How is your life beautiful right now?

Enjoying the journey is one of the biggest secrets for where I am right now.

After ten years of loving my life in the waiting, preparing myself one step at a time, I've lived abroad now for over four years.

It's one of my big dreams coming true.

Those ten years of waiting seemed long but now I see how they were seasons of necessary growth happening for today to be as enjoyable as it is.

When you look at your life, focus on what you're loving right now.

Teach yourself to pause.

Think through what are some skills you've already got and you've recently learned that you can use for loving your life now.

And that can help you in the new seasons to come.

Don't let the black and white perspectives fool you.

You can both walk towards your dreams little steps at a time and love your life right now, thankfully taking in every moment.

You don't actually benefit from hating your current life, it doesn't give you the extra boost for changing your life.

It might feel like it does though.

But in reality, it's enough for you to acknowledge what you're lacking and not to put it in the center of your life.

That mindset of not getting stuck into what you don't have helps you in the seasons to come.

The thankful mindset and learning to live and love the now moment fully, both help you to enjoy fully your new seasons that are just waiting around the corner.

It's much more work to later learn to let go of negative mindsets, if you use them now to fuel the change you want.

Fuel the change with gratitude and perseverance.

With long suffering and a wider perspective.

Decorate the cake with the cherry on top, embracing the very second you're living in now.

That way your life doesn't slip away while you just wait for things to change.

That way you are driving your change patiently while you're taking it all in right now, what life gives you in each season.

Having the eyes that see beyond the hard and past the grind, you find the gold in this very moment.

And I assure you, it's worth the work within.

You having a beautiful life is a fruit of an inner work much more than you could realize.

Just seek the simple answer for a simple question.

How is your life beautiful right now?

* A flashback picture from Summer holiday spent in my home country, Finland. *

Three helpful perspectives for transitions

What have you learned through the season you've been in?

When you're starting to prepare for a transition, thankfulness for what has been, can take you a long way forward.

Even if the season would have been hard and tested your limits in many ways, you can find some ways how you have grown.

I've experienced that highlighting those things for myself helps in avoiding self sabotage in the next season.

Even when transitioning from the best season ever, you can also benefit from actively seeing what you've learned.

It might feel hard to let go of the wonderful aspects of your closing season.

And the challenge can be the temptation to stay in the day dreaming mode of what once was.

The letting go process is easier when you take with you the farewell gift of the season - your own growth.

Who are you becoming and how can your new season support you in that?

When you remember who you are and who you are becoming, you've found the perfect perspective for your new season.

If you're having a hard time figuring out who you are, ask yourself what makes you come alive.

That can help you in the process.

You can plan the elements of your new season around the growth you want to see.

And you can add in the mix the elements that bring you the most joy.

Even if the boundaries of your next season would be tight, with persevering planning you can find some ways to support yourself in this way. 

You can also ask yourself what is something "good" that you can give up to get more time and space for the "best".

How can you be in the now-moment and take it all in?

When you're transitioning, one of the most helpful perspective is finding the way for yourself to be present in the now.

It's too easy to get carried away in the remembering of the past season or diving really deep into planning the next season.

Finding your way to stay in the moment right now can help you feel grounded.

It can remind you of the beauty of simple things.

Like breathing the fresh air, enjoying the sunrise or sunset, feeling your surroundings and listening to the sounds of your life as it is now.

Take those moments as a gift, when you pause in the between.

The perspective you have just simply shifts.

Sometimes the greatest treasures are found in those moments.

Keep your heart open for the now, 'cause it's worth it.

How do you serve your value and worth?

For too many years I thought it was love from me for others that I ignored myself.

My first yes for myself looked like a timeout from some of my friendships.

And it felt really hard, like I felt a physical pain.

My big yes for myself meant moving to another country for my husband and my two kids.

It was a result of several years of fight with myself to understand that my needs and personal dreams mattered.

How do you serve your value and worth?

What do you do to start the change if you stand in the corner of your life and give all the space for others and none for yourself?

Here are ways to process your way forward that have worked for me.

Take yourself to peace and quiet, even if it's just a few minutes, an hour or two or more.

Pay attention to those thoughts you've been thinking, little wishes or big.

When you train your inner radar, you can grow in paying attention to the small inner voice.

You may find that perhaps it's been pressed down for too long, and it's really quiet and shy.

And that's okay.

Patience leads you a long way with yourself.

When you pay attention to your own wishes and personal dreams, you actually serve your own value and worth.

You show yourself the example, that it matters what you think and feel, what you wish and dream.

Along the way, as you learn to know yourself more in this new light, take others with you.

Start with someone you trust and share with them.

Don't let it frighten you if they're really surprised.

You finding new layers of yourself in new seasons is a beautiful thing.

Don't let the objections take you down too easily, either.

If someone starts talking about the obstacles, be wise to guard your treasures.

Focus on finding the person who can cheer you on but who has actually done it, what you're exploring.

Seek wisdom and prepare yourself with the loved ones around you.

What happened with the timeout from my friends, you may wonder.

It ended up strengthening my friendships that carried on.

And together with my friends we were able to enjoy the healthier version of me and how that affected our connection.

And what about my big yes and moving to another country just for my dream?

My family supported me in my dream to study further and we moved as a family to Sweden, while we sought solutions for the daily life of each of us for that time and no one complained.

We formed even more of a team as a family, than before, during that time we lived in Lund, in Southern Sweden.

All this is to say, that you never know what beauty is waiting for you, when you stay true to who you are and who you are growing to become.

Except when you take the small firm steps forward. 

What do you believe is your value and worth?

What step will you take today, dear?