Lifestyle

Much can be learned from the old saying “April showers bring May flowers.” Like the rain brings the flowers, personal positive thoughts planted today can bring you a fabulous future. My previous article was about letting your seed grow to be the beautiful “you” that you were made to be. As I have found in my own life, it is not just a one-time choice.

There will be plenty of disruptive, worldly thoughts challenging your decision to live big, bold and beautiful every day. It is so important at the beginning to develop a good root system so you can withstand the storms, weeds and corruptions from life’s changing seasons.

After the gardener plants the seeds, she does more than watch them grow. The same is true with personal growth. I wish it were that easy, however, there are many outside influences that affect your personal growth such as the friends with whom you spend your time, the television and movies you choose to watch and the books and magazines you read. All of these things are significant in how you look at yourself in this big ol’ world.

Those velvety red roses I talked about planting last month would not have been so spectacular had they not been watered, placed in good soil and received the right amount of sun and space to grow. A gardener must make sure to pull the weeds around the roses so they could get enough
sunlight and to water them regularly to keep them healthy and bountiful. The seed needed the correct environment and nutrients to flourish and prosper, and so do you. Here are a few ways to get started:

1. Water your thoughts with daily doses of whatever is positive, right, pure and fruitful. Whenever you notice a negative thought come to your mind, purposefully replace it with something outrageously wonderful. Don’t let the pollutants of negativity wilt your day.

2. Let the sun’s warm rays shine on all your problems or issues by focusing on life’s solutions rather than its problems. Life is going to have challenges and you can choose to remain in darkness and only focus on the problem, which will never solve anything, or you can open up your mind to focus on solutions to your problem to find a better way and a brighter future.

3. Weed out bad habits that only suck the life out of you. Personally, weeding the garden is my least favorite thing about gardening. Similarly, weeding my negative thoughts and habits is the largest, yet most difficult, change I have made to improve my life. We all have a few things we know we need to remove from our life. I have found it is easiest to replace a bad habit with a good habit. Exercise in front of the TV instead of eating, get in touch with some positive old friends and read and watch things that fire you up rather than leaving you down.

Create the life you want by creating the most nourishing environment and giving yourself the right nutrients to flourish and prosper just like a gardener does for the velvety red rose. Live fabulously, on purpose. Be the most beautiful you that you can be starting from the inside out!

Happy growing and loving yourself! Kim