Decide to Feel Good: It's Your Choice

A Self Development Technique

To feel good is often underrated, even discounted. The paradox is that most people have desires, dreams, and goals all for the purpose of feeling good!

Years ago I made a decision to be happy, which is my definition of feeling good. It was one of the single most important decisions of my life. I consider this a "high level" or "broad" or "over-arching" decision. It was life changing. It was the type of decision that helps me to make the everyday decisions to choose something that makes me happy rather than something that makes me unhappy. This broad decision serves as a barometer or gauge so that I can hear my inner guidance more clearly.

The Feeling Barometer

Using my feel good barometer in my imagination, I pay close attention when I get tense or uncomfortable, so that I can choose to lighten up or smile or breathe ... I choose to get happy. A barometer is not a perfect metaphor, but it's appropriate in that such a gauge is not fixed; it fluctuates. Instead of measuring weather, the feeling barometer measures emotions and other feelings. Life is always moving. E-motions are energy in motion.

Happiness re-calibrates my feeling barometer. That doesn't mean that I'm happy in every moment, but I do make it a point to be happy every day, and, in fact, many times a day. One way is to wake up smiling, which sets my barometer for the day. Then during the day, when I feel out of sorts, I find a way to touch my inner happiness again, including re-activating my inner smile.

What about you? What is the over-arching decision you've made or want to make that guides you through all your everyday decisions? For you, the decision may be to be kind or gentle or appreciative or supportive or self-caring or self-loving, most of the time.

Your Assignment and the Practice

Here's your assignment, if you choose to accept it: Make a decision to be or feel a particular way most of the time. It's important that I qualify this exercise with "most of the time" because that's much more realistic than expecting to be or feel a particular way all the time. In order to live a full life, you must touch a range of feelings, and some of those feelings are not supposed to feel good.

Think of your decision to be or feel a particular way as an overarching decision or intention. It's a decision that helps you to make other decisions. It's a decision that enhances your personal development and growth.

To Be or Feel, That is the Question

I want to clarify this even further that my encouragement is for you to decide how you want to be or feel, not what you want to do. Of course, "doing" goals are certainly important, but "being" and "feeling" goals are even more foundational to living a satisfying life. It's a common practice to develop goals to accomplish tasks and to-do lists. I support such practices, but here I'm offering a different perspective and approach that will enhance your "doing" goals.

Here are a few examples:

• I want to be happy.
• To be free.
• I want to feel good.
• To feel enthusiastic.
• I am curious about life.
• To be loving.
• To be self caring.
• I want to live in the consciousness of appreciation.

When you're clear how you want to be or how you want to feel, then the doing follows naturally and easily. Doing what/how you want to do when you're in the proper consciousness is key to a satisfying life.

I often speak about this quality of decision in the same way I speak about intention. Today, I encourage and challenge you to make an over-arching intention about how you want to be and/or feel.

Think of it as how you want to be or feel predominantly, or most often, or at least a certain number of times a day, or a certain number of minutes each hour. Use whatever criteria make sense for you. Experience the being and the feeling as you are doing.

Would you like to feel better about who you are and what you do? Have you lost touch with what makes you feel really good?

The Confidence of Feeling Good Guided Meditation features all the elements of the Focused Energy Work Process in a 28-minute guided meditation. It helps to put you in touch with how good it feels to feel good. As good as you feel most of the time, you will still feel not-good from time to time; the key is to notice when you feel not-good so you can more easily find your way back to feeling good.

Copyright © 2008 Marshall House. All rights reserved. Jeanie Marshall, Personal Development Consultant and Coach, has developed Empowering Personal Development to encourage you on your path. This article is not available for republication without express written permission.

This Quick Tip Encourages You to Feel Good

See Additional Ideas in the Self Improvement Quick Tips Section

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