You often hear people lamenting that they wish marriage, forging a career path, creating wealth and raising children came with an instruction manual, don’t you? Maybe, at times, you’ve even wished that there was a magic recipe for successful living? I know there have been times in the past that I have. And the truth is, there are a hundred ‘recipes’ lining the shelves of our nearest bookstore (or maybe even bookshelves at home) and yet people are still looking for the ‘silver bullet’… Why is that? The answer is quite simple… it’s because there isn’t one magic formula! There are thousands of them. And the only truly ‘perfect’ recipe for you to live successfully is the one you create for YOU.
Let’s take Key Steps this week to…
Create YOUR Recipe for Life
1. What are your critical ingredients? What are the ingredients that allow you to feel fulfilled from the inside out? What – by YOUR definition – needs to be included in your recipe in order for your life to be well lived? What does your ‘perfect’ life consist of? Pick up your pen and start writing now… Write the little things and the big things that bring you happiness, inner peace and fulfilment. My list goes something like this: technology free evenings, running (and that is for fun and exercise not the running on the corporate treadmill many of us are doing), special time connecting with my man (even just 10 minutes a day), curling up with a good book, bubble baths, standing on my lawn at the end of a full day facilitating, enjoying a good glass of wine, a weekend with NOTHING to do, talks with good friends about nothing and everything, family time, playing board games, going to the beach, the bush at dusk, unplanned weekends away, ‘date night’, braaing with friends, fresh linen, pyjama days, greeting the petrol attendant by name, laughing out loud, lifelong learning, passionate service, my daily prayer and gratitude list… and my list goes on and on… What’s on your list? What are your critical ingredients?
2. Add one ingredient at a time. What are you going to add to your ‘Recipe for Life’? Just focus on adding one ingredient at a time… You might need to enjoy the process of sourcing the rare one and relish adding it with care? Or you might enjoy adding heaps of the ingredient you have in endless supply and have just forgotten to add-in? I am not sure what your key steps for this week are but I know you know and I know you can create a more fulfilling life one step at a time, take that step today (it might mean making a call, sending an sms, adjusting your diary) and start conditioning your environment and not merely allowing it to condition you and…
