Living an extraordinary life requires a person to incorporate several factors into their daily routine. So, here’s a quick guide.
by Lori Gurtman | Lori Gurtman lives in Aspen, Colorado with her husband, two teenage children, and Old English Sheepdog. Reading and writing are her favorite escape, but when she isn’t doing that, she can be found on the mountain: hiking, biking, or skiing. Lori is also a published author, freelance writer, certified proofreader, and college essay tutor—who is passionate about empowering her students to write from their hearts. Follow her on Twitter @lorigurtman.
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The first and most crucial step to living a decent life is to ensure that your basic human needs are met: food, shelter, safety, health, and fresh air. But to live an extraordinary life, one must incorporate other necessary factors as often as possible. Â
So, here are five components to living an extraordinary life.
#1 Self-Love
Practicing self-love is a key component to a life well-lived. Loving yourself doesn’t mean you have an overblown ego and think you’re better than others. It means that you respect and believe in yourself. You’re not perfect. You’re going to make mistakes, but that’s okay. It’s part of your journey and contributes to your growth. If you fail, pick yourself up, and ask: what did I learn from this experience?
Self-love also means that you shouldn’t be so critical of yourself, and it’s essential to forgive yourself.
Our egos are mighty forces—if we let them go unchecked. So, pay attention to your thoughts and don’t give power to the negative ones. Don’t hold on or push them down; let them pass through you, and try replacing them with positive thoughts.
Michael Singer, author and spiritual teacher, offers excellent advice about watching your thoughts. He tells his readers and listeners to imagine the voice in their heads as a roommate talking to them. Would you like your roommate if they were constantly criticizing you? Probably not.Â
Make it a priority to become aware of your inner voice. You may hear things like: My hair is terrible. I look fat in those pants. I’m not smart enough. Why does everything come easy to others? No way am I going to get that job. Most people wouldn’t want to be friends with someone who spoke to them like that. Then, why do it to yourself? We don’t control the thoughts that pop into our heads, but we do have control over where we place our attention.
The first step in this process is to become aware of your self-talk. From there, you will learn to minimize the ego’s tyrannical ruling so that you can practice stepping into a place of self-love.
#2 Treat Your Body Like a Temple
During our time on Earth, our bodies are our homes, our sacred temples. Most people don’t intentionally bring poison into their houses, and the same should hold true for what we ingest.
Drinking a lot of alcohol, taking recreational drugs, and overeating processed foods and sugar can lead to ill-health and disease. Balance is the key here. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying a piece of cake or drinking alcohol now and then, but for the most part, try to indulge moderately.
Treating your body like a temple means eating nutrient-rich foods, getting plenty of rest, staying hydrated, and enjoying physical activities. Instead of joining an expensive gym or hiring a personal trainer to get in shape, try following the motto: life is exercise. In other words, when possible, take the stairs rather than an elevator and park your car far from your destination and walk.
Get fresh air and natural vitamin D every single day. Winter is tough, especially if you live in a cold, snowy climate. With appropriate gear: boots with traction, hat, gloves, insulated coats, etc., there’s no excuse. Human bodies need proper movement and regular doses in nature. If you live in a city, look for a nearby park to wander around.
Any form of exercise will increase your serotonin level and improve your mood. And spending time in nature has the potential to lower stress and anxiety and help you feel connected to something greater than yourself.
#3 Maintaining a High Vibration
Everything in the Universe is made up of energy, including humans. Our energy vibrates at a high or low level, depending on how we’re feeling. For example, joy-filled emotions signal a high vibration, while depressed, sad feelings give off a low vibration.
We all have an innate ability to pick up and read people’s energy. Most of the time, it’s obvious when someone is upset, even if they’re not speaking. A despondent person may show it on their faces or how they carry themselves, but often, we just know, simply because we feel it in others.
It’s nearly impossible to be in a cheerful mood all the time, but it’s essential to pay attention to your ups and downs so that you can keep them regulated and aim to maintain a high vibe.
Here are some helpful tools:
Stay in the present moment as often as possible. Depression transpires when we dwell in the past, and worry stems from anxiety about the future. In the present, everything is what it is.
Practice living in a state of gratitude. Be thankful for everything, despite how bleak things may seem at times, there’s always something to be grateful for: maybe it was the cup of coffee you had in the morning, the sunshine pouring in through your window, or taking a hot shower. People who live this way tend to attract more things and situations for which to be grateful.
Would you rather spend your day with a happy-go-lucky, smiling person or a down-in-the-dumps, frowning person? Of course, most people would choose to spend their time with someone blissful. So, then, practice being that.
#4 Human Connection
Having healthy relationships with friends, community members, and family members is vital to your overall well-being. Connecting with others offers many benefits: it elevates our moods, may increase our lifespan, and allows us the opportunity to be cared for and care for others.  Â
#5 Having Purpose
If you had all the money in the world, what would you do? Initially, you might go on a spending spree and take extravagant vacations, but living a life consumed with material items will not give you fulfillment.
Humans need to have a purpose. However, everyone’s purpose is individualized and may take some self-reflection to discover.
Stay-at-home parents, who have the means not to work, might find their purpose in raising their kids and taking care of the house, while other parents doing the same may need more than that. Their purpose might be getting involved in volunteer positions or finding creative outlets to pursue.
Your purpose doesn’t need to be grand. It can be as simple as doing something that gives meaning to your life. Incorporating some form of creativity is a great start, such as cooking, writing, or artistic endeavors.
To help figure out your purpose, ask yourself: What lights up my brain? What activity gets me into a zone? Is it my work? Is it a hobby?
To live your best life, discover ways in which you can express new and original ideas, and exercise your brain—for it too is a muscle that needs a workout.
In Summation
Years ago, historian and author Doris Kearns Goodwin gave a Ted lecture, “Learning from Past Presidents,” where she quoted the psychologist Erik Erikson.
Richest and fullest lives attempt to achieve an inner balance between three realms: work, love and play. And that to pursue one realm to the disregard of the other, is to open oneself to ultimate sadness in older age. Whereas to pursue all three with equal dedication, is to make possible a life filled not only with achievement but with serenity.
Erikson was correct in his analysis that one must balance all three—work, love, play––to reach your definition of success, but the other ingredients: self-love, treating your body like a temple, maintaining a high vibration, human connection, and having purpose also needs to be embodied to live a life of greatness.
A great exercise is to imagine looking back on your life moments before crossing over and answering these questions: How do I want to be remembered? Did I practice self-love? Did I take care of my body? Did I treat others with compassion? Did people want to be around me because I radiated a high vibration? Was I a member of a loving community filled with friends and family members? Did I follow my purpose?
Let your heart guide you, always—and that will direct you on the right path and enable you to embrace the five pillars of living an extraordinary life.Â