Live Happier Tip: Celebrate You

One of my favorite blogs is called the Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin.  She spent a year working improving her Happiness and then wrote a book about it, which is coming out next week.

Her first tip, for her Happiness  Project is 'Be Gretchen'.  All of her tips are wonderful, but hands down this is my favorite tip.  I love that idea and frequently encourage my clients to follow their gut, go with their instincts and not worry about what everyone else thinks.  Be genuine.  The problem I have found with many of my clients the concept of listening to yourself is totally foreign.  Many of my clients have no idea what they value, enjoy, or need. If given a day to do whatever they want, a day of play, they would have no idea how to spend their time.  They have lost themselves in their many roles of parent, partner, friend, son/daughter.  There is a loss of 'who am I and what do I want out of my life'.

I believe that being genuine, being yourself and striving to listen to your own inner voice above those around you will help you live happier.  We get caught in the trap of trying to fill a role, be the best, and we lose ourselves. We become trapped in self judgment and the inner critic tends to take over. When we are acting from a place of genuine care, being true to ourselves, our world becomes more open and we become more relaxed.  Our interactions are more meaningful because we aren't always thinking about what to say or how to say it:  we are just being ourselves.

So in the quest to be you and live happier.  Today ask yourself these questions:

• What 5 traits do I love about myself? 

• What activities do I love to do? (maybe you haven't done them in awhile--maybe you will have to think back to high school/college to come up with them)

• What are 5 things that I might have lost about myself that I use to really like? (e.g. listening to music, dancing, reading, deep conversations, hanging with friends)

• What are my unique gift(s) to the world?  (this is a BIG one I know--but what is it you offer to the world that no one else does--maybe it is that you make the best pumpkin pie, or you tell the best stories, or you listen better then anyone you know--be creative)

These questions are just the start.  We are all wonderful, individuals with unique gifts and talents.  Today have some curiosity around your uniqueness and start sharing it with the world.  As we begin to celebrate ourselves we can start living from a place of genuine strength.  So today celebrate you.  Be your fabulously, wonderful, unique, talented self and share it with the world!!!