Put in the time and effort to really get to know yourself. It enriches your life and helps you choose wisely to support a holistic life
Do it in a thorough manner. Seek depth and understanding instead of quick fixes
Don’t feel responsible for other people’s emotions (unless you are a parent to small children)
Be bored and inactive regularly. It rests your brain, fuels your creativity and can offer you your best insights. To live a holistic life remember to prioritize boredom and relaxedness
Be silent regularly. Be without music, conversation or other audible stimulation. Good for balancing the nervous system and for checking in with yourself
Create a connection with your body. Your body can tell you a lot about your current state of mind, how you really are and what you need. Your body is like a good friend you need to have a conversation with on a regular basis – just to check in and see what’s up.
Whenever you have a strong reaction to something, take it seriously. Your body and your emotions often know what’s up before the mind does. If something makes you angry, sad or stressed out it’s a clue that something needs to be addressed
Learn when to cut corners. You can’t give your all on every occasion. As part of a holistic life style, learn when it’s okay to take the easy way out
Don’t force yourself into a structure that doesn’t fit you. Life isn’t a ’one size fits all’ and everyone has their own version of a good and meaningful life.
Learn to speak up on issues that matter to you
Learn what matters to you
Choose your battles. Discern when to fight and when to back down
Be in touch with your sensuality. Smell, touch, move, dance, sing. It improves your quality of life and is an important indicator of what turns you on energetically
Be as honest as possible. To both yourself and to others
Communicate your needs and boundaries
Cultivate warmth and closeness in your relationships. Makes life happier
Figure out what your weaknesses are. To live a holistic life you can do this via therapy or some of the personality type models like the MBTI or the Enneagram. Choose a method that works you
Work on your weaknesses. Midlife is the time to become aware of your weaknesses. Whatever you’ve neglected during the first half of your life is probably causing you some problems by now, so start tending to your blindspots
Find out what your biggest strengths are and how you can best share your wonderful qualities with the world
Everything in life is energy. Be mindful of where you put yours.
Not everyone is interested in the things you are or shares your values. And that’s okay
Prioritize your mental and physical health over: your career, money, other people’s opinions and emotions, your social status, your family’s wishes.
Have a holistic approach to your mental and physical health. Combine traditional western treatment with alternative treatment such as healing, massage therapy or ayurvedic medicin whenever it makes sense. A holistic life means exploring different approaches from time to time
Prioritize your mental health equally to your physical health. We should actually be able to take a sick day if our mental health needs it. Chances are stress, grief, anxiety, sadness etc is going to manifest in a physical form eventually anyway
Balance humility and self confidence. Stay connected to your achievements and talents in a healthy way. Don’t constantly brag about your accomplishments, but don’t hide them away either. Be proud of who you are and share yourself with the world in a balanced way
Avoid black-and-white thinking. Few things in life are black and white, so try to open up to all the nuances of grey. Even the ones you initially thought were dumb, weird, uncomfortable or uninteresting. Explore opinions that seem wrong or odd to you. Broadening your scope of perspectives matures your soul
Accept and love your scars and wounds, emotional as well as physical ones. They are part of you and deserve your respect and care
Forgive yourself for failing to be the adult you wanted to be. At some point in midlife you will realize that the ideals you believed in during youth are much harder to attain than you thought. When you reach that point, forgive yourself. Be the best person you can under your circumstances
If you realize you’re on the wrong path –go back. No matter how far you’ve come, if it doesn’t feel right, if it’s not working: go back, undo it and start over
Don’t make unnecessary enemies. People you don’t like – avoid them, but also avoid unnecessary drama. Stirring things up is incredibly draining in the long run
Don’t try to rescue people. If they are adults they must rescue themselves
Avoid gossip, especially if it’s malicious. Practice speaking to the person directly if something is bothering you
Show your soft side as often as you can
Make space for pleasure in your life. Adulthood can be overwhelming, so never forget to prioritize pleasure and fun. It makes your life more enjoyable and you’ll probably be much nicer to be around
BALANCE is an important key to a good life. Nothing is good or bad in itself, what is good is the balance. Holistic life style is about striving for balance in everything: passiveness vs assertiveness, activity vs rest, action vs contemplation, loudness vs stillness, lightness vs depth/seriousness, openness vs closedness, control vs flexibility. You can find this represented in Taoism and the Yin/Yang balance
Find your individual balance points. Everyone needs both activity and rest, both control and flexibility, but some need more and others less to feel their best. Find your own personal sweet spots that work for you
Balance activity and rest. Modern society tends to value constant productivity and competition, but good quality of life needs down time and relaxation, too. Be as productive as you can handle and practice feeling relaxed and content
Be a giver – but a conscious one. Be generous towards people whenever you can. Be generous with what you have – time, presence, money, gifts, acts of service, affirmations. But: Don’t give more than you have and don’t deplete yourself
Don’t run away from emotional pain. The more you avoid difficult feelings the more they subconsciously run you. Suppressed emotions cause more harm than emotions you are aware of, so you might as well deal with them.
Accept that you can’t have it all. Some things are not available to you in this life time and you have to go without. Find a purpose that is within your means and try to make the most of it
