As the first month of the new year, under new leadership (ya Obama!) comes to a close, lets evaluate your resolution status. Dun dun dun…I totally caught you didn’t I? While there are about a million blog articles out there declaring the 10, 20, 50 plus ways to keep and maintain your perfectly crafted resolution, I’m not going to lie. Self motivation is an on going, day to day, minute by minute choice. Resolutions are a great way to initiate growth…as is any goal setting… but the quicksand for most is lack of perseverance, discipline, and the truck load of optimism needed to nourish the seed we’ll call your life.
Everybody wants to be a curvateous, hot pink rose! No?…well maybe you’d rather be a wise willow, or hell even a cactus. But the point is…no matter how we bloom it takes constant motivational upkeep. You alone have to pick yourself up (sometimes by the hair!) again and again. No one is going to hold your hand… so here are some ways I keep my fountain of inspiration flowing year round.
1.) Read wise words: I admit I’m a total sucker for inspiration quotes. There’s nothing like reading a quote that instantly makes your heart flip flop or touches your soul in all the right places. Once you find such a quote(s!) keep it near and dear. Plaster it across your desktop for your viewing pleasure at work or scrawl it on a post-it that slides right into your wallet/purse. Keep referring to all things that pump up your enthusiasm for life…whether it’s a quote, book, painting, or the sun setting. Just do it!
2.) Think positively and act accordingly: A total no brainer. We must be optimistic and hopeful. What you think is who you become… and no one actually WANTS to be the grinch. Just switch your internal personna to that of Richard Simmons and you’re golden! Okay maybe not, but speak to yourself with the utmost care and respect. The change starts in your own head, which then trickles into everything you touch…including your interactions with people! Positive energy is highly contagious and spreads like the plague. So start spreading the love..seriously. When you find yourself in the dumps go back to #1.
3.) Practice being: One of the best ways I have found to keep my buzz on life stable is to practice mindfulness. Awakening to the moment and all it has to offer clears the clouds of the past and future. No longer are you worried about the family feud you witnessed over the holidays, nor the ways in which you are going to scrap and save enough money for an enormous down payment in the bay area. You are enjoying the sun on your face and the air drawing life into your lungs. We must learn to wrap our brains around the idea that all we have is this moment. Everything else we create in our heads. So shape the reality you want to live. Continuously shake yourself into the present.
4.) Build and keep support:� Yes we are alone in life (refer to the intro paragraph). No one is going to make us do anything. We are floating in a vast sea of possibility and only you have the steering wheel. Whether you steer yourself into the 9-5 desk job port orstay aboard as a continent hopping musician, is up to you. But we do have SUPPORT from the 6 billion people around us! Open yourself up to the possibility of meeting all of them. Everyone has something different to offer so why not soak it all in? B-line away from corrosive souls that sap your spirit and align with those that inspire you.
For an added touch…here are some of my favorite quotes and books to kick start your motivational wheels…
�Though I might travel afar, I will meet only what I carry with me, for every man is a mirror. We see only ourselves reflected in those around us. Their attitudes and actions are only a reflection of our own. The whole world and its condition has its counter parts within us all. Turn the gaze inward. Correct yourself and your world will change.�– Kristen Zambucka
“Dance challenges the body to achieve the beauty of its design.”– Anonymous
“Energy flows where attention goes. Don’t waste a minute of life being negative.”– Anonymous
“Not only is health a normal condition, but it is our duty not only to attain it but to maintain it”. “Rome was not built in a day” and patience and persistence are vital qualities in the ultimate success of any endeavor. When all your muscles are properly developed, you will perform your work with minimum effort and maximum pleasure. As small bricks are used to build large buildings, so will the development of small muscles help to develop large ones. Pilates is “the attainment and maintenance of a uniformly developed body with a sound mind, fully capable of naturally performing our many daily tasks with spontaneous zest and pleasure.”– Joe Pilates
“Destiny is a matter of choice not to be waited for but to be achieved.”– Anonymous
“I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way he/she handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”– Maya Angelou
“If not now, when.”– The Talmud
“This is my simple religion. There is no need for temples; no need for complicated philosophy. Our own brain, our own heart is our temple; the philosophy is kindness.”– Dalai Lama
“Life is a succession of moments. To live each one is to succeed.”– Corita Kent
“Life is always walking up to us and saying, “Come on in, the living’s fine,” and what do we do? Back off and take its picture.”– Russell Baker
“Freedom lies in being bold.”– Robert Frost
“Love makes your soul crawl from its hiding place.”– Zora Neale Hurston
”I could not, at any age, be content to take my place by the fireside and simply look on. Life was meant to be lived. Curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.”– Eleanor Roosevelt
Books everyone should read at least once in life…
The Power of Now and A New Earth by Eckart Tolle
What the Bleep Do We Know!?
The Omnivores Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
