Easy ways to reinvent your life
Has ordinary life got a bit too ordinary? Find out how a “life tweak” can be a short-cut to feeling good about yourself with the help of life coach Pam Richardson
Try her four-step programme (FUNN) for yourself:
Find out what really matters to you
If you can’t even remember your core values, how can you make them a priority? Write the values that occur to you, such as security, success, fulfilment, on Post-it Notes, and play around until they’re in the right order.
Understand what's holding you back
What’s stopping you from living your core values? Is it your own inner voice? If so, challenge it and look for evidence to support positive beliefs.
Negotiate with yourself
Be completely honest with yourself about what you are and aren’t prepared to do to achieve your goal. For instance, if you want to lose weight, are you willing to give up your morning cappuccino? If not, work out how you can still have it without ruining your effort, such as walking to work to cancel out the calories.
Navigate your way around obstacles
It’s inevitable that old habits, challenges and temptations will surface, but remember that relapse is normal. Just don’t give up on yourself.
Reframe the way you see yourself
When you’re busy it’s easy to fall into the trap of spending all your leisure time in the same way. Yet trying new things, especially physically active pursuits, is both energising and exciting.
What gives you pleasure
Even when life looks good on the surface (you’ve got a great partner, the family are fine and you’re doing well at work, for example), everyone experiences periods of time when they feel a bit flat.
First of all, line up your next break, but if that’s some way off or not possible for various reasons there are still some things you can try that bring the pleasure principle back into your life:
Be frivolous
Spend time each week on activities that have no apparent purpose other than to be enjoyable; anything from making a fuss of a pet to playing with a child.
Stand back
If you can’t actually get away you can borrow the perspective a holiday gives of your life by having a “virtual mini-break”. Turn off the computer and phone for a day (or even for a whole weekend), abandon routine and plan activities you only ever do on holiday.
Find your flow
The psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi describes “flow” as the feeling of being fully and completely engaged in what you’re doing, unaware even of the passage of time. Experts agree that experiencing flow leaves you feeling calm and with a great sense of fulfilment.
