Uplevel Your Life With These 3 Small Shifts

We think we need really big, major things to happen in order for our lives to be better.

One of these days, when I get to this level in my life.

When I finally get that house.

When I finally married that guy.

When I finally have those kids.

When I finally get that job. When I finally win the lottery.

We all think there is one day coming that it’s all going to get better, and we think it’s some kind of big thing. I really have most of the big things, and this is what I realized: that’s not what does it. Dang it.

I feel like part of my job in life is to help people who are maybe a little younger than I am, and a little less far along the path than me avoid some of the pitfalls, and avoid some of this thinking.

When this happens, then it’s going to be amazing. Then it’s going to all be better. Then I’m going to really enjoy my life. Then you’re going to do whatever the thing is you think you’re going to do if and when.

I want to share with you three small shifts you can make that will really uplevel your life today.

They’re SMALL shifts.

You don’t have to win the lottery. You don’t have to have all the kids, or have the husband, or get the big job. But they really are important shifts. It’s always those small daily commitments that I make to myself that really help.

1. Change your physical state.

This morning, I woke up at my normal early hour and I wasn’t feeling great. Have you ever had a slightly hormonal day where you’re just not feeling it?That’s how I woke up today.

I got on my phone and looked at the workout at the gym where I go, and I saw it was going to be running today. I did not want to go.

But here’s what I know. One of the really important ways that I change the state I’m in is through movement.

We live in physical bodies, and we have never not really lived in our physical bodies more than we do now, because we have all these screens and we don’t really have to move.

You were created to move.

If you want to change your mental and emotional state, change your physical state.

Even though I for sure did not want to go today, I drug myself there anyway, because it’s my habit. When you build a habit and get in the habit of doing something, you just start doing it and you don’t even know you’re doing it.

Before my brain could argue with me, I was already getting ready. I thought, “Oh well, I have my gym shoes on now. Might as well go.”

I went there with a little bit of a bad attitude, but I’m always so amazed by how just getting out and going for a walk, or changing the scenery that you’re in, changing something physically, really helps.

It’s a gift I give to myself consistently day after day, week after week, month after month, year after year, and it pays off in a million ways. It raises my quality of life. It up levels the quality of life that I have, because it’s a consistent part of my life.

It’s seems small.

You may decide for yourself that every day you’re going to go for a walk, or every day you’re going to do some weight training, or everyday you’re going to move in some way.

Are you in the habit of moving your body? That’s one of the best ways to change your state, and to uplevel your life, and to change your mood.

It’s hard to keep a bad mood when you’re outside enjoying God’s creation and you’re moving your body and you’re breathing hard. You forget why you were stressed in the first place.

2. Change your mental state.

We’ve been talking about identity in my coaching program Life Mentoring School. It can feel like we’re just over here living our boring lives, and we can start feeling a little blah.

I want you to remember that you’re a child of God, and you’re part of his grand amazing story. I think remembering that and constantly reminding ourselves of that makes a huge difference.

What makes for a great story or a great adventure? Realizing you’re in one is a great place to start! This is crazy what’s happening here! This is amazing the life I’ve been given to live. I love remembering that, especially when things are hard, especially when things I wonder why this or that is happening to me.

Think of all the best stories. They best stories have these twists and turns hard things and conflicts.

I think we forget that, and then we resent that our life is like that, instead of just anticipating what happens next.

I feel this way a lot about our adoption with Tom. I feel like we’re on a crazy, amazing adventure with this little guy. It’s so exciting to see what will happen next! It’s so much better than being fearful, or being anxious about it, or worrying about it. What if we just anticipated how cool it is to live the story that we’re living?

And then, so we have our physical and we have our mental, and then I think about the spiritual side, you guys. And I think about that he way we’re created and the way we’re made, we really are made for hard 

3. Change your spiritual state.

Life often is suffering. In order to bear up against that, in order for that to not knock us over, because it’s hard and there’s a lot of difficulty, what can we find to do that brings us meaning? I’ve been reading Jordan Peterson’s latest book and it’s so fantastic. He talks about this a lot.

What can you aim at? What could be your goal so that bearing up against the hardship of life has meaning and is worth it?

What is your why?

Instead of getting bogged down in all the little things of your own life, how can you see that you’re made for this, and this is always the way it was meant to be?

Think about the story of Christ. Can we be ready and willing, and even anticipating the part of our journey that’s like his journey? His journey was hard and he was able to bear up against that. Through his power and his grace, so can we, if we remember that we’re part of this big grand adventure.

I love the way going to church shifts my thinking. The stained glass and the pipe organ and the crucifix remind me of sacred things. Whatever it is that shifts your thinking spiritually, it helps if we set up our lives in such a way that we have reminders of who he is, and to remind us of who we are, and what we’re here to do.

Make these 3 small shift and I can’t wait to hear how the quality of your of your life goes up in BIG ways!