Sixteen years ago I learned an important life lesson, in the back of a New York City taxi cab. 

I hopped in a taxi, and we took off for Grand Central Station.  We were driving in the right lane when, all of a sudden, a black car jumped out of a parking space right in front of us. 

My taxi driver slammed on his brakes, skidded, and missed the other car by mere inches! The driver of the other car, the guy who almost caused a big accident, whipped his head around and started yelling bad words at us.  My taxi driver just smiled and waved at the guy.  And I mean, he was actually friendly! 

So, I asked him, "Why did you just do that? This guy almost ruined your car and could've sent us to the hospital!" 

And this is when my taxi driver told me about what I now call, "The Law of Garbage Trucks." 

Well, you can wait, if you want to. You can wait until you get a better job, until you have more money, until you find the perfect partner, until you kids are off in college, but really, haven’t you waited long enough?

I say, enough with the waiting. Life is happening right now. This is it.  This day, this moment, this is your life and it’s up to you, to make the best of it.

So, here are a few tips to help you embrace your every day life, experience joy and make the best of whatever comes your way, with grace.

Ready? Take a deep breath and get ready to kick it up a notch! 

• Wake up Early  If you have to be on the road by 8.30, make yourself a favour and don’t wake up at 8.00.  Set your alarm a few minutes before the chaos of the day sets in, so you can breathe, read a book, journal for a few minutes, sip your coffee in peace, make love, shave your legs, you name it… This way when the time comes for you to really get going, you will be ready for it all.

• Start your day with Gratitude  I cannot stress this enough. Every day, when you wake up make sure you start your day off with gratitude. Write down, think of or say aloud, at least one thing for which you are grateful, today. Small or large it doesn’t really matter. Expressing gratitude is also a powerful tool you can use whenever you need to feel better, in a short period of time. 

• Pick your Battles  Stop draining your self everyday, by making a conscious decision to stop power struggling with people, over things that have no importance whatsoever. Really, it’s that simple. Not all battles are fight-worthy so, pick yours wisely. Not everything is a crisis. Not everything is to be taken personally. Not everything is there to intentionally hurt you. That’s all I’m saying.

• Stay Connected with your Friends  Let’s admit it, friends make the world a better place. So today, do yourself a favour and connect with a friend. Just pick up the phone and have an actual conversation with someone you haven’t talked to in a while, write them an email or go out for a cup of coffee.  And while you are at it, let them know how much you appreciate them. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself, today and you know it!

• Pamper yourself Silly  Sometimes all we need for a good battery recharge is a little indulgence.  So, take some time for yourself today.  Go for a walk, dim the lights and have a chilled glass of wine, get a mani, listen to some music. Whatever you do, use the time to tune into yourself and really enjoy your mini break.

• Meditate  It’s easy. Just sit down on a pillow, straighten your back, cross your legs, place your hands on your knees and breathe. That’s it. Focus on your breath, going in and out of your nostrils. You can set a timer  to five minutes, so you don’t open your eyes to check your watch every now and then. Just a few minutes of daily meditation can have enormous health benefits. Try it.

• Give yourself permission to screw up  Yes you can do that. Let go of the need to be perfect. Take a risk. Allow yourself  to fail.  You heard me. Stop placing unrealistic demands on yourself and accept the inevitability of making mistakes. 

Of course, I gotta ask…

What do you do daily to invite more happiness into your life? 
What simple activities or tricks do you use to keep yourself in tip-top spiritual, emotional and physical health? 

Do tell!

Other Posts You might Love:
29 Things You Didn't Know About Me | A Chance to Share and Connect
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Are you holding yourself back? | Break free from your own limiting beliefs, starting today
Reduce Daily Stress and Pamper yourself Silly with Small Acts of Self Care

About Me

Hi, I'm Nichole, and I am a personal motivator and coach, passionate about reigniting the spark in people both in life and business. My specialty? Getting people to ACT by breaking anything down, into to the next action! 

I work with passion driven women to help them set their priorities straight and and thrive in life and business, on their own terms.

Connect with me on Facebook or email me at [email protected]

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Unfortunately that is not the case. In fact, in my practice as a life coach when using the wheel of life, -a simple yet powerful tool, that gives both me and my client a clear snapshot of his/her life-, I often see people not only reporting extremely low satisfaction scores in the Fun and Recreation life sector, but are also having a hard time figuring out what is fun according to them -not according to current trends or society's perceived notions of fun- and more often than not, directly correlate having fun with spending money. 

