At the heart of living radiantly is stepping into the best version of yourself where you know your worth and shine your unique light brightly into the world. You flourish in the multidimensional aspects of wellness. According to the National Wellness Institute, “high-level wellness is achieved when there are sustainable shifts to behaviors, mindsets, and practices.”
Radiant living also coincides with the cultivation of joy, tranquility, fulfillment, and purpose. In my work as a mental health therapist, along with my own healing journey, I have found five keys to be an important part of radiant living.
1. Mindset Matters
Detoxing one’s mind from negative and self-limiting beliefs clears the path to emotional well-being. Ask yourself, ‘Is this belief allowing me to be the best version of myself?’ Research from the Stanford Mind and Body Lab reveals the power of the mind to shape reality. Transform your thinking, and you transform your life. Once you identify thoughts and patterns of belief that are no longer helpful to you, the next step is to adopt an alternative reframe that enhances your life rather than detracts from it. You may select a daily affirmation or mantra to guide you, such as, ‘Today I will celebrate my small wins.’
2. Enlist Principles to Live by
Value-based principles can be a framework from which you direct your focus on a daily basis.
Here are three principles that can support radiant living:
1. Stand in the way of beauty. Find the beauty in each day where you are mindful of the moment and appreciate the small things in life. This is a way to practice mindfulness and cultivate joy.
2. Don’t wait to bring out the fine china. Sometimes we wait for just the right opportunity and time just keeps passing. Be in the now and live each day to the fullest.
3. When you fall, stand. Stand until you rise. This one is about never giving up. Failure is often a price of success and can be viewed as a great growth opportunity.
3. Practice Gratitude
With gratitude, we allow the space for appreciation and thanks, and it is the basis of abundance. Our attention often goes to what is going wrong, the problems we are facing, and what’s missing. The practice of gratitude lifts the spirit and has been found to have many benefits. According to research from the Institutes of Health (NIH), practicing gratitude is associated with happiness and greater well-being. In addition, it adds to resiliency and lessens depression, releasing the feel-good neurotransmitters dopamine and serotonin.
You may keep a journal and do a daily ‘gratitude inventory’ or write three things that were good about each day. Create a ‘gratitude jar’ and write down on a piece of paper something you are grateful for and drop it in the jar. Count your ‘gratitudes’ every night before bed. Go on a gratitude walk. Get creative with your gratitude practice.
4. Morning Success Routine
This is about creating a ritual of early morning awakening to start your day (note this can also be done in the evening for those night owls). Your morning ritual may include journaling, listening to music, spiritual reflection, and meditation.
Some useful apps that offer guided meditations are Insight Timer, Calm, and Headspace. According to John Hopkins research, mindfulness meditation is an effective way to improve mood and decrease stress. Along with meditation, there are also many options for journaling. I use Julia Cameron’s journaling method called ‘Morning Pages’ which is from her book, The Artist’s Way.
Start today. Something is better than nothing when it comes to this. Even a few minutes a day can yield results.
5. Prioritize Self-Care Wellness Rhythms
To live radiantly is to be flourishing in the various dimensions of wellness. We often can become overextended in our daily responsibilities and work, which leads to neglect of self. Prioritizing self-care allows you to show up to life as the best version of yourself.
For the following wellness dimensions: physical/body, mental/intellectual, emotional/heart, social, and spiritual, you may identify practices and habits related to self-care for each area. It can be helpful to write these out and start to do one self-care for each category. You might also create a ‘mandala self-care wellness’ collage as a visual to motivate you.
As these five practices are integrated into your life, shifts can occur towards flourishing in your life and work. And this is the essence of Radiant Living. Through this process, you are releasing emotional burdens and making mindset changes that allow you to become the best version of yourself.