Let’s be honest: the season we’re living through right now in this pandemic is scary and stressful for all of us. The more I keep watching, the more I keep seeing so many of us hitting places where we’re experiencing strong, sometimes confusing emotions—about our money, our jobs, or our lives in general.
Everything is a bit up in the air still, leading us to face a lot of stress and fear. Believe it or not, that’s why I think it’s so important to keep talking about building our wealth from the inside out, and not the outside in, so we can insulate ourselves against the chaos of what happens in the world and leave our fear and stress far behind us.
This is what I mean…
How to Build Your Life From the Inside Out
I’m always talking about the fact that we need to build our wealth from the inside out and not the outside in, but what does this mean exactly?
First it means we need to take into account not only our financial lives, but also our work life, our personal life, and our family life, so we have a firm understanding of how to move forward. We need to step back and see the whole picture before we’re able to build a stable, sustainable life of real wealth.
Let’s use an example.
Start by Examining Your Life
Say you’re looking at the personal side of your life. To do this properly, you must consider your personal dreams and desires, but you must also take into account the physical side of your life because we are, as humans, physical beings.
So how do you get the physical side of your life in alignment with your personal desires? One of the ways to create the space in your life needed to allow real wealth to rise up to the surface is by doing what they’re talking a lot about in Japan today: Forest Bathing.
Yes, forest bathing, otherwise known as, “Going for a walk in the forest!”
Make Space for Calmness
What this reminded me of was when I was taking a walk along the lakefront recently, thinking about how we can’t really find balance in our physical selves unless we also connect with nature. That’s when lightbulbs started going off. I started thinking to myself, “Wow, Jul, you lose your patience because of the fact that your cortisol levels are high, because you’re stressed, because you’re not taking the time to calm down.”
This is all tied to why we meditate, why we do yoga, why we exercise, or why we walk in nature. All of these things are available and enjoyable to us because they calm our systems down in the high-paced, stressful society we’re in, allowing us to get back in tune with our hearts, nature, and the harmonic lifestyle that provides a space for living in the present moment. It opens the way to realising and releasing more of our pasts, and creating more of the future we truly desire.
None of this is possible, however, if we don’t take the time or allow the space for slowing down and listening to what our heart, body, and soul need.
Leave the Fear and Stress Behind You
2020 has been a challenging year for most of us, but it has also provided so many opportunities for growth and discovery. If you’re hoping to grow into your life of real wealth and leave all the stress and fear behind, then I would encourage you to take some time to yourself to purposefully delve deep into all the aspects of your life: personal, financial, familial, etc. Ask yourself how you can stay centered, calm, and true to your inward self in all of these areas.
Find your nearest forest walk and consider doing some forest bathing. While lots of places may be closed these days, and many others aren’t open at full capacity, nature is wide open. Your life is wide open. It’s time we all started living from the inside out.