Happy 2021!! Friends today is a quickie pep talk to kickoff your 2021! So excited to share some of the new research this year of making your life better with the little tweaks that make a simple life more enjoyable!
Happy Friday everybody!! Welcome back in 2021! It feels so nice to be back in my podcasting chair, I have missed it a bit.
What a year so far! 8 days in, and we are cranking away! So far we have had a slow start to the year, and I think after the humdinger of a year in 2020, that's okay. Every year at the end of the year, I take inventory. I am an avid goal setter, and pursuant. I track goals regularly, and try and be flexible in negotiating my way through progression in life. If you want more proof, go back and listen to Episode 23. As I did my yearly recap last year, in December I realized I want 2021 to be different, but I could not put my finger on definite things I had control over to make the change I wanted.
SO, I wrote the pep-talk I needed for myself in 2021 and today we are gong to talk about it. I call it three abnormal ways to make yourself create happiness in your life. As the research shows us over and over, you create happiness, you don't FIND it. These tips are abnormal, because if 40 previous episodes of this podcast has shown me anything, it's that in general, adults have no idea what play means anymore.
Let's talk about that very briefly. Human development begins in a myriad of ways, two of which is growth through physical input and a drive for improvement of skill. We use that curiosity to drive us to develop the skills to babble, talk, move with control, eat, etc. We continually develop and grow, until we eventually stop growing. About the time we stop growing, we have in our minds we are done with the phase that requires so much drive toward what lights up our curiosity (our play if you will). We have developed ourselves into the form we will assume for the majority of the rest of life. We assume that we can learn new skills that then we implement without needing to encourage or drive ourselves as quickly forward. We shed the outward actions of childhood, and move on to adulthood, where things may look very structured, and outlined. We shed play in an effort to move on. But do we stop developing? Do we graduate from high school and then possibly college and then... nothing? What makes us want to continue to learn and grow? Can we call that development? Today, with that background in mind, I am going to give you three quick, easy, small things that can expand your development as a human without expending all your mental, physical and emotional resources.
One) Curiosity builds confidence FAST, Two) You don't need to be a different person this year than you were last year. Three) YOU.
Okay, they sound generic enough, right? Let's dive in and see!
First: Being curious. Curiosity makes your brain latch onto somethings potential. It triggers a train of thought that begins in a wonderment stage. Curiosity makes your brain imagine possibilities. This seems like a typical train of thought, right? Curiosity is a catalyst. Even if you don't follow through with getting answers for your wonderings. Curiosity helps your brain to realize there are different outcomes and possibilities. It gives you the ability to create new scenarios you are capable of carrying out. building into the framework of your brain the confidence to think of new solutions, new outcomes, or new possibility. If you are feeling stuck, or like you're in the same old loop, try getting curious about something new, something related or unrelated. Try to think of all possible outcomes. Try to think of the craziest solutions. Imagine you are unlimited in resources and find a solution you love to consider. Giving your brain this good dose of follow through helps to create pathways for tougher or more material concerns in your life. If you consider a problem from the scope of all options on the table, your brain begins to release the limits it will place on concerns of a higher priority. Your brain realizes more potential by being curious about things, whether they are actual problems you are facing or if you are just sitting in your car wondering about the possible ways of solving a traffic issue. Not going to lie, that is not my cup of tea on the regular, but allowing your mind to wander to new solutions for seemingly needless or mundane issues allows your brain to get ready to really solve a problem for you. So be curious. About anything! Quick note to those of you in the throws of parenting a toddler who's curiosity is going to be the death of you, it gets better. And your tired brain, may not be ready to solve world peace, but just get curious about all the little ways you can entertain them with as little effort as possible-- or imagine where you are going to escape to. I wonder how long the flight to Tahiti is?-- may be all the rabbit hole curiosity break your brain needs.
Number two: you don't need to be a different person than you were last year. I know I know that sounds crazy, and it can't be a blanket statement because I personally believe if you are a serial killer you should probably opt to be different than you are. What I mean here is, you probably in the last year wanted things to get better, or be different. You wanted good things for yourself, and you wanted good things for your family and the people that you love. You have good motivations in there that you want to act on. You already want to be better, and more equipped to handle the life you lead. You already want to be good at things, and better at others. This is the hardship I find in every January being the time that people want to be better. I don't believe it for a second. I think people want to be better all the time anyway. That includes you! You already have the drive within you to want a happier or healthier or more disciplined life. You already have greatness inside you. You don't need different greatness, you have yours. You don't need to be a different person, you may want to explore more of your strengths, or work on some of your weaknesses, or expand your knowledge, or find more peace. Whatever it is, you already wanted those things, and maybe this is your first conscious realization of wanting something specific, but your desire for improvement was already there. You have a desire for progression innately within you, and you are what the world needs. You have unique perspective and insight that the world is poorer without. And that brings us to YOU.
Finally , number three. YOU. The secret to 2021 is you. You know you. You know your own thoughts. You know your expectations. You make the decisions in that head. That means the secret to your personal formula for happiness lies within you. You. Are. The. Only. One. That can. “Make”. Yourself. Happy. Period. End. Full send. Happiness is not found, or uncovered, it is made. You are the only person with the correct makeup to make yourself happy. The bravery that it takes to be vulnerable and create lasting joy is already yours. You know yourself better than anyone, and anyone else saying otherwise is clearly mistaken. The belief in your own potential is your personal recipe for development. You continually develop as a person with your own curiosity, your own potential makeup, and with that development you make your world better, and happier, and healthier! SO, in case no one has told you in this new year, I believe in you. I believe in your abilities, in your goodness, in your hopes for good things to come. I believe that the goodness of individuals make a better collective whole, and we can't do that without You. The world needs the good to show up in each of us, especially now. It's time. So you, get out there and do your best you. I think you're great.
Here's to leaving you to your second weekend of 2021 a little more hopeful, and hopefully more happily playful, if only for a brief moment. Stay curious dear friends.