Live an Extraordinarily Joyful Life

TOP 10 Ways to Live an Extraordinarily Joyful Life

Revised for 11/2019: I shared this on my business page a while ago, but the content still holds true and I wanted to make sure you got your eyes on this material. It is important and could make the difference between an ordinary life and an extraordinary one. Living a joyful life doesn’t have to be difficult and the following ten ways set you up for creating a solid foundation so you can make more room for joy and live an extraordinary life.

I often get asked by my clients, “How do I make my life better, easier, richer?” That, my friend, is a great question. It’s a common gripe amongst most adults I know and one that I can certainly relate to.

How do I get more out of life?

How do I navigate through all of this stress?

How the heck do I balance all of this?

How on earth do I make it all work?

I have asked myself the same questions and occasionally still do. It all comes down to balance. The balance between how to accomplish my responsibilities with the longing of how to make my life mean something, and not just any something but something extraordinary.

The balancing act is hard, I get it. Some days we’re unstoppable and on top of EVERY. LAST. THING. Some days we can’t even “adult”. Feel familiar? When our activity level pendulum swings one way or another it is in response to our lack of balance. So then, how can we stay in balance you ask? I am tickled you did!

Here is my top 10 way to Live an Extraordinary Life (and help create balance):

Breathe. Kind of obvious but important to remember just the same. We get caught up in ordinary things that we forget to breathe in the miracles. Not only can breathing transform a moment mentally but it can change you physically as well. Check out a great blog written by my friend and colleague Sharon Perry-Ferrari about how breathing can actually change you physically. Also, here is a quick stress diffuser that I use ALL OF THE TIME. Try this: With the inhale say, “Breathe in joy” and with the exhale say, “Breathe out chaos”. I promise you it works.
Practice Patience. I say practice instead of have because come on…let’s be realistic here. I don’t know one person that can be patient all of the time. We experience stressors that aren’t even on our conscious radar. With every stress layer that piles up sometimes we “lose” our patience much more quickly than we even thought we could. So when you feel yourself getting close to that point implement step #1 and begin your practice. Repeat as necessary.
Have Gratitude. This is one of my favorite ways to turn an ordinary day into something truly EXTRAORDINARY. My parents instilled in me from day one to find the good in everything, to seek out the gratitude in every situation. Now, I am not saying it is the easiest thing to do but the more you are grateful, the more abundant your life becomes.
Simplify. Saru Singhal said, “To soar, we must leave anything that weighs us down.” Pretty powerful stuff! How much of our “stuff” weighs us down? It could be physical items (chachki – go ahead sound it out, I’ll wait), or being overcommitted, or too many to-dos or even unhealthy relationships. When you clear out the clutter, whatever it may be, you make room for healthy, extraordinary joyful opportunities.
Make and Share Peace. We got a two-parter here. They truly go hand in hand. Creating peace within yourself is fantastic but then sharing that peace makes it over the top special. It becomes part of your essence, helps you be balanced (and super zen-like) and of course extraordinary. You will radiate joy everywhere you go.
Be Playful. I went to a funeral yesterday and one of the sons spoke so sweetly of his lovely mother that passed. He spoke of how playful she was. How no matter what she would drop everything and play with her husband, her children, the neighborhood children. He remembered that even in her 70s she was playing (and beating) the grandkids in basketball. There is a huge lesson there. I am just going to let you sit or should I say “play” with that one.
Be Curious. NEVER stop learning. There is always room for more knowledge. Being curious about whatever speaks to you, feeds you, and makes whatever you choose to do with your life that much richer.
Create Connections. Connections are what tie us to everything else. In business and in life, when you fail to create unique connections with people that you want to interact with, you will lose them. You will lose their friendship, their trust, their loyalty, and their business. So in knowing who you are and knowing what you want to get out of the relationship (whether in life or business), you can uniquely speak to them. Let your individuality shine through. Use your extraordinary qualities to create unique interactions with your families, your customers and yourself!
Stay Grounded. Staying grounded keeps us from literally toppling over. Like I said before there are so many stressors that we encounter that we are not even aware of. So being able to know where we stand, know how to manage the landscape so to speak, know how to be in control, that will help us from spinning out of control. If you need extra help with this…see step 1. Repeat as necessary. Or give me a shout.
BE YOU. You weren’t born to be anonymous. You were born to be extraordinary. The only way to do that is to remain true to you. Yes, it’s hard sometimes to balance it all but that is why we are doing this together.