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5 Powerful Life Lessons Learned from Running
Below, I share five life lessons from running, some that took me many years to learn. These life lessons transcend running, so even if you’re not a runner, you can apply these universal life lessons to all areas of your life.
5 Powerful Life Lessons from Running Running
I never planned on writing a blog post about running. While it’s a big part of my life, I don’t fall under the category of “Health and Fitness” bloggers, and I don’t want “runner” to define me or detract from my overall message of self belief, self love, and following your dreams. “Runner” is not my title. “Just Run” is not my message.
So why am I posting this blog post now?
The idea hit me while I was, maybe not surprisingly, on a run. I was taking in the stunning scenery surrounding me and feeling extra grateful for the gorgeous weather that morning, and I thought about how much I enjoy just running. Running is my sanctuary. It’s my “me” time. It’s that sacred hour (sometimes less, sometimes more) when I don’t worry about to-do lists or any other nagging worries that might’ve been nipping at the edges of my mind prior to my run. Everything kind of just fades away.
I don’t actually have to do anything when I’m running, except just be.
As I thought about all of these things, it hit me that when I’m running, even though I might have a specific mileage goal in mind, it’s never really about the destination.
It’s always the journey that I savor and appreciate.
And that’s when it clicked. Over this past year, I’ve set an intention to just enjoy the journey in life. To be present. To embrace this moment right now and not get so hung up on where I’m going. And when I think about that intention in terms of running, it makes perfect sense. In fact, it even becomes easy.
Of course the journey is the most important part.
How had I missed that all these years?
Running as a Metaphor
But this wasn’t the first time I’d made a connection between running and bigger, more universal life lessons. There have been many times when I’ve been out on a run, and I’d take a lesson that I was currently in the midst of learning and connect it to running, and then suddenly, it would make sense. Running has allowed me to see things from a different perspective.
When I use running as a metaphor for life, I suddenly can see everything more clearly.
You don’t have to be a runner to understand these life lessons from running. Maybe you hate running, and that’s okay. I promise, this blog post is for you, too.
Because while this is a blog post about life lessons from running, it’s not really a blog post about running at all.
Life Lesson #1: Another person’s success can never take away from my own, just like someone else’s running success could never prevent me from reaching my own achievements.
It doesn’t matter if a person runs faster than me. It doesn’t matter if a person runs farther than I run. It doesn’t matter if someone climbs an elevation that’s higher than what I climb. And it doesn’t matter if a person has more medals than me, or if they got theirs first.
Never, under any circumstances, does another person’s ability to run take away from my own.
I cross paths with other runners all the time. Sometimes, we’re going in different directions. Other times, another runner might come up and pass me from behind, or vice versa. Often, in any of these scenarios, we might smile and wave, and then we continue along our way, each focused on the individual path before us.
You want to know what I’ve never, not once, thought on any of the hundreds (thousands?) of runs I’ve completed?
- “Great, there’s another runner on the path. I guess I can’t run now.”
- “Oh no. That girl is running, too. I better go faster because there’s only room for one of us.”
- “If I’m the slowest, they’ll all beat me and then I’ll never be able to run again.”
- “What if all these other runners shun me from the path?”
This all sounds pretty ridiculous, doesn’t it?
Yet, how many times in our lives do we have these kinds of thoughts about other things that matter to us? Have you ever felt a slight twinge of envy when you saw someone succeeding at something that you want? Have you ever thought that if someone else gets that job, that relationship, that pay raise, or anything else you desire, there will now be less to go around for you? Have you ever had a dream but decided not to even try because you figured there were already too many people doing that thing and that there wouldn’t be room for you?
None of that’s true. None of it. If there’s a dream in your heart that you’re feeling called to, it’s there for a reason. And maybe others have similar dreams, but their paths will all be different from yours, and as long as you follow your inner knowing and choose love over fear, there will always be room for you. Your dream might change along the way. It might take different shapes. Maybe something in the distance will catch your eye and inspire you in a way you never dreamed before. Whatever happens, it’s your journey and your dream, and no one else can ever take what’s meant for you.
Life Lesson #2: Small and consistent improvements over time are more important and valuable than trying to go from 0 to 100 in one week.
I love creating training plans.