Life is 10,000 joys and 10,000 sorrows, accruing to the Buddha and it seems like after 8 to 10 hours of work and in spite our innate yearning for happiness, most of us are so focused on the 10.000 sorrows that we become almost blind to the 10.000 joys, patiently waiting to be lived and experienced. 

We are so used to keeping ourselves busy, constantly working on proving (!!!) we are worthy, of appreciation, social acceptance, wealth or recognition, that we forget to stop from time time and simply Be. And even when we do stop, it's hard to invite joy into our lives, because we can hardly recognise it, anymore. We have forgotten how it feels to be playful, joyful and have genuine fun.  

In reality, for all of us lost in the bustle of everyday life, figuring out what we consider to be fun, can take a lot of time and deep self exploration and even then, we might still end up exorcising fun and recreational activities to our weekends, suffocating our fun-deprived-selves into flat, dull, all-work-no-play, workweeks. 

You must be shaking your head by now, thinking "what is she even talking about?" "What's a steamy bowl of dreams, anyway?", well I get that a lot. 

And to be honest, I used to feel quite uncomfortable expressing myself authentically, in front of others and sometimes I still do, but most of the time I consciously chose not to. 

And, yes, I might be, less conventional than I used to and even slightly on the weird side of human nature but it's still who I am. It's me and I am not going to cover up my silliness, or lessen my dreams, or twist my truth to fit into whatever is considered as "normal" these days.

We have endless lists of what we must, should or have to do, everyday and we also spend so much of our time taking care of others, that we have become accustomed to neglecting our own needs. We feel overwhelmed and frazzled and yet we still move forward, without thinking of taking a breather. 

The stress keeps pilling up and eventually it could take a physical and emotional toll on us --and in most cases it does. But still, the idea of just stopping for a while, sitting back or taking some time to relax, --not to mention pampering ourselves--, simply doesn't feel right.

So, why is it that?

Well, I should know! Why? Because I used to feel compelled to be doing something productive, at all times. I used to have an instant resistance to the very thought of pampering myself. Feelings of guilt were flooding in, every time a thought of self-care, came to mind. Taking time for myself, was some sort of luxury I simply could not afford --well not without the guilt trip, anyway. It took me a lot of time and self monitoring to become aware of the importance of self-care and how productive that can be, in the grand scheme of things.

A toleration is anything --and I mean anything-- you put up with, at home, at work or in your community. Anything that bugs or annoys you about other people or yourself. Even something you are settling for, like an unwanted weight gain, is a toleration.

I was stunned, to know that tolerations can fall into so many categories. I honestly had no idea. So, it's not just the big stuff that we endure --as I thought-- like a dead end job or an unsupported family, that constitute a toleration, it is also the hundreds of tiny nuisances we put up with, every day, like an overdue haircut, a messy desk or a burnt out light bulb. 

Now, here is the deal. 

During the week, I found myself receiving more emails than I ever did, during our 4 month blogging love affair. 

And I am talking heartfelt, highly emotional emails, mostly from women (toxic female friends are notorious), all of whom were astounded by the fact that they were actually trapped in toxic friendships; friendships longer than their marriages or older than their children and still they had no idea about it. 

Some of you admitted to being aware of a vague sense of discomfort when being around the "toxics", but you still found your frenemies to be great, at some point or another and so, you never questioned your gut feeling, any further.

Many of you, were also wondering how something like a toxic friendship could go under the radar for so long, how you held onto such a friendship, for longer than was healthy or how you have simply accepted being poorly treated by the people you cared for, the most.

A couple of years back, I had to go through a rather painful, friendship housecleaning, myself and I can tell you, from personal experience, that spotting those toxic relationships, was quite tricky. 

You see, my frenemies, where so subtle and manipulative, that I had to spend quite some time in uncertainty, feeling bad, guilty or even at fault, before it finally dawned on me, that true friendships are healing and supportive and anything less, simply will not fit the bill. 

After purging the clutter and freeing myself from those destructive relationships, I could finally breathe freely, in my newly, toxic friend free, environment and ever since, I am a firm believer in quality, rather than quantity, when it comes to friendships. 

Now, don't get me wrong here, I don't mean to imply that my friendships are perfect. All healthy relationships are dynamic, complex and at times, even tough.  But as opposed to a true friend, having a bad day (or week, or even a month) and taking it out on the people he loves most; his friends, a toxic "friend" will continuously be unsupportive, draining, critical and always ready to undermine those around him.