{"id":5436,"date":"2011-02-15T22:49:11","date_gmt":"2011-02-16T06:49:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/?p=5436"},"modified":"2013-09-04T14:39:23","modified_gmt":"2013-09-04T22:39:23","slug":"how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Love the Life You Already Have"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.woostercollective.com\/2007\/01\/17\/ilovelife.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>You&#8217;ve probably heard the old saying <em>&#8220;The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n<p>Perhaps you feel like it&#8217;s true. You look at other people&#8217;s lives, and you envy them. They seem to be doing so much better than you. They&#8217;ve got a great job. Lots of money. A happy home life.<\/p>\n<p><strong>They seem to have it all. And you can&#8217;t help wishing that you did, too.<!--more--><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>But none of us ever <em>really<\/em> know what it&#8217;s like to live someone else&#8217;s life. Sure, your friends might be spending lots of money on dinners out, booze, fancy gadgets \u2026 but for all you know, they&#8217;re deep in debt, or working long hours in jobs they hate.<\/p>\n<p>No-one&#8217;s life is perfect \u2013 whatever it looks like from the outside.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, it&#8217;s a safe bet that some of your friends are looking at <em>your<\/em> life and thinking very similar things. Maybe they envy your dull but predictable job \u2013 you&#8217;re home on time every night. Maybe they see your great relationship with your spouse and kids \u2013 and they&#8217;d rather have that than any amount of money.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Whatever state your life is in, you&#8217;ve got a lot of good things.<\/strong> You just need to recognize them again.<\/p>\n<h2>Enjoy What You Have<\/h2>\n<p>One of the best ways to love your current life is to write a list of things you&#8217;re grateful for. It doesn&#8217;t matter if they seem small or insignificant: little everyday moments of happiness count.<\/p>\n<p>You might think of:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>People who you&#8217;re grateful for \u2013 your family, friends, housemates, co-workers\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Treats which you enjoy \u2013 the smell of fresh coffee, the taste of dark chocolate, a long bath after a hard day\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Things which make your day easier \u2013 the dishwasher, online grocery shopping, fast internet access at work\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Anything special which you&#8217;ve grown accustomed to \u2013 your wedding ring, your smartphone, a favorite coat\u2026<\/li>\n<li>Happy moments \u2013 chatting with a friend, something which made you laugh, playing with your kids&#8230;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>I&#8217;ll bet you can <em>easily<\/em> come up with five things every single day that you&#8217;re grateful for<\/strong>. Your life is full of good things \u2013 you just sometimes need to work a bit to see them.<\/p>\n<h2>Focus on the Good Points<\/h2>\n<p>When we&#8217;re thinking about future goals and ambitions, it&#8217;s easy to end up in quite a negative mood about the present. Perhaps you start thinking through all the things you want to change in your life: losing weight, getting fit, quitting smoking, switching jobs&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>As well as thinking of what you might want to change, <strong>look at the areas of your life which are currently <em>good<\/em>. <\/strong>Maybe:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>You get on well with your colleagues at work, and you&#8217;ve got a good relationship with your boss<\/li>\n<li>You&#8217;ve got some real strengths \u2013 like being able to establish a quick connection with clients, and being organised<\/li>\n<li>Your house is set up pretty much how you want it \u2013 there might not be loads of space, but it feels like home<\/li>\n<li>You&#8217;ve got some hobbies you really enjoy<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&#8230;and so on. How could you make <em>more<\/em> of these good things? Perhaps you could spend more time on your hobbies, or concentrate on your particular strengths at work.<\/p>\n<h2>Live in the Moment<\/h2>\n<p>It&#8217;s appropriate to plan for the future, and to learn from the past \u2013 but it&#8217;s not a good idea to constantly have your mind on how &#8220;things will be better next year when&#8230;&#8221; or on &#8220;life was so much better last year because&#8230;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><strong>Being able to live in the moment means appreciating what&#8217;s around you.<\/strong> It&#8217;s about having your attention on <em>now<\/em>, instead of reminiscing about what&#8217;s already gone, or worrying about what&#8217;s yet to come.<\/p>\n<p>Living in the moment means:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Enjoying your days off, without constantly thinking about Monday morning.<\/li>\n<li><em>Listening<\/em> when someone&#8217;s talking to you, and being fully present in the conversation.<\/li>\n<li>Taking time to stop and watch a beautiful sunset, or to enjoy the smell of fresh-mown grass.<\/li>\n<li>Eating your meals more mindfully \u2013 instead of grabbing a sandwich on the run.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>By keeping your attention on the present moment, the here-and-now, you can get much more enjoyment from the life you already have.<\/p>\n<p><em>What are you grateful for, in your life? What&#8217;s already good? How can you appreciate all of it just a bit more?<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em><strong>Related Articles:<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"..\/how-to-turn-crisis-into-opportunity\/\">How To Turn Crisis Into Opportunity<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"..\/are-you-rationalizing-your-decisions\/\">Are You Rationalizing Your Decisions?<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You&#8217;ve probably heard the old saying &#8220;The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Perhaps you feel like it&#8217;s true. You look at other people&#8217;s lives, and you envy them. They seem to be doing so much better than you. They&#8217;ve got a great job. Lots of money. A happy home life. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12163,"featured_media":13070,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0},"categories":[6],"tags":[907,4641,1196,637,1195,612,66,4629],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v19.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How to Love the Life You Already Have - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When we&#039;re thinking about future goals and ambitions, it&#039;s easy to end up in quite a negative mood about the present. 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Perhaps you start thinking through all the things you want to change in your life: losing weight, getting fit, quitting smoking, switching jobs...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"http:\/\/www.facebook.com\/pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-02-16T06:49:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-09-04T22:39:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ilovelife1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"333\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@pickthebrain\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erin Falconer\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ilovelife1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/03\/ilovelife1.jpg\",\"width\":500,\"height\":333},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have\/#webpage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have\/\",\"name\":\"How to Love the Life You Already Have - Pick the Brain | Motivation and Self Improvement\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/how-to-love-the-life-you-already-have\/#primaryimage\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-02-16T06:49:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-09-04T22:39:23+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.pickthebrain.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/2da8ae162c097bdb749ab098472b4cc5\"},\"description\":\"When we're thinking about future goals and ambitions, it's easy to end up in quite a negative mood about the present. 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