- Love yourself
“Beauty begins the moment you decided to be yourself”
This is the the first duty that you owe is towards yourself. If you do not love yourself, you cannot love another person or anything else. Self-love is important to living well. Practice good self-care too. Take care of yourself first. You cannot pour from an empty cup. If you want to be happy, then start with yourself. No matter how difficult or tough the external situations may get and no matter how people behave, if you know your true self and love yourself, no external situation can affect or break you.For your own mental and emotional well-being, it is important to listen to your inner voice and manage your energy and invest it properly.
2. Embrace the reality and deal with it
“Resilience is accepting your new reality, even if it’s less good than the one you had before. You can fight it, you can do nothing but scream about what you’ve lost, or you can accept that and try to put together something that’s good” -Elizabeth Edwards
A very important part of self-growth is acceptance. Accepting yourself the way you are, accepting others the way they are and accepting the current situation the way it is. The more we try to change the natural course of things, the more stress we mount upon ourselves, leading to unfulfilled expectations and resultant growth of negativity and frustration. The moment we realize that external circumstances are not in our control and that it is not our job to either change or control it, we begin to practice acceptance in our lives. There is absolutely no need to compare yourself to anyone else. The grass will always appear to be greener on the other side. Learn to water your own grass and watch it flourish in its own way. Once you inculcate acceptance in your life, you will realize that things are already good the way they are. You have just changed the lens through which you view yourself, others, and the world. Be gentle with yourself and think rationally. Allow your intellect to overcome your fear and anxieties. Ensure your acceptance is unconditional and without boundaries. It is the secret to unconditional happiness. Being grateful is a superpower.
Understanding, accepting, and working with reality is both practical and beautiful. In last couple of years, I have become so much hyperrealist that I have learned to appreciate the beauty of all realities, even harsh ones, and have come to despise impractical idealism. This changed helped me lot to reduce my stress level and given me strength to deal tough situations without breaking down when I lost my brother whom I was very closed.
Accepting realities does not mean you stop dreaming, to me pursuit of dreams is what gives life its flavor. Accepting realities and your true capabilities will help you to choose your dreams wisely and then achieve them. I have found this principle from principles book is almost always true in my case.
Dreams + Reality +Determination =A happy successful life
3 Be Grateful
“Gratitude is a powerful catalyst for happiness. It’s the spark that lights a fire of joy in your soul.” — Amy Collette
In a world where the rat race just does not end, because of the vicious cycle of wants and desires, to be grateful for what you have and continue to do your duties without expectations, is not unrealistic but an invaluable skill to have. Practicing gratitude will help you to declutter your mind of negative thoughts and make space for productive and healthy thoughts.
Being grateful will not change your external situation, but it will change the way you look at things.
It is easy to find 100 reasons to be ungrateful for, but this will only harm you and accumulate toxic emotions. Acknowledge and recognize the people and things in your life and express gratitude towards them. This practice trains the mind to look for the positive in every situation as compared to the old wiring of finding faults and looking for what is lacking in life.
4. Forgive
“The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the attribute of the strong”- Mahatma Gandhi
Forgiveness is not for the weak; it is for the strong. It does not involve forgetting, but an intentional act of healing yourself. Holding on to past anger, hurt, regrets will only continue to harm you and no one else. Once you learn to value yourself, you will understand that nothing is worth destroying your inner peace. If you want to move on in life and focus on your personal growth, it is important to learn to forgive (Let it go) . Forgiveness does not only mean to forgive others, but it also means to forgive oneself.
Too often we may find ourselves engaging in self-blame. This is as harmful as blaming others. Under the current circumstances, it is easy to blame others and find faults, but this will only add to the problem and not provide any solution. Forgiveness has the power to diminish stress and inner conflict and filter out the negativity from your mind. It is only when you learn the power of forgiveness that you can take a step closer towards healing your hurt and resentment. It brings about clarity in your life as you begin to focus your energy on what is good for ‘your well-being and growth.
5. OVERCOME YOUR FEARS
“Fear does not prevent death .It prevents life” Buddha
The Bhagavad Gita opens on a battlefield with a warrior’s terror Arjuna i the most talented archar in the land ,yet fear has caused him to totally loose connection with his abilities .The same thing happen to each of us .We have so much to offer the world ,but fear and anxiety disconnect us from our abilities .This is because growing up we taught ,directly or indirectly ,that fear is negative .
Fear leads to unnecessary stress and tension. Fear is nothing but lack of belief in oneself. When you doubt your own abilities, fear is created in your mind. Fears are irrational and need to be tackled with instead of ignored. Understanding the root cause of your fear is very important. Once you have understood it, learn to embrace it rather than resent it. You will be able to face your fear only if you acknowledge and accept it. This is possible only when you have trained your mind to be strong enough to accept your weakness and learn from it. Fear only lives in the mind. A weak mind is a feeding ground for a lot of negative emotions; fear being one of them. Whenever you are faced with a crisis, your negative mind immediately takes you to the worst-case scenario. Instead, focus on the best-case scenario and do not let fear take over. Become a master of your mind and do not let fear control you instead control you fear and turn it into a opportunity.
