{"id":6861,"date":"2024-11-15T09:11:39","date_gmt":"2024-11-15T08:11:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/life-is-what-we-make-of-it\/"},"modified":"2024-11-15T09:11:39","modified_gmt":"2024-11-15T08:11:39","slug":"life-is-what-we-make-of-it","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/life-is-what-we-make-of-it\/","title":{"rendered":"Life Is What We Make of It."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Yes, life is indeed, what we make of it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

It’s how we choose to look at it.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

I know, I hear you, I get a lot of protest when I say this.<\/p>\n

But actually, only from those who do not take full responsibility for all that is happening in their lives.<\/p>\n

Do things happen outside of our control? <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Absolutely!<\/p>\n

Does life throw us curveballs?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Oh, yeah.<\/p>\n

Do we get sick?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Of course.<\/p>\n

Do people we love, die?<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, yes.<\/p>\n

But that does not mean, we can\u2019t have a beautiful life. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

It means, that we have to live very consciously.<\/span><\/p>\n

It means, that we have to learn how to focus on the good.<\/span><\/p>\n

It means, that we have to learn how trust that all will be well.<\/span><\/p>\n

It means, we have to be very aware of how we react to all those things that are happening in our lives. The good and the bad. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The best proof that life is what we make of it, is looking at people and seeing what they make of their lives.<\/p>\n

You see people, who seem to have it all: good health, good job, a family, no financial problems, \u2026 and yet, they never seem happy, they never seem to be able to enjoy their life.<\/p>\n

And then, you see people, who suffer from illness, who have financial insecurity, who seem to hit \u2018rough patches\u2019 all the time, and they manage all right. They go through the day with a smile on their face, glad to be alive, glad even to be able to help out other people in need.<\/p>\n

I know it\u2019s not easy. But seeing people being unhappy, in seemingly optimal circumstances, and then seeing people being happy in very challenging circumstances, that is where we understand that it is all up to the person itself.<\/p>\n

First of all:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Have the willingness to take responsibility for your own happiness.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Then:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Learn how to<\/strong> evolve and how to create a \u2018happy and content you\u2019.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

This is how you will create a beautiful life.<\/p>\n

Will all be perfect? No, of course not.<\/p>\n

And that is okay.<\/p>\n

That is what life is all about, the good and the bad.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s how you deal with it, that will determine how you feel.<\/p>\n

Practice being grateful,<\/strong><\/span> even if things are tough, there are always plenty of things for which you can be grateful.<\/p>\n

When you feel grateful, you can\u2019t feel anger, resentment, jealousy, \u2026Those emotions can\u2019t be present at the same time.<\/p>\n

Choose how you want to feel!<\/span> <\/strong>And then work towards that feeling.<\/p>\n

I love what Bren<\/strong>\u00e9 <\/strong>Brown <\/strong>says* about gratitude:<\/p>\n

Our emotional system likes newness. Feeling happy for something great, something new, something exciting, feels nice. But positive emotions to something new, wear off quickly. Feeling grateful<\/em><\/span>, on the other hand, is not just feeling good about something, it\u2019s appreciating the value of something<\/em><\/span>. It\u2019s not taking things, people, for granted, it means celebrating <\/em>goodness, instead of, adapting<\/em> to goodness.<\/span> Gratitude makes us participants<\/em> <\/span>in our lives instead of spectators.<\/p>\n

Her definition of gratitude is:<\/p>\n

\u201cGratitude is an emotion that reflects deep appreciation for what we value, <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

what brings meaning to our lives, <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

and what makes us feel connected to ourselves and others.\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Bren\u00e9 Brown also points out that if we want to experience the full power of gratitude, we must also make it a practice<\/strong><\/span>. Thinking in a grateful way is not enough, we have to act upon it. We have to make a practice out of it.<\/p>\n

As you can read in many of my articles: I am a huge fan of practicing gratitude, because I know it means the difference between, feeling as a spectator of your life, and feeling as a participant in life. I\u2019ve been doing this for years and I can vouch for it, it \u2018works\u2019 \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

Make this a daily practice.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Write in that gratitude journal.<\/span><\/p>\n

Say several times a day: \u2018Thank you\u2019, \u2018I am grateful for\u2026\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

Meditate, and set the intention of gratitude.<\/span><\/p>\n

Say thank you prayers.<\/span><\/p>\n

Reflect upon all that is good in your life, and feel <\/em>the gratitude flowing through your body while thinking about all these things. Feeling it, will lift you up to that higher vibrational frequency, and you\u2019ll attract** more of the same.<\/span><\/p>\n

Act from that place of gratitude: help out, do good, be friendly, \u2026not to get something in return, not to be seen as a good person, no, do these things as a participant in life.<\/span><\/p>\n

We are all connected, and acting from that place of connection, only strengthens that feeling. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You\u2019ll no longer feel alone.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll no longer feel you are the only one going through rough times.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll no longer feel envy towards others.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll no longer feel life is \u2018targeting\u2019 you.<\/p>\n

You\u2019ll no longer feel as if you never seem to get a break.<\/p>\n

Start practicing gratitude and see, feel, and experience, what happens.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Stop being a spectator in your life.<\/p>\n

Life does not<\/strong> happen to<\/strong> you, it happens for<\/strong> you.<\/span><\/p>\n

Take part in life, be one with all, feel connected to all and enjoy it!!<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Thank you all for reading me and for supporting me on Medium! If you want unlimited access to all of my articles and many other authors, you can become a Medium Member and you\u2019ll be supporting me and all the other authors. Many, many thanks to you all!!!<\/p>\n

Katrien<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

*\u201dAtlas of The Heart\u201d by Bren\u00e9 Brown PhD, MSW.<\/p>\n

**\u201dAsk and It is Given\u201d\u201d by Esther and Jerry Hicks.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yes, life is indeed, what we make of it. It’s how we choose to look at it. I know, I hear you, I get a lot of protest when I say this. But actually, only from those who do not take full responsibility for all that is happening in their lives. Do things happen outside […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6861\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifecoachwomen.be\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}