My 6 elements of how to live a life fulfilled

This is something I’ve been wanting to put on paper for a little while now.  Over the past few years I’ve developed a pretty solid group of friends and we’ve had many MANY conversations about nearly everything you can talk about.  During these conversations, I’ve noticed little “nuggets” of what I believe is truth pop up, and after doing some digging conversationally with my friends, we’re all pretty much in agreement that these “elements”, if paid attention to and applied correctly, can and will drastically improve one’s life.  The trick however is to actually practice utilizing these key elements and I for one have not come close to perfecting this just yet, but I will keep trying because even if you only have success practicing one or two, you’ll still see improvement in your life. 

This list might seem somewhat generic or obvious, but there’s more to each of these than what you think at first glance:

• Perspective
• Passion
• Balance
• Patterns
• Timing
• Love

Perspective – Is the grass greener on the other side?  It’s usually not, but looks can be deceiving and what you experience personally and internally can play a huge part in how resilient you can be.  This is why it’s great to try and have “perspective” on tap in the back of your mind to help you overcome adversity and to realize that you might not have it as bad as you think.  This way of thinking helps me personally maintain a certain level of positivity or optimism when others may go down the path of negativity which can, and usually does, lead to you making poor decisions, turning an already bad situation even worse.  

Passion – Let’s not confuse this one.  I’m not talking about your “passion for your children or family”, I’m talking about your personal individual passions, the thing or things that make life interesting and exciting for YOU.  Are you an artist?  Do you wake up everyday with almost a NEED to get in front of a blank canvas? That’s passion.  Are you an entrepreneur?  Do you wake up everyday with almost a NEED to create, innovate and succeed in your projects? That’s passion.   Without passion in our lives we’re only either surviving or just going through the motions and neither are preferred if you’re pursuing a fulfilled life. 

Balance –  This can also be considered “moderation”, but not exclusively.  Being cognisant of what sort of things you’re balancing in your life can help you identify areas you should give more attention or maybe spend less time doing.  Spending too much time in the office at work might be good for your career and your bank account, but are you neglecting your family and social life?  It can even be small things that end up having a larger impact on your life such as food intake.  Maybe drink less soda during the day and increase water intake.  Making even minor changes to your balancing act can have a huge impact on your life. 

Patterns –  This one is kind of fooey and hooha, but you can’t deny its existence.  You see patterns everyday, the habits you have, the route you take to work, the foods we eat and also the way we treat each other.  It might take your recognition of certain behavioral patterns to realize a negative person should no longer be a part of your life.  Patterns might also include cycles of life, like realizing that things come and go, and get worse before they get better, but remembering patterns of life can give reassurance that things can and will change and you can play a part in that process. 

Timing – Timing might seem like it’s related to patterns, and it can be at times, but I wanted to focus more so on WHEN you chose TO do or NOT to do things or actions.  In joke telling, timing is everything, if you fail to deliver the punchline in time or if you deliver it too soon, you’ll not get the response from the crowd that you’re looking to get, same is true with life.  Choosing to talk to your significant other about a touchy topic right before bed when you both are tired already might not be the right timing for that conversation.  Also, deciding to make that new car purchase before you finish paying off that outstanding credit card might be bad financial timing.  Practicing good timing benefits you by avoiding the headaches and hardships from acting rashly or without thinking things through. 

Love – How many things have been written, talked about, sung about, or thought on when it comes to the topic of love.  I’ll spare you my version of that, but one other aspect of love that I feel doesn’t get enough attention is just simply.. keeping in mind, even in times of anger, despair, hurt and troubles.  Keeping love in mind, and the knowledge that love is the most important aspect of life and that’s what makes life worth living, makes it a lot easier to practice the rest of these elements and how to implement them more effectively in your life.  

I hope you enjoyed this read and more importantly I hope you at least try to keep these elements in mind when going about your day to day life, I will also try and do the same and maybe together we can live a more fulfilled life making all of our lives collectively more enjoyable.