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Our Best Self:

So what is our best self? What are those aspects of how we feel and how we act on those days that we are feeling our best? This is a question that everyone should ask and has started me thinking about my best self and what that means to me. So today, I am going to do an exercise and list the aspects of myself that I treasure the most when I am feeling the best about myself and about life.

*Enthusiastic – Being excited to do things during the course of a day. Looking forward to the tasks of the day.

*Loving – Showing my love for those that I love and feeling that fully and deeply every day.

*Indulging – Experiencing the things that I love to their fullest. Pizza and a movie are the perfect indulgence for me.

*Indulgent – Being present and engaged while those I love are sharing the things they love the most.

*Attentive – Being aware of my surroundings and being active with the people I am around.

*Engaged – Being a participant rather than just an observer. Getting in there and experiencing new things.

*Smiling – Just having an expression on happiness at often and authentically as I can.

*Joking – Taking the opportunity to joke and play around with those around me. Seeing the humor and joy in the world around me.

*Wondrous – Finding the amazing in the things around me. Taking the time to view and appreciate the beautiful and awesome things around me every day.

So, given that I have a list of the traits that I feel when I am happiest, what is getting in the way of me feeling those everyday and being the best me every day? These are things that are easy to do and accomplish on the weekends, so there is something about the weekdays that cause me to lose sight of these and not live them the way that I do on other days? The simple answer is work, the weekdays are the days that I work and that simple thing throws a wrench in my ideal self.

My work now is to find ways to maintain those traits above even on work-days. Ways that I can enhance this  5/7ths of my life so that I am living as the person that I love being the most. What traits create the best you for you? What challenges do you face to be that person? This is a great exercise. In fact, I recommend that you print out your list of aspects that make the best you and put them somewhere that you will see them every day. Find a place that you look on a daily basis, a place that you will see in the morning just after you become awake. That way they are fresh in your mind and you can concentrate on living them every day.