Do you have a "Feel Good List"?

There are no "rules". What's best for one person, is NOT best for another. Be it in nutrition, exercise, lifestyle or mental health. We are all different. That's what makes life great.

A common ground that we do seem to often have, is that we tend to avoid or let go of the things that really do make us feel good. Think about that for a moment? We all get ONE life. Just ONE. Yet we are too often setting aside the things that make us FEEL GOOD, FEEL HAPPY and EXPERIENCE JOY.

Sound familiar??

When we do make things like good nutrition, exercise, self care in general and time to ourselves as a part of our days, we feel fantastic!! We share with people, how great we feel when we're done our exercise / movement practice, or since you've added just a couple extra servings of vegetables to your plate everyday.

No one is immune to this, myself included, but being aware of how amazing you feel when you do the things that make you feel your best, is a big step in being able to bring it back into play, if/when life gets in the way.

Through life's ups and downs, especially in the last decade, I've gradually focused on building back the "FEEL GOODS" in my days. Incorporating things that make ME smile, make ME feel good and make ME want to come back for more each day.

I have what I call a "Feel Good" list. Here's mine:

- Walking / Hiking

- Strength Training

- Stretching, Yoga and Mobility Work

- Reading

- Good eating habits

-Campfires

- Learning

-Writing

-Board Games

- Music

- Video games (yes - it's true. I'm an 80's baby, it's always been there!)

- Drawing / Colouring

- Meditation / Somatic Exercise

- Getting outside daily (especially near trees and water)

- Hanging with family and friends

Have you ever written down some of YOUR things that make you feel good, for YOUR "Feel Good List"? If not, take a second to take a break from this post, and write down everything that comes to mind. This list isn't necessarily something that will be a constant. The list may grow, adjust or possibly even shrink if you find some things are favoured more than others. Either way, it gives you a nice understanding of YOU and what feeds your soul each day.

You won't necessarily incorporate all of your "Feel Good" things into everyday. If you can, more power to you. One or two may be all you need or can fit in, and that's ok. Then again, on any given day you may be able to incorporate a bunch of them!! Regardless, you get to practice making sure that each day you have something that makes you feel good! What would be the downfall in that if we ALLOWED ourselves to do so?? Happiness? Joy? Health? Wellbeing?

---

Now that you have your list, truly take some time to figure out, in small steps, HOW you can incorporate some of them (if not all) into your days/weeks. The more things we have that make us feel good, the happier and healthier we'll be.

When we create those habits and we balance and fit them throughout the day, you just feel like a million bucks! Simple as that. Who wouldn't want that feeling?! We have to recognize though that it won't come from external sources. WE need to CREATE IT for ourselves! This feeling is something that social media doom-scrolling and/or Netflix can't give us.

Ensure that some of your "Feel Good Practices" are present in your daily routines. Some days you'll only have maybe 10-20min for it, but it's still present. Other days you'll have hours possibly! Make it YOUR practice, YOUR habit and HOW YOU CHOOSE to live your ONE life.

WARNING: Benefits of Incorporating some of your "Feel Good List" into your daily routines may be;

-Increased energy

-Increased clarity of mind

-Increased calm / focus

-Increased happiness

-Increased ability to manage stress

-Improved sleep

-Improved outlook on life

and so on.