you were born with wings

You were born with potential.

You were born with goodness and trust.

You were born with ideals and dreams.

You were born with greatness.

You were born with wings.

You are not meant for crawling, so don’t.

You have wings.

Learn to use them and fly.

~Rumi

Imagine if you were living to your potential, achieving your goals and feeling happy and fulfilled in life. Maybe you are. But, if not, like many people, you can set yourself on a new path. Think about each area of your life such as relationships, health, career, personal growth/spirituality, and finances to see where you might be “crawling”, as Rumi says above. Typically we feel satisfied in one area of life but not another. Maybe you lack confidence in this area or you fear something or you’re simply stuck and don’t know why. If so, choose an area in life to focus on and take small steps (big ones too, if you choose!) to make improvements.

Here are steps you can take in various areas of life to use your wings and “fly”:

Relationships

Forgive someone. See if you can make amends with someone who has hurt you. Remember forgiveness doesn’t mean you’re condoning the behavior, it means that you are making your well-being and peace of mind a priority. When we let go of the hurt and angst that comes with forgiving someone, it helps us to realize our full potential. We can forgive for a better life.

Learn to listen with intent. Most of us listen to respond. Focus for one day on really hearing what people say. Be present to their concerns, feelings and wisdom. Put your self-interests aside, and listen with intent. You will be amazed at how much you can learn and the deeper connections you can make with others.

Love yourself more. “The most powerful relationship you will ever have is the relationship with yourself,” says bestselling author and speaker, Steve Maraboli. Self-love gives us confidence. When we love ourselves, we have boundaries and can say no. We take care of our health, needs and stress-levels. We make choices that support our best selves. Ask yourself: “What actions can I take to love myself more?” This list of actions will be a great guide to start loving yourself more.

Health

Set aside time for yourself. We all need decompression time. Take a day or an evening, regularly, where you do what makes you happy. Whether it be to go for a walk, take a long, hot bath, read a book, watch a movie, pursue a creative project or do nothing at all. You will feel more energetic, focused and better able to meet life’s challenges.

Practice gratitude. You might be saying, “How does the practice of gratitude help with my health?” Gratitude expert, Dr. Robert Emmons found in his research that practicing gratitude makes us healthier. Our natural antibodies increase, and our blood pressure and heart rate decreases. And it boosts our happiness by 25%! A simple practice is to think about three things that you are grateful for when you go to bed and when you wake up, which can’t help but give you a more positive outlook.

Career

Create a personal mission statement. At the end of your life, what would you like people to say about you? What did you accomplish and experience that made your life a success? Who were you as a person? Write your mission statement based on these questions and one that rings true for you. Let this mission statement be your life’s sacred guide.

Pursue what you love. Easier said than done! Especially when you want to open-up a catering business but need to keep your full-time, unfufilling job to pay your bills. Still it’s great to have a dream and dreams come true every day for people who are willing to put in the work, even if it takes years, to do what they love to do.

Personal Growth/Spirituality

Accept yourself. Here is a great affirmation by motivational author and founder of Hay House, Louise Hay to recite daily and help accept yourself more: “I love myself exactly the way I am. I am good enough!” Alternatively, you can make-up your own powerful affirmations.

Fulfill a lifelong passion. Play the guitar. Go to Italy. Find work that you really enjoy doing and is more suitable for you. Pursue a creative hobby. Take art classes. Run a marathon. Whatever it is – pursue it unmercifully. You will be so glad you did!

Change one bad habit. For 21 days (the amount of days it takes, according to psychologists, to break a habit) stop a self-destructive behavior and replace it with a good habit. You can make it a personal challenge and track your progress. Once you achieve success, reward yourself in some way.

Finances

Pay off your debts. Having debt can be a burden. It’s one thing to have a mortgage and a car payment but to have a couple of credit cards with high interest rates can be stressful. Of course the best thing to do is pay cash for what you want, but that may not be feasible. If you have debt, create a budget to help you stay on track with paying it off or even take on a second source of income.

Go on an austerity kick. For one year, be mindful of all that you spend. You can carry a small notebook with you to write down your expenses as you go about your day. Alternatively, save all your receipts so you can tally them up at the end of the week or month. This will help you see how much you are spending and where you can reduce. How about cutting your spending in half or altogether for a certain amount of time? See how fast your money grows.

You were born to be great. What idea above would you choose to focus on and why? Let us know. We’d love to hear from you!