Recently I went through a very unpleasant experience where I feared for my health, more precisely my heart's health. In the recent year and a half, notably since the start of the pandemic, I've noticed my heart rate increase.
Read more: How accepting that I am powerless saved me from heart attack
How do you feel in your workplace relationships? Do you feel relaxed, open and friendly, or you feel frustrated, angry, upset, unappreciated? Do you feel like you go to work every day with your stomach tied in a knot, feeling like you are going to a battlefield?
A lot of our job satisfaction depends on the relationship we have with our boss and co-workers. We might have a boss who doesn't appreciate us and our ideas. Or a boss who expects us to work overtime without any compensation. Our boss might be a bully, and we might fear every day that we might be laid off.
Soul mates and twin flames are dream relationships that many spiritual people long for. Those relationships are said to be destined by God or a higher power. If we are lucky enough to find our soul mate or twin flame, we will not only enjoy happiness and fulfillment beyond our dreams, but will also be fulfilling our divine mission. A win-win situation.
In many decisions, listing pros and cons can help us decide which option is better. But when it comes to love, such exercise is futile, because although our rational mind may say NO to a relationship, something is pulling us towards it, and we cannot resist, or cannot leave, even though all our friends tell us to run for the hills.
Read more: Why we fall in love with emotionally unavailable people
With some people we feel strong chemistry, while others leave us cool as a cucumber. Some have that factor X, which we feel hard to resist, even if we try. Is it just sexual attraction, or there's more to it?
Before I started working on myself and enrolled in a personal development training, I was pretty messed up. All day long, I would criticize and berate myself, telling myself that I was stupid, boring, lazy, a loser, will never amount to anything, and other "flattering" things.
Love and belonging are one of our core emotional needs, right along our need for physical safety and security. A child's brain develops in a loving, nurturing relationship with her parents or care-takers. Relationships are key for our survival and for our physical and psychological health.
Read more: Relationships (or how our past affects our present)
Lack of willpower may signal that there is an inner conflict, that there are two opposing currents working within you: one that wants you to accomplish your goals, and the other that's subconsciously opposing it. The cause for that opposition and resistance can be multifold:
Some people manage to lose weight by plastering their fridge with photos of slim people and motivational messages. Others know everything about emotional eating, and yet, day after day they reach for food to comfort themselves and are unable to stop it. There are people who read a book about harmfulness of smoking, and they quit there and then. And yet there are others who even after having been diagnosed with lung cancer cannot stop smoking.
In his book "The Inside Out Revolution", Michael Neill talks about a situation where a man who’s just turned 30 comes for coaching. It’s his time to take over the family carpentry business. He wants to get help on how to modernize the business so it can remain competitive and relevant.
Read more: Unmet emotional needs – key obstacle to a happy and fulfilled life
When we're young, we're passionate about many things. In my twenties and early thirties, I was passionate about sustainability and protecting the environment, so much so that I helped found an NGO to raise awareness about the importance of those topics.
If I got a dime for every time I sabotaged myself, I'd be a rich person now. I sabotaged myself mostly by procrastinating or engaging in unhealthy behaviors, such as binge eating. After each such episode I'd feel bad about myself, and my self-esteem would sink even lower. It was a rather helpless and hopeless state, from where it was hard to climb out.
The Christmas season was approaching and the online toy shop had never been busier. The shopping frenzy had started already in November, with double, then triple, then almost tenfold the usual daily orders. I'd worked in the customer service and was the only one covering the Croatian market.
Read more: Ikigai - or how to make a living by living your purpose
Do you feel stuck at a job that is stressful, meaningless, underpaid, or where you don't feel appreciated? I used to work at a place that checked all the above boxes – it was stressful (I had to work over time every single day in order to meet the norm), meaningless (I worked in an online toy shop which offered thousands upon thousands of children's toys, which I felt supported the consumer mentality and produced loads of plastic waste), underpaid (I had a work load for 2 people and received a salary for one) and I felt unappreciated by my bosses (they didn't care about my superb customer service skills or about the quality of the product translations that I did.
People approach the issue of life purpose differently – some start asking what's the purpose of life already in their youth, for some it happens later, in relation to midlife crisis, and some don't pay much attention to it at all. I believe these different approaches stem from different life experiences: for someone who had a difficult childhood, where they haven't felt loved and supported, they might start asking "What's the purpose of all this?" quite early on. For those who had loving, supportive parents or caretakers, the issue of purpose isn't that pressing, because they don't see life as suffering. They find meaning and fulfillment in their relationships, their achievements, in enjoying the beauty of life.
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