Before you can deliberately, consciously create the life you desire, you must know what it is you desire.  This includes your ideal lifestyle.  Your ideal lifestyle is what your life would look like if you were “Living In Thrival.”  Our ideal is to be thriving in every area and aspect of our life.  When we know what our ideal is, we can then work for that ideal.  We can make decisions and choices based on whether the result will bring us closer to our ideal, or further away. 

True freedom and empowerment is being able to choose what brings us happiness and to a place of Thrival and thriving.  As women, we especially need to do things that bring us to a place of self-empowerment.  Too many of us have been taught to subjugate our desires, our ideals, in favor of someone else, whether that is our children, our mates, our parents, even our bosses.  Our ideal life and our desires doesn’t necessarily have to conflict or be opposed to the desires of others.  They can be in alignment.  But to have self-empowerment and personal power, we have to know what our desires are first.  Then if they are in conflict we can make the decision of how to act.

How many of us have stopped our doing, our living our daily lives, to consider what is our ideal life and lifestyle?  In moving from day-to-day, we have a tendency to just accept what comes to us or what we’ve been taught to expect from life.  One of the principles of Living In Thrival is that we have the right and ability to choose what we desire and how we desire to live our life.  Through the Law of Attraction, once we are clear and aligned with our desired lifestyle we will then see it manifesting in our lives. 

I invite you to take a few minutes, even a few hours or days, to contemplate and daydream about what is your ideal life and lifestyle.  Consider all the areas of your life and what they would look like and feel like if you were thriving and had all you desired in them.  Consider these areas:  your work/career, your finances, your family, your relationships with friends and co-workers, your physical activity and health, your creativity, your community, and your spirituality.  How do they all fit together in the grand mosaic that is your life? 

Here are some questions to ask yourself to help you in discovering what is your ideal life and lifestyle.  There is no wrong answer, just YOUR answer.  Just because you discover you’re ideal is living in a small cottage and a modest income, doesn’t mean something is wrong with you.  It’s your life.  It’s your decisions.  Remember, this is your ideal, not mine, not your lover’s or mate’s, and not your parents.  What is it that makes you feel happy and alive?

*    What does my ideal life look and feel like?  What would an average day look like in my ideal life?

*    How do I desire to spend my time? 

*    What is important to me?  What is necessary for me to be happy and to feel like I’m in Thrival?  What would be nice, but not necessary?

*   What lifestyle fits me?  Is it quiet and with my family?  Is it as a celebrity where everyone sees me and knows what I’m doing? 

*    What kind of work brings me happiness and fulfillment?  Do I need this to be thriving?

*    Do I like being an employee or do I want to be an entrepreneur with all the responsibility and worries that go with it?

*    What kind of house do I like and want to live in?  An apartment or condo?  A small cottage or a large house?

*    What kind of friends do I want to spend my time?  What type of community do I want to belong in?

*    What do I like doing for fun?  What do I like doing to express my creativity?

Write down your answers in as much detail as possible, in the present tense.  You can even turn this into a script to read to yourself.  Add to it as more clarity through contrast comes to you.  As you look around you and begin to consider what is your ideal, you may find you think of many things you don’t want.  This contrast is giving you clues to what you do want.  For example, if you find yourself thinking or saying, “I don’t want to live in an apartment” that’s good.  Now you know not to look for an apartment, this isn’t your ideal place to live. 

Share your experiences on how this exercise has helped you (or not).  Did you discover something new about yourself?