Create Your Ideal Life Recipe — Part 2
Ready to start creating a truly delicious nutritious life? Here are ingredients 4-7 for your ideal life recipe. Part 1 of the recipe can be found here.
What do I need to be my best?
Answers here make it easier for you to bring precision and specificity to your ingredient
list. For instance, if you merely know that you need plenty of sleep to feel rested, you have only vague information. If however, you determine that you need eight hours of sleep, on a firm bed, with cotton sheets, and need to wake up to daylight and gentle music for optimal living, the specificity of your needs will make it much easier to satisfy them. Answering this question will help you draw up a very precise list of ingredients, rather than settling for whatever happens to turn up.
What nurtures, renews, or inspires me?
Life is wonderfully varied and therefore we experience a mix of highs and lows. The ingredients you identify in this question often create your soul food—things which nourish your body and soul, especially when you’re traveling in the valleys of life. How you find comfort, support, energy, and motivation will be demonstrated by your answers here. If you are renewed by “physical activity, prayer, meditation, or painting,” you may want to consider making these ingredients a staple of your spiritual diet so your personal fuel tank doesn’t run low. Also, when you believe your life is taking a downturn and you want an upswing, simply add a dash of any of these ingredients into your daily routine to keep you feeling connected, supported, and in balance. Simply remind yourself of these answers and take one of the actions that revitalizes you.
Who do I want in my life?
The answer to this question establishes what type of personal life diet you want to follow. While a response to this question could include specific people, I think it is most useful in identifying qualities that you want the people in your life to have. For instance, once you know that you want people who appreciate your sense of humor, remember your special days, and are “spiritual and honest,” you can seek out new relationships with people that meet those criteria. You can also use your list of desired qualities to work with current relationships to see if they’re a fit for you. Note too that if your answer includes the quality of “unconditional love,” the “who” might refer to an animal, rather than just humans.
Where or when do I feel limited, shut down, or sapped of energy?
As important as identifying how, when, and with whom you shine, is discerning where and when your life becomes arduous and lackluster. The ingredients here are ones to avoid, almost as if you have allergic reactions to them. For instance, one person might find that “lots of noise, rush-hour traffic, lack of exercise, and telemarketing phone calls” are irritating to them or make it easy for them to feel frustrated or angry. This same individual may then choose to change parts of his life so that these energy drains and tolerations disappear or at least occur less frequently in his life. He might select quieter environments, carpool to work or drive at off-peak times, exercise at least four times each week, and take action to prevent telemarketers’ calls. Your responses to this question are valuable because even if you bring a lot of positive energy into your life, having many personally toxic ingredients could cause that energy to leak right back out.
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[…] Here are the final three tips for creating a satisfying life that fits you to a “T.” Reduce stress, get the love you want, and live your life to the fullest with these tips. The rest of this recipe list appears in two earlier posts–part 1 and part 2. Drop a comment with your suggestion of an ingredient for your “ideal life recipe.” […]
Pingback by Lavender Log: Thoughts on Living an Inspired Life » Create Your Ideal Life Recipe — Part 3 — August 19, 2006 @ 12:32 pm