It’s the first thing I do when I commit to running in a long-distance event. I count how many weeks I have until the event and decide how many weeks I need for training. Then I carefully build a training schedule in which I plan out every single run from now until the event, slowly increasing the total distances and overall weekly mileage.
When I signed up for my first half marathon, my longest-ever run previously had been about 8 miles (12.9 km). I created a plan in which I ran four times a week with Sundays being my “long run” days. My first long-run day was 6 miles. Then, 6.5. The next week, it was 7, then 7.5, 8 . . . slowly increasing just a half of a mile every week until I reached 12. The day of the event was the first time I’d run a full 13.1 miles (21.08 km).
I followed a similar strategy when I trained for my full marathon, steadily increasing the distance of my long runs as well as my overall weekly mileage until I finally ran the full 26.2 miles (42.16 km) the day of the race.
So why am I going into the minute and kind of boring details about my training plans?
To show that when I train for an event, I don’t get frustrated that I can’t run the full distance Week 1. I have no expectations of this. When I create a training plan for myself, my goal is to make small improvements over time. Maybe I can’t run 26.2 miles today, but in fourteen weeks, I can, and it’s all because of consistent effort and trusting the process.
When I step back and look at other aspects of my life, though, I can see many times when I’ve tried rushing the process to get to the finish line faster. This can be especially tempting when it comes to writing. I’ve tried rushing my writing process before to get something done and published, and it never produces a good result.
But do you know what happens when I treat my writing process like a marathon training plan and focus on making small improvements over time without trying to force anything or rush to the finish line? When I accept that I’m not perfect and allow myself the time and grace to learn and grow my skills?
Well, then my writing doesn’t suck. Then, it can actually be kind of good.
I know how hard it is to wait for something you really want. I know how tempting it is to skip right past the period of learning and growing and building your skills so you can get to the finish line. And I know that “small and consistent improvements over time” isn’t exactly a phrase that’s going to ignite a fire in anyone’s heart.
But if I had tried to run 26.2 miles that first week of training, I would’ve given up. The time would’ve passed anyway, and I wouldn’t have reached my dream. Now, I’m not saying reaching your dream has to take a long time. It really doesn’t. Fourteen weeks of training to run a full marathon really wasn’t that much time at all. If you trust the process, the time it takes to reach your dream will fly by faster than you can ever imagine.
Life Lesson #3: Just because I’m not the best at something doesn’t have to stop me from doing it anyway.
I am not a particularly fast runner. In fact, I’m pretty slow. My average mile is about 9 1/2 minutes. I finished my marathon in 4 hours 32 minutes. That’s an average of 10 minutes 23 seconds per mile.
Not exactly breaking any speed records over here.
And while 26.2 miles isn’t anything to sneeze at, there are people running longer distances that I will likely never reach.
And that’s okay. I didn’t start running because I expected to be the best runner. Thank goodness, too, because you know what would’ve happened if I did?
I would’ve quit.
I’ll venture out to say that a majority of people who start running (or take up a different type of exercise), don’t ever expect to be the best. When I run, I’m not obsessively comparing my time to that person down the road. I don’t fret about who’s going faster or farther. None of that matters. Ever.
Instead, I focus on my individual achievements. My goals. My improvements. My personal records. My experiences. Just because there are a ton of runners who can run faster and farther than me doesn’t mean I’m not worthy of running. It would be silly to use that as a reason not to run!
But how many times have I stopped myself from doing something because I knew there were people out there who were better than me?
The short answer: Too many.
Have you ever not applied for a job that really called to you because you figured there were people more qualified than you? Have you ever not joined that class you really wanted to try because you worried everyone else would be better than you? Did you not start your blog or offer to teach that online class because you figured there were already thousands of blogs and online classes better than yours?
For most of us, we’ll probably never be the best at everything. And actually, in many scenarios, the people who are the best aren’t always the most successful. You know who is successful?
The people who start. The people who try. The people who set an intention and take inspired action. Those are the people who succeed.
So don’t worry about being the best.
Instead, be one of those people.
Life Lesson #4: It’s about the journey, not the destination.
