Frequently, when you life coach people, you come up with alternate approaches for improving oneself and living happier. This is because everybody is different. Something that works well for one person doesn’t work as well for someone else (and vice versa). Recently, I worked with someone and came up with an alternate approach to living increasingly happier instead of the technique I originally used. It works like this:
Ask yourself what aspects of your life tend to affect you in a strongly negative way – creating substantial unhappiness in your life. When doing this consider activities you engage in, the work you perform, your financial situation, the people in your life, the information and media content you tend to surround yourself with and expose yourself to, your living situation, the goals you are presently pursuing (and any new ones you are considering), that which consumes your life more than you would like, any new experiences you are considering, and any personal issues which repeatedly create substantial unhappiness or negativity for you such as recurring stress, depression, anxiety, guilt, anger, and temptations, addictions, and compulsions. Becoming mindful of these aspects is helpful because awareness is the first step to change.
Upon gaining this awareness, you would next ask yourself what steps you can take to address each of the aspects of your life which affect you in a strongly negative way. Potential ways to address these generally fall into two primary categories: (1) those which involve creating distance or limiting participation (to include perhaps even removing oneself completely where possible or feasible), and (2) those which involve taking steps to work through or making significant changes. For those which fall into the second category – which might include current life challenges, work, and recurring personal issues (stress, depression, anxiety, etc.) – you would consider actions you can take to address these such as reading books on the topic(s), getting professional assistance, going to a support group or workshop, talking with others who have gone through similar experiences, and investigating/employing various other potential resources and sources of support.
Once you have sufficiently addressed the strongly negative aspects, you would next consider what aspects of your life inspire or affect you in a strongly positive way – creating substantial joy and happiness in your life. You would then ask yourself what you can do to move towards, or increase your participation in, these strongly positive aspects and start taking these steps.
Once you’ve addressed all of the strongly negative and strongly positive aspects of your life, you would then repeat the above process by considering and addressing the moderately negative and moderately positive aspects.
As you fill more of your life with the positive and less with the negative, you will clear the “clutter” from your life and become increasingly happier. Once you’ve made significant progress in these regards start over and repeat these steps. Some people like to perform this process on an annual basis, perhaps the week leading to New Year’s or the week leading to their birthday, while others prefer to do this more frequently. Just do what works for you or those you are offering assistance to.
Every time you inventory your life in the above fashion and work towards improvement, you will move in a positive direction, your life will get better, and you will feel increasingly happier. So don’t delay. Start today.
Here’s the original technique I used in case some of you would prefer this approach. Both approaches work well for promoting happiness in life but some prefer the original approach while others prefer the alternate approach addressed here. Just experiment with each of these and do what works best for you (or others you are offering assistance to).
This and other happiness and self-improvement related tips are provided throughout my self-help oriented books: https://brighterdayslifecoaching.com/published-books-and-life-coaching-services/
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