If you want your life to fundamentally change, you need to fundamentally change how you show up to it. Getting down to the core of who we are and what we want in life gets messy, but the good news is you’re probably doing better than you think.

We don’t always notice them, but the side effects of moving toward your tangible dreams and goals are good indicators you’re on the right path. You’ll know you’re killin’ it if these less “conscious” changes are taking place.

You’re starting to do crazy little things

Maybe there’s someone in the building at work you keep noticing. You have a sudden instinctual urge to know them. Normally you’d ignore that because it’s weird. But this time, based on a random gut feeling, you go out of your way to talk to them.

Who knows what happens next — maybe you just made a new work friend, maybe they offer inspiration or advice that changes your life. The main thing is you know how to listen to and follow your intuition.

Intuition is whispering to us all the time, but we’re usually too busy and noisy to listen. If you’re doing crazy little things you feel compelled to do but can’t quite explain, you’re tapped into something special. You’re waking up.

Your community is changing

That might mean you feel disconnected from people you’ve had in your life for years, and it probably feels confusing and painful. But know this — you’re moving away from people that don’t feel right anymore and you’re moving toward people that do.

Having people in your life that you consciously chose to fill it with is one of the best things you can do for yourself. The friend-group or community around you changing means your worldview is changing.

I have totally different people filling up my life and time right now than I did a year ago, and they reflect everything I love about myself and want more of. They feel right. They’re believers. They teach me things.

You laugh at your negative thoughts instead of trying to fix them

Being curious about your negative thought patterns and identifying what limiting beliefs fog your mind is great and all. Really. But if you’ve found yourself laughing at your own mind, like genuinely laughing out loud at the little fearful voice that whispered something rude to you, that’s the best “fix” there is. You’ve done it.

You know your thoughts don’t control you. They are separate from you. Keep laughing at them.

You notice your senses more often

Sometimes it’s as simple as damn, this grapefruit tastes amazing. When did these get so good? As inconsequential as it sounds, so many people are entirely unconscious and don’t notice things like this.

If you’re noticing the sun on your face when you step outside, the taste of good food in your mouth, the change in your body after you exercise and sweat, you’re not sleepwalking through life anymore.

You know to come up for air and not take this so seriously

Some people might fight me on this one.

By “this” I mean all this. You’re focusing on your side hustle, your quest for self improvement, your work, life. But you also know how to ease up and enjoy your time and the life unfolding around you without feeling the need to constantly be bettering yourself, and that means you’re doing something that a lot of people don’t know how to do. Including a lot of these self-improvement touting gurus. Sometimes… let go of the productivity hacks, alright?

Eat, drink and be merry, my friends.

© Mel Rie 2020. All Rights Reserved.