I enjoyed Anne Naylor’s “10 Tips for Being the Best You Can Be” on The Huffington Post. To get to the article, click here. Below are excerpts.
What do Susan Boyle, Paul Potts and J K Rowling all have in common – apart from they happen to be British? Their success did not come about overnight, or easily. Not for any of them came instant fame, and recognition in the spotlight.
“The soul is placed in the body like a rough diamond, and must be polished,
or the luster of it will never appear”
Daniel Defoe
No matter how frustrated, troubled or dispirited on the surface, deep down everyone I have met is truly extraordinary. However hidden, the human spirit, the diamond is always there; in you, in me.
For many of us, these times are rough. Perhaps now we can come to know and appreciate more fully our capacity for endurance and the brightness of our human spirit. What is more, we can take the polishing more into our own hands.
Here are some tips you might like to consider:
1. Know what you want
Maybe you have a talent you have longed to express and develop. If not, you probably know how you would like to be experiencing your life – perhaps with more happiness, better communications with the ones you love, greater fulfilment in your work.
Knowing is deeper and stronger than wishful thinking or hoping. It is a conviction so solid that you can base your life on it.
“There are three things extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know one’s self.”
Benjamin Franklin
2. Engage with your intention
Daily nurture your vision – see, feel, hear how you will be experiencing the fulfilment of your the life you want, both inwardly and in the world. Use your imagination.
3. Practice your passion – take action
If you have a talent, keep working with it. If you would like to be happier, do things that make you happy. Better communications? Be willing to learn, practise, improve – and make mistakes from time to time. Your intention will speak volumes. Fulfillment? Adjust your attitude.
“Nothing will work unless you do.”
Maya Angelou
4. Raise your energy – turn up the heat
Love yourself and be grateful for all you have in your life, right now. Pay attention to your blessings. Look up. Learn to forgive and laugh at the mistakes you make along the way. Each day, feel the enthusiasm for your vision, as if it has already happened. Stay open for the remarkable to take place. It will.
“There are two ways to live your life – one is as though nothing is a miracle,
the other is as though everything is a miracle.”
Albert Einstein
5. Gather positive people around you
At the very least, spend time with people who are supportive and for you. Enrich yourself by getting to know others who are actively creating the best for themselves, and learn from them.
“If you have zest and enthusiasm you attract zest and enthusiasm.
Life does give back in kind.”
Norman Vincent Peale
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