Determine what your truth is. Don’t compare yourself to others, because the act of comparing either prompts you to feel more or less fortunate than another. Compare less and accept more. Sometimes in life things happen that may not appear to be what you wanted or planned for, but understand that everything happens for a reason – the good as well as the bad. If you never experienced challenges, then you would have no true basis to know when things are going extremely well. It is through challenging times and situations that force us to stretch out of our comfort zones, where we do indeed grow.

Be present with your life and if things are not panning out the way you envisioned, instead of being frustrated for what you don’t have, be grateful for all that you do. If you have proper health, that’s a start. If you have a roof over your head, food in your refrigerator, money in the bank, family, friends, and loved ones, all are essential to your core basic needs. If those are met, then gratitude should not be far behind. Sometimes it’s the little things that make all the difference. Losing sight of what really matters due to basing it on someone else’s value system can complicate the issue, but identifying what you truly value is of utmost importance. The way to recognize what’s really important to you is to look at where you put most of your attention – energetically, financially, and your resources to.

Know that your life expresses what you truly value the most. If it is to be of service, you will find yourself always offering your help to friends, family, and people who need assistance. If your job is number one, that’s where you will spend most of your time, thoughts, and energy focused on. Every person lives by what they deem is most important and so do you. By owning that, your life is exactly the way you want, even though your mind may say otherwise, and it will help quiet the “comparison beast.” If you want things to change, take a look at the benefits of what is currently happening in your life. It may not appear to be benefitting you, but if it truly didn’t serve some function or purpose in your life it would have been gone a long time ago.

Be brutally honest with yourself and reassess what is holding you back or why you are not doing what you think you should be doing. Identify what is preventing you from taking the necessary steps to achieve the life you desire. Be gentler with yourself if you find your inner critic starting to add its two cents. Be cognizant that the moment you are ready to change, it will happen spontaneously and without much effort. The effort starts with your increasing awareness, until change emerges!