My “why” for running is pretty simple: because I enjoy it and I know that I’m doing something good for my body. When I go outside and hit the pavement, I get to breathe in fresh air while surrounding myself with beautiful nature. My average run lately has been about 6 miles, which means I get a whole hour to myself. Sometimes, I listen to a podcast. Other times, I listen to music. Every once in a while, I listen to nothing but my own breathing. On any given run, I’m not thinking about how great it’ll feel when I’m finished. I’m just enjoying the present moment, one step at a time.
The journey is always more important than the destination.
I also learned this lesson on a different scale after training for my first half marathon.
I had trained for that half marathon for 12 weeks. Every week, for four days a week, I committed hours of my time to running. Because most of my training was right in the middle of summer, I woke up early most days to get my run in. I had a goal and committed to that goal, and I never missed a single run.
After I finished that half marathon, I remember feeling really proud of the fact that I had just accomplished this amazing feat. I’d just run 13.1 miles for the first time, and it felt really good. But I also remember having a funny realization that I hadn’t anticipated:
As much as I was proud of accomplishing my goal, I was even more proud of the training that had gotten me there.
I was proud of my commitment. I was proud that I continually showed up, day after day, even when I didn’t feel like it. I was proud of my perseverance. I was proud of all the good runs and the bad runs that led me to that moment.
Of all these life lessons, this might be the biggest of them all.
You have big goals and dreams for yourself. And one day, you’re going to reach those goals. You’re going to make your dream come true. And you’re going to feel really, really proud of yourself.
But you know what you’ll be even more proud of? This moment, right now. For showing up, even when you didn’t feel like it. For sticking with it, even when it was hard. For not being deterred when you had a bad day. For continuing to push through.
What you’re doing right now matters. So love this moment. Embrace it. You are on a beautiful journey, and it deserves to be celebrated.
Life Lesson #5: If it’s something you really want, and you know it could be really good for you, then one bad experience should never stop you from going back out there and trying again.
I’ve had a lot of bad runs.
How do I define a bad run? It’s one in which I don’t feel good during or after. In fact, I usually will feel, well . . . pretty bad.
I don’t have many of these anymore, but that’s only because I’ve learned from my mistakes. Historically, most of my bad runs have stemmed from a couple different contributors:
- It was too hot (my old rule was I wouldn’t run if it was above 95℉/35℃ . . . which meant I was still running when it was at 95℉. Without shade. In the middle of the afternoon. *Facepalm*)
- I hadn’t eaten enough and had little energy.
- I wasn’t listening to my body and honoring its need for rest.
Here’s the thing: I can have bad runs, and that’s okay. Expected, really. But I have never and will never let one bad run stop me from tying up my shoelaces and going back out there the next time.
Why?
- Because I am not my mistakes.
- Because the good days far outweigh the bad.
- And because I treat bad runs as learning experiences, not as failures.
- Also because I know there’s a much higher likelihood that I’ll regret not going back out there and trying again than vice versa.
- And finally, because I love to run, and a bad day doesn’t detract from that.
So what I’m saying is, please—if you have a passion and feel called to do something, then bad experiences are not meant to make you just give up and quit.
They’re meant to help you learn and grow.
None of us get everything right the first time. I still make mistakes daily. But instead of letting those moments discourage me, I allow myself the grace of being beautifully imperfect, and I search for the lesson. If I fall twice on a run, I’m not going to hang up my running shoes and refuse to run again. I’m going to look both within and around me until I find the source of my falling, and then I’m going to learn and adjust so I don’t fall a third time.
We were made for resilience. And when we learn to embrace and trust our resilience, then the “bad days” and “negative experiences” become a lot less scary, because we know that we have the ability to overcome anything.
What life lessons have you learned from hobbies, workouts, personal achievements, and/or sports? Do you have any of your own personal life lessons learned from running? In what areas of your life can you clearly see that the journey has been more rewarding than the destination? Feel free to post in the comments below to share your own lessons and stories!
Other Posts You Might Like:
- What is Mindfulness? Plus 15 Powerful Mindfulness Quotes
- 100 Wholehearted Promises to Make to Yourself Today
- 10 Science-Backed Health Benefits of Meditation
5 Powerful Life Lessons from Running 
Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
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9 Powerful Tools for Manifesting Your Future
Want to become the author of your life story? You already have everything you need inside of you to make it happen. In this post, I share nine powerful tools for manifesting your future. And the best part? They’re all completely free.
