille in Idaho and spent a lot of time gazing out from this point. It was about a mile from my van but I kept making the hike up the rocky cliff because the view was so incredible and looked vastly different depending on the time of day. This photo is sunset with a full moon. I could hear the wind and waves, feel the hard rock under my bare feet, and was mesmerized by the beauty as I sat there with this beautiful spot all to myself. You can find spots like this to deeply appreciate our world no matter where you are, you just have to search a little bit! (hint: climb trees and fire escapes)

Being mindful of how amazing mother nature is naturally brings gratitude and happiness. It’s simple. The hardest part of being happy is realizing when you’re unhappy. If you’re not happy, you should stop what you’re doing immediately and do something that does make you happy because I think there’s a little-known truth that it’s possible to be happy all the time.

Listen to music. Dance, sing, feel it.
Take off your shoes and feel the ground. Close your eyes and feel gravity pushing you into the earth.
Experience the beauty of our world.
There is so much beauty to experience. It makes my eyes water just thinking about (:

Trust that good things will happen

There’s no rush. Don’t force anything. If you commit your entire life to simply being happy, I promise you will achieve more than in your wildest dreams. This is because you attract the best things in life when you’re following your passions and what makes you happy.

Every time you do it, it gets easier. Every time you recognize when you’re not totally happy and switch your focus back to something you’re passionate about, you grow. It’s the most important area in life to grow and it feels amazing. It’s making progress towards what should be your number one goal in life (true happiness and inner peace).

Everything you do should be done with intense passion and love. You have a fire burning within you and your only job in life is to do things that stoke that fire! Sure, you might have to do things you’re not crazy about as a means to an end but you should still be stoked about doing them because it’s a means to following your passion. If your purpose in life is to be a doctor then all the countless hours of studying should excite you because you’re working towards a goal that you deeply desire and are intensely passionate about. In times of hardship it should be easy to reignite the fire by taking a moment and looking at your life from a different perspective so you can see the beauty again. Or by doing something that makes you happy like dancing, singing, playing a sport, painting, whatever!

Do you know what your deep passion is right now at this point in your life? It should be easy to identify. If it’s not easy, I urge you to connect with what you loved to do as a child. Back when you followed your heart and lived in the moment, happy, joyous. Swinging in a swing, playing with toys, playing a sport. Find what makes you happy with no strings attached. Then, you’ll find beauty in all sorts of things and feel passion for them. It’s exciting! What a privilege it is to be alive and experience this amazing world. You just have to take the time to see the beauty!