You’ve likely heard the advice to “live life fully.” In an attempt to achieve that goal, you might have tried to do and have more. Or you may have gotten involved in “important” and “meaningful” activities, or taken steps toward an aspirational goal or an exciting experience.

Such strategies don’t equate to living life fully.

Some of those activities play a part in living your life to the fullest, especially if they improve your quality of life. But some may be tied to your beliefs—or someone else’s beliefs—about what constitutes a life well lived.

In reality, a fully lived life involves creating a subtle internal state. And you create that state by doing less, not more.

Your Vision of a Fully Lived Life?

To discern what living life fully means to you, begin an inquiry process. List the things you believe will help you live fully.

Visualize what a fully lived life looks like. What are you doing? What are you experiencing? Who are you being? What are you feeling?

Once you have a clear picture in your mind, ask yourself:

• Do the things you visualized have meaning for you?
• Do the activities in which you see yourself involved bring you joy?
• Does that life help you thrive?
• Does whatever you are doing or experiencing help you fulfill your potential or purpose?
• Do any of these things make you feel more peaceful, content, and happy?

If you answered “yes” to those questions, you have great clarity on what type of life will help you live fully.

And now you can create that.

If you answered “no,” you realize that you need a different vision.

Do Less, Not More

I’ve recently been taking an accounting of how I spend my days. After all, my days amount to my life.

When it comes to living life fully, my accounting left me in the red.

Too much doing.

Not enough living.

Don’t get me wrong; I live each day, and my days are full.

But I don’t live each day to the fullest.

If I were doing that, I’d be doing less, not more.

My accounting left me with the knowledge that I need to cut some activities. I need to stop doing things that are not meaningful to me, don’t bring me joy, feel like a “should” or obligation, have become busy work, and don’t help me fulfill my potential or purpose.

I need to place my attention and energy on the things I find meaningful, life-affirming, and enlivening. I need to focus on my life’s work.

To live fully, I need to give myself the time and space for the things that matter most.

And sometimes what matters isn’t doing. It’s being.

My Spacious Days

I have often mentioned that what I desire are “spacious days.” For me, a spacious day is one in which I don’t rush through the morning because I have to get somewhere or do something. As the day moves on, I can choose where to place my attention.

In the morning, I like to do the things that matter to me and make me happy.

I walk the dog.

I exercise.

I eat breakfast and drink tea…preferably outside if the weather allows.

And then, I do whatever my soul calls me to do. This could be:

• Writing, especially working on a book or blog post.
• Gardening.
• Sitting and looking at the amazing views afforded by my home.
• Reading.
• Calling or having lunch with a friend.
• Spending time with my husband.
• Taking a course or class.
• Meditating.

This kind of morning lets me experience life fully. And that allows me to live it fully.

Unfortunately, too often I feel rushed and pressured to go somewhere or do something. My day is constrained, not spacious.

Ask Your Soul for Guidance

The best advice you will get on how to live in fully  comes from yourself. Specifically, ask your soul—your spiritual guidance system—how to live your life well.

Your soul is the spiritual aspect of who you are. It informs your human and physical self on all sorts of things, most of which help you live fully.

The issue is that you don’t listen to its guidance. Nor do you act on it.

If you ask your soul what activities or things help you live life more fully, it will tell you.

In the past, you may have filled your schedule with activities and commitments without input from spiritual guidance. Those choices created the life you live now. You can make new choices now that will help you live more fully in the future.

Make a list of everything you do.

Feel into each activity. If it feels good, that’s something that enhances your life. If it feels bad, it doesn’t…

Next, ask your soul to weigh in. Ask, “Does this help me live fully?”

You’ll get an answer…maybe not immediately, but you will get one. It could come in the form of a message on a license plate, a book someone suggests you read, an intuitive hit, or a very faint voice you hear in your mind.

Notice the things and activities in your life that float your boat, make you feel impassioned, or that give you a deep sense of fulfillment. What inspires and motivates you?

These feelings are indications of soul guidance. Pay attention to and act on them; then, watch the quality of your life shift.

The Subtle Art of Living Life Fully

Don’t believe that you have to travel around the world, run a marathon every month, generate enough money to buy a house overlooking the ocean, spend time sitting at the feet of a guru, or achieve some goal to live fully.

Living life fully is a subtle art.

You will find it more difficult to live fully when you try hard or think you can “do” or “have” your way to such a life.

Living fully gets easier when you slow down, do less, be more, and listen to your soul as it guides you toward a life that makes you happy and fulfilled.

Ultimately, living fully is an internal feeling or state. It’s not an external expression or activity.

What do you have to do to live more fully? Tell me in a comment below. Please share this post with those who may benefit from reading it.

Image courtesy of milkos.