Encouraging the Elevation of Wellness

As we enter this new year following the woes of the year passed, I think it's important to consider what really promotes wellness for each of us individually. As I see it, each of us truly live in alternate realities. Now, one might argue against this and propose that we all live in the same reality, but I'm suggesting that our personal realities are based on more than our outer conditions. You and another person, for instance, may both be in a pitch black, soundless room, but does your reality, your total experience of that room, not differ from that of the other person based on your internal perception of what occurs in your mind and body in that moment? You might be comfortable; they may feel unnerved. Objectively, it's simple: you both are simply in a room without external stimuli, but, subjectively, the potential difference of internal circumstances strikes me as two unique individuals experiencing different realities at the same time. I often see others being primarily affected by the events going on around them, and, depending upon what those occurrences are, that experience of life can range anywhere from very favorable to very miserable. My point is that, upon reflecting this past year and even my whole life up to now, it's becoming increasingly prudent to pay just as much, if not more, attention to what is going on within myself if I'm to experience a more enjoyable reality, and the intent of what I'm writing here is to inform anyone reading of what my reality consists of on a daily basis in my endeavor to reach for a more enjoyable existence in this perpetual flow of countless experienced moments.

Being intentional with our perceptions, because our perceptions determine our realities, is an incredibly important skill to develop. It does require a good bit of mental diligence and, at first, may seem like constant work, but with enough attention to our internal thoughts and feelings, it becomes less of a chore and more of a habit. For me, it's like being a backseat driver in my brain, except the driver, who is also me, is actually willing to listen. That "backseat driver" is what I consider to be the perpetual observer of all things related to me, and this is the perceptual viewpoint from which I find this life easiest to observe and analyze. I'm a firm believer in the law of attraction, which is why I believe that it's so important to pay attention to the way we think and feel on a consistent basis. The belief that we attract what we think about and what we feel is of critical importance to the ideas I'm putting forth.

One of the things that brings me great joy is invoking a feeling of being of service to others, and the service I most enjoy providing is feeling joy itself. However, that is not the only "service" from which I can reap personal benefits. The idea here is that I actively look for events in my life that help me to feel more happy and comfortable as I go about my day, and in turn, the people that I affect with those positive feelings also receive the benefit of my willingness to benevolently affect their lives.

Simply finding things to thankful and grateful for is, to be direct, a great way to promote your own feelings of "being" grateful and "being" thankful. Even when I'm inevitably disturbed by something, I try very hard to find a way to work out a thankful thought, and even harder to actually feel thankful for the thing that had bothered me a moment ago. However, even I if struggle to feel thankful for that event, I am still able to feel thankful for thinking about it in a more positive way. Sometimes, my internal dialogue may come to me simply as, "I'm happy I am able to realize that that is not what I like to happen." I find that gratitude toward our own innate, basic ability to observe the contents of our personal consciousness can serve as an exceptionally beneficial practice to facilitate more mental wellness and self-appreciation.

Accepting responsibility not only for the way I feel but also the way I may cause others to feel reminds me to be mindful of the effects that I have on others constantly. This is a matter of huge importance for me because the more I pay attention to myself the more I can see how that attention can benefit others. I remind myself regularly to show compassion for my own negative thoughts and reactions to others and vice-versa. We are responsible for our own actions, and that includes our thoughts and reactions. The golden rule, that we should treat others the way we would like to be treated, must also be applied internally. We need to be sure that we are also treating ourselves how we want to be treated. When we have a thought that makes us feel guilty or otherwise uncomfortable, we should show ourselves the same sort of compassion that a loved one might. In some ways of the mind, I treat myself as my own significant other. I constantly show love, compassion, forgiveness, encouragement, and faith to myself. I cannot say enough about how much this perceptual shift has changed my outlook on life, self-respect, and self care as well as my relationships with family, friends, strangers, acquaintances, and partners.

This is not just some goal for a new year; it is a constant effort to change my own lifestyle. Resolutions are great, but I didn't set one. I decided some time ago that I just needed to work on myself in baby steps one moment at a time, and through this I've seen so many great things happening in my life that I question whether all sorts of positive things were occurring before and I just wasn't seeing them. Be attentive, friends. Focus on the things that help you to feel what you want to feel. Permit yourself to love and grow. We are never who we were a moment ago unless we choose to be. My reality allows for change and choice. What changes can we make right now? What stops us from making a choice to change? Why would we not make a choice to change our reality into a more enjoyable experience of existence?