How To Make Every Day A Day Worth Living
Our lives are essentially a collection of years, years a collection of months, months a collection of weeks, and weeks a collection of days. So when you ponder how to truly create the life you want, focus on a single day. Every day quietly shapes the life you're building. Ask yourself: "How can I make today a day worth living?"
Over the years, this question has quietly become one of the most helpful questions I return to: How can I make today a day worth living?
Here are ten practices that continue to help me answer it.
1. Rise with the sun. There is just something so beautiful and life-giving about waking along with mother nature, before the rest of the world is up, and watching the sun rise. Whenever I'm able to do it, the morning feels quieter, slower, and somehow more spacious. There is a sense of peace that comes from feeling like the day is gently unfolding rather than already racing ahead of you.
Of course, not everyone's life or body allows for early mornings, and that's okay too. The invitation isn't really about the clock. It's about giving yourself permission to begin the day without rushing whenever you can.
2. Take five long deep breaths in and out. Let breathing consciously be the first thing you do as you wake. Simply wake up, resist the urge to reach for your phone, and take five deep breaths as you pay attention to the inflow and outflow of the force that gives you life. Tuning in to your breath has an almost uncanny ability to settle the nervous system and bring you back to the present moment. When you do so in the early hours of the day, you invite your attention to more consciously orient towards your breath and away from dwelling on incessant thoughts for remainder of the day.
3. Express gratitude for what you have. Start the day by focusing on what you do have, rather than what you don’t have. Guide your attention to all that’s sweet in your life – from the small things to the big. Bring to mind the beautiful way in which the sun shone this morning, the delicious meal and conversation you shared with a friend the other day, and the fact that you are alive with so many options by which to pursue your own joy. Notice how it feels to begin your day from a place of appreciation rather than scarcity. Let yourself actually feel the gratitude rather than simply thinking about it.
4. Dream. With gratitude for all the sweetness that's already here, allow yourself to imagine a future that feels meaningful to you... a future of your dreams. Not because imagining it guarantees it will happen, but because remembering what matters helps guide the choices you make today. As Eleanor Roosevelt famously said, "The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams."
5. Do something fun. Many of us spend so much time being responsible that we forget to play. So pause right now and smile. Smile in knowing that your attitude towards life is up to you. That if you approach life believing there's never time for play or delight, there likely won’t be time for play or delight. And that if you approach it with lightheartedness and set your sights on having fun, you will seek and see more and more opportunities for fun and pleasure appearing around you. Fun isn’t reserved for weekends either. Do something fun today.
6. Do something for someone else. Lend a helping hand to a stranger or friend. Slow down your car and let someone easily enter into your lane. Give someone a ride. Any time you do a good deed for another person, you are doing a good deed for yourself. Acts of kindness often leave both people feeling a little more connected. They don't have to be grand gestures. Holding a door, sending an encouraging text, letting someone merge into traffic, or simply listening well can quietly change the tone of a day — for both of you. And each act of kindness, no matter how small, creates ripples that make the world a much better place. What a wonderful feeling it is to know that you can be a part of creating that ripple every single day!
It is impossible not to feel joy after helping another person – we are hard-wired for it.
7. Get some sunlight. Sunlight supports many aspects of our physical and emotional well-being, and even a few minutes outside can help us feel more awake, grounded, and connected to the world around us. Of its many benefits, one of my favorites is simply how much brighter life often feels after stepping outside.
So, step away from your desk, leave your sunglasses behind for a few minutes if it's comfortable and safe to do so, take a short walk, or eat your lunch outside. Let a little natural light, fresh air, and open sky remind you that there's a whole world beyond whatever has been occupying your mind.
8. Move your body. Give your body some love. Stretch it from head to toe. Take it out for a walk. Dance it to the beat of a drum. Play. Climb. Move in whatever way feels supportive to your body today. Because when you give your body love, you give all of you love. You boost your mood, raise your confidence, enhance your brain power, and create a positive outlook for the rest of the day. Couple that with the mood- and energy-boosting power of #7 by taking it outside and you’ve got yourself a flawless recipe for daily happiness.
9. Put a smile on someone’s face. There are so many opportunities in the day to brighten someone else’s mood and to make them feel loved and worthy. So why not smile at the stranger walking past you on the street, compliment a co-worker on something you genuinely appreciate about them, or express gratitude to a friend for being there for you? Share the love by setting your eyes and your heart on making at least one person smile each day. You never know how a simple smile may change a life.
10. Learn or do something new. There is nothing quite as invigorating as learning a new piece of knowledge or gaining a self-awareness you haven’t had before. Your brain is always yearning to make a new neural connection and your mind to see things differently than it has in the past. To make this happen, deviate from your routine, step outside of your comfort zone, go out and do something you haven’t done before. Share a conversation with an unlikely stranger, read a chapter of a book you normally wouldn’t gravitate to, visit a part of your city you haven’t been to before. Let yourself be pulled by the vision of an evolved you. Because after all, every bit of experience and every bit of knowledge, when applied, changes you and makes you into the next version of you.
Your list might look different than mine. Maybe your version of a meaningful day includes reading, creating, resting, connecting with someone you love, sitting quietly with a cup of tea, or laughing until your stomach hurts. That's the point. Keep noticing what’s meaningful to you, and remember that a meaningful life isn't built all at once. Often, a day worth living becomes a life worth living. And a life worth living becomes a life worth loving.
A meaningful life isn't built all at once. Often, a day worth living becomes a life worth living.
The way we experience our days is shaped not only by what happens around us, but by what's happening within us. Learning to meet ourselves with greater awareness, compassion, and intention has a way of quietly changing everyday life from the inside out. Those are the very skills I teach inside my self-paced course, Happy from the Inside Out®. If you're looking to build a kinder relationship with yourself — and through that, a more meaningful life — I would love to have you join us.
