How to Have the Best Life of Anyone You Know

Read this article to learn the three things I've been doing that make me feel like I have the best life of anyone I know. Some links may be affiliate links.

(Bonus: Listen to this unconventional guided meditation and affirmations to help you feel like you have the best life of anyone you know)

Last night, after practicing gratitude while lying in bed (one of my favorite ways to fall asleep), I turned to my boyfriend and said, "I think I have the best life of anyone I know!"

We spent some time trying to decided if my dog has a better life than me, and while the jury's still out, that feeling is remarkable and it's not hard to find.

I've had a daily gratitude and meditation practice for about 7 years, but the past 18 days it's really been ramped up by this free 40-day meditation, gratitude, and affirmation program I've been leading. It has me feeling, in even stressful or uncertain moments, like I am the luckiest person alive.

When I say that I feel like I have the best life of anyone I know, this doesn't mean my friends and family don't have amazing lives, but the word "best" is so subjective. The best life for me is different than the best life for you. You can feel like you have the best life of anyone you know, and meanwhile your best friend can feel the same way about their life. And you're both right! Woo hoo! Wouldn't that be wonderful if you both felt that way?

Because that's all it's about...feeling! People often say our thoughts create our reality, but really, our feelings and our beliefs create our reality.

Our thoughts, of course, play a factor. You can use them to help you create new feelings and beliefs. In fact, here's my favorite 6-step process to help you rewire your brain for positive expectations.

But in the meantime, here's how I created the feeling that I have the best life of anyone I know.

Gratitude for "the Good"

It's easy to feel thankful for good things, but so often we're busy thinking about the future or the past that we're not even taking inventory of all the amazing things happening now. Wherever you are in life you got it good enough to have an electronic device at your fingertips to be reading this. Privilege much? HEY! Before you roll your eyes, remember, there are billions of people without any means of accessing the internet. (source)

Take inventory. EVERY single time something good happens, say thank you in your mind. Make a mental note of it!

Examples:

Something smells good
Something tastes good
Something is beautiful to look at
Something makes you smile
Something makes you laugh

You get the idea. These are not big things.

Once you start noticing all the small things and make it a habit, all of a sudden, you see good stuff everywhere!!

Gratitude for "the Bad"

My mom and dad taught me a saying growing up: "Good? Bad? Who's to say?" You can learn more about that here and in my book, Super Intense.

Long story short (trigger warning, skip this paragraph if you're sensitive like me), my dad was pinned against a wall by a forklift when I 7 years old. My parents shielded me from it, told me he broke his leg...but clearly it was something more than that as he's been in pain every day since. It wasn't until my mom published her memoir "Split Apart" that she and my dad wrote together about his accident that I finally learned the truth: my dad had been split apart at the pelvis. It's called an open book fracture.

Even though my dad lives in pain every single day (but literally never complains, I just can tell when he thinks no one's looking) he is the first to say: "Good luck, bad luck, who's to say?" or another one of his go-to's: "Bad things are good things"

We may not have the full perspective when we're labeling something as bad, but we do it anyway. Why not just look at it as a blessing for you that you don't yet understand?

YOU are responsible for how you view the world. It's your choice if you want to look at it like it's all not working out. But if you want to take control, find reasons to say "thank you" even when things feel like they're falling apart. If it's hard for you to do, use this 6-step process.

Be open, willing, and ready to believe that for some unknown reason this is good. I say, "Thank you. Even though I don't know why yet, I trust that this is working out for me and maybe someday I'll understand it better."

Staying in the Present

Every time I find myself tripping over future fears or past concerns, I've been catching myself and returning to the moment: my breath, my five senses, and - you guessed it- gratitude. Gratitude even for my fear (oh hey, have I mentioned this 6-step process for turning fears to love?😉)

Feel this way doesn't mean I haven't had turbulence. But it means that in the turbulence I've found stillness. I found gratitude. I did the work to commit to being appreciative for the moment even when things appear to be "wrong" or "not okay."

Who knows, this feeling could slip away tomorrow, but for the past 24 hours or so, I'm convinced I have the best life. And that's a feeling I am ready and willing to continue to put in the work to maintain.

Yes it is work to create this feeling and keep it going, but it is so worth the effort. Hopefully this meditation will help you be in the present connected to this feeling!

Want more free meditations? Between my podcast, my website, and YouTube, I have a little shy of 300 free meditations! Here's how to get all the things: