9 Life Lessons

I found a great article from one of my favorite websites, Mind Body Green.

It is written by Brigitte Meinders, described as following:
Brigitte Meinders is a New York City born yogi, writer, traveler and animal lover. She is a Wellness Program Manager at a health club in New Jersey who loves to inspire people to become their best selves possible. She enjoys spending time with her husband and two dogs, friends and family, and living, loving and laughing in the sunshine as much as possible!

Brigitte's 9 lessons she learned in her twenties:

1. Get to know YOU. Oscar Wilde said: “Be yourself. Everyone else is already taken.” I find that so many people, including myself, have been guilty of trying to fit someone else’s mold and losing their sense of self in the process. Get to know and accept your quirks, faults, uniqueness and beauty. It is all there and is uniquely YOURS, and that is pretty special.

2. Spend as much time as possible with the people you love. Cherish your relationships with family and friends. Make time speak to your loved ones and go out of your way to spend time with them. You will NEVER regret spending too much time with someone you love.

 

3. Don’t waste time on people who bring you down. If someone is a negative cloud in your life, get rid of them. It may sound harsh, but if your gut is telling you something about a person, it is probably correct. Even though you may doubt your decision at first, cutting off a toxic friendship will save you weeks, months, or years or stress and anger.

4. Your body is the most important thing you have. “Keep your body light and clean for your soul to reside in.” The key to health for both your mind and body is how you treat it, what you eat, drink, and the surroundings you keep. Don’t smoke, don’t drink in excess, and eat healthy, whole, nutritious foods.

5. Don’t waste time on doubt and negativity. Don’t second guess yourself, and be confident in your decisions. Self-doubt can be extremely detrimental to the way your outlook on life, so have faith in your choices and go confidently in that direction. Always make a point to focus on the positive in any situation, and don’t fall into a dark hole of negative thoughts. It will not serve you and will only cut into your quality of life. Be a ray of sunshine for yourself and those around you. Never forget about the law of attraction: positivity attracts more positivity, while negativity attracts negativity.

6. Be as physically active as possible. Do yoga, run, bike, ski, swim, skip, jump rope, do cartwheels, back flips… whatever you do, keep your precious bodies moving. I don’t know about you, but one of my goals is to be featured on MindBodyGreen  in 2072 as one of those inspirational 90-year old yogis! I’ll never get there if I don’t constantly push my edge, physically, now while I am young. It is never too early and never too late to start exercising, and no matter what your current physical abilities are, find the right place to start and build up from there. I have experienced myself that it is possible to do anything you would like to do when you are persistent, confident, and aren’t afraid to try new things and push the envelope.

7. Time flies, so make it count. Forget about the “grind” and working for the weekend. You are living your life right now, and no one knows what the future will bring. Ideally, find a job that brings you joy and fulfillment so that it doesn’t feel like work. If that isn’t possible at this time, make sure to do something you love every day. Visit a park or the beach during your lunch break, and schedule fun activities to do every evening. Finally, make your weekends like mini-vacations. You should aim to start every Monday with the warm glow of a weekend well spent.

8. Know what you love to do, and do it.  Make an effort to find your hobbies and make time to work with them. I love yoga, the ocean, my dogs, travelling, writing, spending time with my husband, friends, and family, and educating people about health and wellness. Only when you figure out what you like to do can you begin finding out your strengths and true happiness. Be true to yourself, and learn to recognize what you truly love, as opposed to what you think is the right thing for you to love.

9. Never stop having fun. I love it when I see elderly people laughing and having a good time. I don’t care if they are dirt poor and don’t seem to have much… if they have a smile on their face and a twinkle in their eye, they have it all. Laughter and joy is the best medicine, and you should seek it out whenever possible. Keep a smile on your face and see the lighter side of things to make sure you create plenty of lasting memories for years to come.

You can find the entire article here.

In my opinion each of the parts are so true and extremely important to cherish. The most important thing is to know yourself and learn to accept faults and be proud of own uniqueness. I still have a lot to do with this part:). Second, you can never spend too much time with the ones you love. This often feels hard as everyone have their own lives and daily responsibilities. I have done my best to eliminate these during the summer, for example by taking brake from exercising and spending the time with friends, as I think it is really important for your mental wellness ;)

My lack of exercise is a bit conflict with the part of taking best possible care of my body but I try to compensate it by eating healthy and nutritious food. Nevertheless, I'm really looking forward to fall to arrive and I get to start doing yoga again:) and I'm going to do my best to get my friends to attend the classes with me, be aware;-) 

Some of the best girls :)

I also often succumb on wasting time on negativity. It is important to learn to make decisions, and afterwards not to question these choices, but confidently pursue them and make them work the best possible way. Positivity and faith often leads to new, exciting paths and opportunities.

Living in the moment; another thing I have to work on J I often notice myself thinking ”When this and that, I will be more satisfied..”. It is important to make everyday happy and do things you love in your everyday life, not to constantly wait for something better to happen. Happiness comes by doing things you love to do. I love spending time with friends, lazy evenings at home, traveling, exercising…. Also, my ultimate wish is to some day truly enjoy the subjects I study and create a work for myself that I truly enjoy doing.

One of the best girls <3

I feel I still have so much to learn about myself but I'm good way working towards it :) Also, I have so many dreams I want to pursue. It makes me so happy to know that the entire world is open for me and I still have loads of time. I am so proud of all my friends and family, who have taken a risk and step out of their comfort zone to pursue their dreams. That is exactly what I am going to do as well :)

Oh god, how much text, I doubt anyone had the energy to read it this far ;) Anyway, I wish everyone good night <3 <3

pictures: pinterest