What does a Life Well Lived Mean in 2021?

Since there’s no instruction manual for how to live a good life, building the life we want can often feel further from reach than we’d like. What if we stopped measuring the quality of our life with fortune and fame? What if, instead, we started to take inventory of how we’re feeling at any certain moment and use that framework to architect our best life? 

We’re exploring mindful ways to cultivate a deeper connection with yourself and a life well-lived.
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Positive Self-Affirmations

Self-care is at the essence of a life well-lived. When we love ourselves, we can fully love and accept others. Whether you’re battling a bout of depression or looking for a boost in your self-confidence, positive self-affirmations can help rewire your brain and encourage new pathways to happy thoughts. The best part is, they’re free and flexible. 

We’ve all heard the term, ‘speak it into existence.’ The trick to making affirmations work for you is speaking them aloud and repeating them as often as possible. Self-affirmations can be jotted down on a sticky note and stuck to your mirror, or typed into your notes app, for on-the-go encouragement. 

Here are a few affirmations to start your practice today: I am happy. I am calm. I am stress-free.
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Seek New Horizons

Sometimes getting lost in a new place is the perfect humbling experience to help you see what is right in front of you. When we say lost, it isn’t in a scary way of not knowing where you are, instead, it is an offering to be curious and explore. 

Explore what a life well-lived means to different cultures and in different places. Immerse yourself into something new and take note of how it made you feel. From camping in your local mountains to visiting a faraway retreat, travel is a great way to gain a new perspective not only on the world but on your life.
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Love Yourself through Meditation

It’s no secret meditation helps reduce anxiety and stress but it can also help improve the relationship you have with yourself. Loving ourselves is the goal and meditation is the pathway.

Our society is constantly being inundated with information and slowing down is crucial for our healthy survival. When we meditate we learn to look inward and let go. We let go of what no longer serves us and we move forward, towards our best life.  

As we begin to meditate and especially after we’ve been meditating for extended periods, letting go of expectations and leaning into whatever is happening becomes simple and much less daunting. We are able to find more optimism, ultimately creating endless possibilities in our minds, for our life.
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Start Enjoying Your Life

Obviously, life is meant to be enjoyed. Not simply finding joy where joy is meant to be found, but taking apart your everyday life and finding joy in the small mundane things. Start to cultivate the ability to bring awareness to everything you encounter and in those places, find joy. 

Start to develop a clear picture of this life and these joyful experiences through implementing mindfulness practices into your everyday routine. Make less room for the feelings and experiences that leave your cup half empty and create abundance around joy. After all, you only live one, right?
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Shared Experiences 

Connection is at the core of human survival, but it is also the key to finding joy and living well. Surrounding ourselves with people and information that uplift us and help us, ultimately cocreate our human experience. 

The goal is to find people we can connect with on a deep and meaningful level, without masks or judgment. When we are fully seen by someone as our true selves, when we can fully let go, that is when and where we can begin to live our best life.
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