Pin this for later! 9 Powerful Tools for Manifesting Your Future Tools for Manifesting Your Future
What does your dream life look like?
Does it involve living in a beautiful home surrounded by a loving family? Or are you more of the vanlife type, wanting nothing more than to travel the country on four wheels? Is there a dream career you’ve always envisioned for yourself? Or maybe it’s not a specific “thing” you’re looking for. Maybe it’s a feeling: freedom, peace, joy, abundance, passion, love.
Whatever it is, there is no right or wrong answer. The “dream life” looks different for everyone.
For me, it’s always meant being a writer. For years, when people asked me what I did for a living, I politely and passionlessly spoke about my comfortable office job while internally wishing I could say, “I’m a writer.”
You see, I’ve had a dream of being a writer since I was seven years old, but for the past decade, I worked in jobs that left me feeling empty and unfulfilled because I didn’t believe I was worthy of living the life of my dreams. I knew I wanted to make a change, but I didn’t know how. That’s when I started learning about the Law of Attraction.
It seemed . . . interesting.
I liked the idea, but my inner skeptic had a louder voice than my inner believer, so it took some time for me to go all in. But as I slowly released the skepticism and doubt, I began practicing the concepts I learned about. And on this journey, I discovered the tools to help me quit my day job and start living the life I truly dreamed of—a life where I knew I was worthy of anything and everything I desired.
And the best part?
I already had every single one of these tools inside me. I just had to learn how to use them.
Below, I share nine powerful tools for manifesting your future. These are the practices I used for discovering my inner worthiness and creating my dream life. While you don’t have to do every single item on this list daily, I encourage you to keep an open heart and an open mind as you embark on this journey to manifest the life of your dreams.
Tool #1: Visualization
To create the life you desire, you first have to know what you want.
If there were no limits or constrictions, what would you be doing in your dream life? Where would you live? Who would be surrounding you? What primary emotions would you feel? What does your highest and most authentic self look like?
Perhaps there’s no greater example of the power of visualization than how it’s helped Michael Phelps to achieve Olympic glory. It’s no secret that Phelps put in many long hours of practice, sometimes without a single day off for years at a time. But what you may not know is his commitment to practicing visualization.
For months before a big event, Phelps spends two hours a day undergoing mental rehearsal to prepare for an upcoming race. He visualizes both the good and the bad, and he sees himself overcoming obstacles to win the race. By the time he actually dives into the pool the day of the race, he’s already swum it hundreds of times in his mind.
So why do elite athletes and performers commit so much time to visualization? It may have something to do with the way our brains work. You see, your brain can’t actually tell the difference between the powerful visualization and reality; it has the same activity whether you’re physically doing the action or envisioning it in your mind.
How to Visualize
You don’t need to be a world champion athlete to utilize visualization to enhance your life. Set aside ten minutes every day to close your eyes, and visualize yourself achieving your goals. What does it feel like? Joyful? Peaceful? Freeing? Feel those emotions. Utilize all your senses. See yourself living that dream life. Listen, touch, taste, smell. Like Phelps, you can even imagine some worst-case scenarios and visualize yourself overcoming these obstacles.
Once you start this daily practice, you’ll be amazed at the transformative effects it has on your life.
To illustrate the power of visualization, watch this Tedx talk by Ashanti Johnson on how her daily practice of visualization changed not only her life but ultimately the lives of her community through her work.
- You May Also Like: 10 Powerful Manifestation Tips to Create the Life of Your Dreams
Tool #2: Gratitude
I used to have a lot of “bad” days.
You know the ones: those days where you come home from work feeling completely drained and defeated. Every single bit of your mental energy is consumed by running through the terrible things that happened. And then you might even make up imaginary conversations between yourself and your boss or colleagues, just to upset yourself even more.
It was exhausting.
Thankfully, I found a powerful tool to help me get past this negative mindset and release my bad days:
Gratitude.
I learned to re-frame my default perspective from one of frustration and negativity to one of appreciation.
How to Practice Gratitude
The best thing about a gratitude practice is that you can literally do it anywhere and at anytime. You can have a gratitude journal if you want, or you can commit to finding things in your current experience to feel grateful for.
