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In a world full of advice on the importance of setting and meeting goals, we can easily lose sight of WHY we are setting and working toward them in the first place.
Life is more than just about reaching goals. It should be about enjoying life along the journey to goal attainment and resting to appreciate your success once you’ve made it. Otherwise, you’ll set a new goal and go back to striving and rob yourself of the joy along the way.
One of the most commonly missed considerations when striving for a goal? You must know if the goal and the process of achieving that goal are aligned with your mission and purpose in life.
For example, if you set goals to make more money, but you hate what you think you need to do to make money, you’ll feel stressed, frustrated, and burned out, and certainly not enjoy the journey.
It’s also easy to fall into the trap of setting goals based on what others expect from you or how society defines success. We must define success for ourselves to know what goals to set so that we enjoy the journey! Following your BLISS saves you from these traps!
BLISS Acronym:
B: Believe in yourself
You hold ALL the power to create the life of your DREAMS! The first step is believing that truth and knowing it is a fact. This may require some work around re-writing limiting beliefs if you don’t think that what you desire is possible for you.
L: Love yourself
You cannot give to others what you don’t already have yourself. Love is one of the most meaningful emotions we can experience. To enjoy the journey, you most certainly need to love yourself for love to overflow into all you do. When love overflows from you to the world around you, there’s an equal and opposite reaction where love returns to you from others.
I: Intuitive listening
What’s most important to YOU? Not what does society value or your mother-in-law think you should do. What do you value in life? What’s your life’s mission and purpose? Big questions, to be sure, but one you already know the answer to when you block out the external chatter and listen to your intuition. Search your intuition to find the clarity you need in your logical mind.
S: Strengths-focused
There’s a general assumption that we need to develop our weaknesses to be more “balanced” and “well-rounded”. However, working with our weaknesses makes life more challenging and drains our energy. When we focus on our strengths, what we focus on expands. Developing our strengths makes life fun and easy AND empowers us to have an incredible gift to share with the world!
S: Serendipity
When we follow our intuition, and we’re true to ourselves, we attract things, experiences, and people into our lives who bolster our cause! When you’re in alignment, you’ll notice many things occurring in a happy and beneficial way.
How to know when you are following your BLISS
Some people strive towards goals that are irrelevant to their happiness. The wiser way is to determine what goals to set for yourself and how to work toward them by finding your BLISS. There are some signs to know that you’re on the right path! You’ll experience:
- More energy and enthusiasm
- A more intentional, meaningful life
- Knowing you’re not only moving toward goals that benefit you, but also making a positive impact on the world around you
- More synchronicity and support
- Feelings of being content and fulfilled
Additional tips for finding your BLISS
As we’ve established, the answer lies within you already. All you need to do now is allow the time and space to experience the self-actualization that will reveal your BLISS.
Answering these questions in a journal will help you discover it so you can move toward it:
- Think back to a time when you were most happy and content. What were the activities you were involved in at that time?
- What activities are you involved in when you lose track of time?
- If you had all the money you needed for your entire life, how would you spend your time?
- What activities have you been involved in when you felt your performance was beyond your ability?
- Besides sitting quietly in the dark listening for the small still voice, what else should you BE if you want to find your BLISS?
How to be Blissful
Be open; sometimes the thing we least want leads us to find our bliss. Be curious, try new experiences, ask questions, discover the answers to things you’ve always wondered about. You never know what activity will shine a light on your BLISS. Be a risk-taker – those who wish only for safety and security rarely find their BLISS, let alone follow it.
“Follow your bliss” is a mantra I’ve developed that relates to finding what brings you the most joy in life and aligning how you spend your time with that joy. And the BLISS acronym guides you to find meeting your goals much more manageable and enjoyable – because you’ll be in the flow of what you are here on earth to accomplish. Following your BLISS makes striving for your goals and life EASY and FUN!