I don’t always succeed, but I try practice gratitude first thing when I wake up. It might look something like this:
Every morning, I wake up in a warm and safe bed with a healthy body. I have working lungs and a strong heart. I have the privilege of experiencing this world with all of my senses. I’m surrounded by family and friends who really love me. I have food in the pantry. My car runs. The air I breathe is clean. The water I drink is pure. I have a safe home.
Every single day, I can create an endless list of things to feel grateful for just by opening my eyes.
It sounds nice, doesn’t it? Choosing gratitude over suffering. But I’m here to tell you, it’s more than just nice. It’s life transforming. My daily practice of gratitude has become more than just a way to reframe my perspective.
The truly incredible thing is, I’ve found that the more I feel grateful, the more things flow into my life to feel grateful for.
When I look around me now, I don’t see things that are breaking; I see everything coming together. Even when something doesn’t go my way, I can instantly recognize it as an opportunity. Ten times out of ten, it just means my path is leading me to somewhere better.
Living the life of your dreams doesn’t start with external world around you. It starts internally. By changing your perspective and viewing your life through a lens of inherent appreciation and gratitude, you open yourself up to receiving even more opportunities, experiences, people, and things to feel grateful for.
If you want to start a gratitude practice in your daily routine, check out these 40 gratitude affirmations to love this moment right now.
Tool #3: Giving
All the good you put out into the world always comes back to you.
This is the concept that first made me want to learn more about the Law of Attraction. I’ve always believed in karma, though I usually associated it with the negative i.e. if you do something bad, it’ll come back to haunt you. I never really flipped that statement on its head and thought that the good stuff could come back to me, too.
It’s important to know that you don’t just have to give money, which is likely the first thing a lot of us think about when we hear the word giving. However, giving isn’t solely about finances.
When you think about what you can give, think about things that make you feel good.
Sometimes, the best thing you can give to another person is simply your presence. You want to know where I started?
With my smile.
I’m an avid runner, and I love running through the beautiful Boise parks. I used to never run without a baseball cap and sunglasses, even on a cloudy day. My sole mission was to avoid contact with people at every corner. One day, though, I consciously decided to take off the sunglasses and let myself be seen. When I crossed paths with another runner or a group of walkers or a family, I’d glance over, and if we locked eyes, I’d offer a smile. And you know what happened?
People smiled back.
Sometimes, they smiled first. Kids offered high fives and cheers. Other runners would share motivation and encouragement, and I’d share it back. I truly felt like I was part of a community, and it felt really good. The more I put out there, the more I got back, and this has extended to all facets of my life.
How to Practice Giving
Give what you can. Give what you want to give. Give what makes you feel good. And watch in awestruck wonder as all of the wonderful things you’ve given come back to you in magical and miraculous ways.
Tool #4: Affirmations
When’s the last time you told yourself you were worthy of something? When’s the last time you said, “I deserve ________”? That blank can be filled with anything: I deserve love. I deserve joy. I deserve to live the life of my dreams.
Does it feel kind of weird to say you deserve something?
I know it did for me. I felt like it was somehow the “wrong” thing to say, like I wasn’t being humble enough. In fact, in order to get over the icky feelings, I had to reframe it through the lens of people I cared about. It was easy for me to say that my best friend deserves joy or that my nieces and nephews deserve unconditional love. If I could say all these good things about people I loved, why couldn’t I say them about me?
How to Practice Affirmations
Affirmations are unbelievably powerful. For me, affirmations began as a conscious daily practice. I read through different affirmations and found the ones that resonated most with me. Then, I dedicated myself to repeating those affirmations in the car or while I was getting ready in the morning.
Affirmations are a way to reprogram the subconscious mind, so with time, we truly become the things we’re affirming. The key is always to use the present tense. It’s not, “When I get the [job/partner/opportunity] of my dreams, I’ll be worthy.” You are worthy. Right now. You don’t have to wait to affirm your worth. It’s the best and easiest thing you can do for yourself in this moment right now.
If you want help getting started on incorporating affirmations into your life, you can check out my free ebook, 400 Powerful Affirmations to Uplift, Inspire, and Empower Your Highest Self. You can also check out the Affirmations section in my blog. I’d also recommend starting with this blog post on how to use affirmations so they actually work.
More Manifestation Resources
- How to Ask the Universe for a Sign (A Complete Guide)
- 11 Powerful Crystals for Manifestation
- How to Manifest Someone (in 6 Simple Steps)
- Manifestation Challenge: Free 30-Day Manifestation Calendar
- 10 Powerful Manifestation Tips to Create the Life of Your Dreams
- How to Raise Your Vibration (in 30 Seconds or Less)
Tool #5: Meditation
You don’t have to meditate to create the life you desire. But for me, meditation has transformed my view of myself and the world in a way that I don’t think would’ve ever happened if I hadn’t started meditating.
Beginning a daily practice of meditation taught me how to accept and receive love, slow down, appreciate the seemingly negative experiences, affirm my worthiness, and witness and understand my own thoughts in a way I never had before. If you haven’t meditated before, I know it can seem intimidating at first. It was for me. Just remember, the goal of meditation isn’t to clear or suppress your thoughts.
All you have to do is sit, observe, and be present. One day at a time. One minute at a time. One breath at a time. Nothing more. Nothing less.
You don’t have to do or become anything when you meditate. You don’t have to try. All you have to do is just be.
To learn more about how to do a meditation specifically for manifesting your dreams, click here.
Awesome Meditation Apps
Tool #6: Habits
While it’s definitely possible to make big transformations and start living your dream life in a very short amount of time, the most transformative long-term shifts come when you cultivate daily habits.
When discussing major shifts and transformations, we tend to discuss that “one big thing” that happened and often gloss over the small, consistent improvements we make on a daily basis. But in his book Atomic Habits, James Clear writes, “Habits are the compound interest of self-improvement . . . They seem to make little difference on any given day and yet the impact they deliver over the months and years can be enormous. It is only when looking back two, five, or perhaps ten years later that the value of good habits and the cost of bad ones becomes strikingly apparent.“
How to Begin Cultivating New Habits
When you want to build a new habit, start small. The easier you make it, the more likely it will stick. When I started meditating, I committed to just ten minutes in the mornings before work. With many of the other practices on this list, I actually found ways to combine them with things I was already doing in my daily life. For instance, I’d repeat positive affirmations while getting ready in the morning or driving to the grocery store. Same with my gratitude practice. It was nothing big or overly complicated—just subtle but powerful shifts in my conscious thinking.
You don’t have to wait for a big, life-changing event to start incorporating these practices in your life. As Clear writes, “If you want to predict where you’ll end up in life, all you have to do is follow the curve of tiny gains or tiny losses, and see how your daily choices will compound ten or twenty years down the line.“
Tool #7: An Abundance Mentality
In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey characterizes an abundance mentality as the belief that there are enough resources for everyone to share.
This is opposed to the scarcity mindset, which is rooted in the belief that we’re all competing for a limited amount of resources.
A person with an abundance mindset will celebrate and rejoice in the successes of others, while a person with a scarcity mindset will feel bitter and resentful toward another’s accomplishments because they believe this decreases their own opportunities for success.
When you view resources as being limited, the feeling of competition arises. Because there seemingly isn’t enough to go around, you become reluctant to share your resources or knowledge to another for fear that someone else’s success means you will have less opportunities. When you see someone succeed, you see that slice of the pie getting smaller, and instead of feeling happy for their success, you feel resentful and envious.
It doesn’t sound pleasant, and it doesn’t feel very good either.
And there’s a reason it doesn’t feel good: because these negative feelings of scarcity aren’t aligned with who you really are. You are not a resentful, envious, bitter person. But this scarcity mindset has become so ingrained in our culture, it sometimes feels like it’s all we’ve ever known.
How I Developed an Abundance Mentality
By recognizing the limiting beliefs I’ve held around scarcity and gently releasing them from my consciousness, I’ve been able to cultivate a mindset of abundance and find true joy in other’s successes. I’ve learned that nobody else’s abundance can take from my own, and my abundance can’t take from anyone else. There’s true joy and freedom in living a life where resources are infinite and abundant rather than constantly trying to compete for what we perceive as a small cut of the pie.
To quote Covey, “When people are genuinely happy at the successes of others, the pie gets larger.“
Related: How to Overcome a Scarcity Mindset: 3 Simple and Effective Practices
Tool #8: A Prosperity Mindset
Also could be called An Abundance Mindset, Part Two.
Okay, maybe that’s cheating, but I wanted to differentiate a Prosperity Mindset from an Abundance Mindset for a couple reasons. I view an abundance mentality as the belief there are enough resources for everyone while a prosperity mindset is a personal, strongly held belief you have toward yourself.
A prosperity mindset is the story you tell yourself about your own wealth and ability to create anything you want in your life.
A prosperity mindset is the belief that you are abundant now.
Developing a Prosperity Mindset
How do you develop a prosperity mindset? By not waiting for “one day” to get here. To be abundant, you have to feel abundant. Feel it now. Don’t wait until you get that promotion or job offer. Don’t wait until you have a million dollars in your bank account. Stop waiting for something to happen. Feel abundant today. Feel successful today. Feel joyful today. Feel peaceful, calm, free, lighthearted, exuberant, wealthy. . . whatever it is you’re working toward, feel it right now. That’s how you develop a prosperity mentality. Feel the feelings of having everything you want and believe you are that person.
Tool #9: Compassion
Honestly, I don’t think most people lack compassion. Humans are innately compassionate beings. We’re compassionate toward our loved ones and our pets. We’re compassionate toward other suffering beings. We’re compassionate toward this earth.
But when was the last time you were compassionate with yourself?
Finding the grace to be compassionate with myself has been one of my longest and bumpiest journeys. When I first learned about the Law of Attraction, I focused on perfecting all the tools I had learned about. I visualized. I cultivated a positive mindset. I made sure I had good thoughts and felt good feelings so all that positivity would come back to me. I was certain I was going to be an A+ student.
So what happened when I had a bad day or when a negative thought (or a stream of negativity) overtook my brain?
I became a mess.
I felt like a failure. I felt like I was now opening up a Pandora’s Box of terrible things to happen to me.
You see, my problem was that I was trying too hard to be perfect. I had dove straight into the water without a life vest, so I had nothing to keep me afloat when things went wrong. Eventually, I discovered that the life vest I needed was self-compassion. Self-compassion is allowing for and accepting your imperfections. Self-compassion is speaking to yourself with loving kindness, even when you don’t feel particularly good. Self-compassion is accepting and receiving love from yourself and others right now, just as you are, and knowing you don’t need to do or achieve anything to deserve that love.
You are always deserving.
Are You Ready to Start Manifesting?
While these nine tools for manifesting will help you to bring your dream into your reality, I want to highlight the most important link between all of thee practices:
Mindset.
Before anything else, you must believe you are worthy, deserving, and capable of living the life of your dreams.
And if you don’t get it 100% perfect all of the time, that’s okay. Be gentle with yourself. Go slow. Don’t try to pile everything into one day and be the “best” at everything. Allow yourself to enjoy the journey. Recognize that the seemingly bad moments are truly just opportunities to learn and grow and appreciate.
To be honest, I mess up a lot. Negative thoughts sometimes slip into my consciousness. I sometimes choose frustration over gratitude. And in these moments, #9 becomes even more important. Be deeply compassionate with yourself. Instead of repressing the bad and pretending it doesn’t exist in order to fit a false idea of perfection, recognize when you have a negative thought, gently probe its roots, and as you realize the thought no longer serves you, kindly release it from service.
And remember, none of us are doing this alone. Find your tribe, and if you don’t feel like you have anyone you can talk to, you have me. I’m here. I’m listening. I will be that voice of loving kindness and compassion on days you can’t find it within yourself.
I know it isn’t always easy, but never forget, you are worthy and deserving of living the life of your dreams.
For more resources on spirituality, meditation, manifestation, and all things self-love, be sure to connect with me on Instagram and Pinterest, where I’m posting positive affirmations and empowering quotes daily.
And to learn more about manifesting your dreams and desires, check out these posts!
- How to Manifest Money (A Complete Guide)
- Manifestation Not Working? Here’s Why (And How to Fix It)
- 10 Best Manifestation Books to Read This Year
- How to Manifest in a Journal (A Complete Guide)
Pin this for later! 9 Powerful Tools for Manifesting Your Future Zanna Keithley is an author, poet, and social media content creator who writes short prose dedicated to inspiring readers to follow their dreams, trust their intuition, and create beautiful and fulfilling lives. You can find her original writing on Instagram @zannakeithley.
