Robert Sidoti's Podcast
To live an optimal life is to live a life that is true to yourself.
Optimal living is really about following your own flow, and about happiness.
It’s about having inner peace, a loving family (if that’s what you want) and great relationships and friends.
An optimal life is when you have an overall sense of contentment, yet you’re driven by that something within you that wants to explore and experience more.
You have enthusiasm and you enjoy your work, and you have good health.
That’s optimal living.
When you live by your own standards and values.
A life where you’re free from following any rules and regulations that inflict on your freedom and where you allow yourself to change, to transform and to continuously grow and discover more about who you are and what you can do.
Being who you are, fully, without any restrictions.
To live a life where you’re not bound by social rules or customs just because they are agreed on by the majority of humanity.
Love who you want to love, express yourself as you want to express yourself, dress how you like, talk about things that interest you. Be You (I love you for that single thing alone).
Be courageously and unapologetically You.
Live intuitively and always follow your own flow, and not according to what is expected or demanded of you.
Have your own personal moral compass.
You don’t need a religious, spiritual or cultural text book (or leader) rule your life telling you how you should behave and what is right and what is wrong.
Live a life that is lead by love and not by fear and control.
It’s about being and becoming the best possible person and living the best possible life, according to you.
To live a healthy life. To have a healthy relationship with your work, family, friends, body, and mind.
Optimal Living is not one single, ‘perfect’ version of life.
There is no definition of what it is because it’s individual.
It’s Your True Life.
Nobody else’s.
Yours.
It’s about what you value, what your personal hopes and dreams are, and about all the things you feel called to fulfill.
The things that only you can do because they are unique to you.
Optimal means ‘best or most favorable, most desirable or satisfactory’.
Optimal is, by definition, contextual and dynamic — not absolute or static.
YOU define what is optimal for you based on what you favor, what you prefer, what brings you enjoyment and fulfillment.
Not what other people or the world wants.
It’s a life where you’re not fitting into any stereotypes, where you do what you feel like doing, eat and drink what you want, and change your mind as often as it suits you.
No one can point to another person and their life and and say “that’s an optimal life” as if it was the same for all.
It’s a completely individual life journey where your life is based on your own values, standards and true desires.
To live your life to the fullest and to be the best that you can be, in whatever way you choose.
To be the best parent, boss, explorer of the world, whatever it is; live that out fully without comparing yourself to how others live and how successful or not they are.
Believe in yourself, and live for yourself.
Think about what you want to do and who you want to be and what makes you happy and then work towards those goals in your life.
Ask yourself “why am I doing this?”
(About whatever it is that you are doing).
Is it because you’re expected to do it?
Is it to impress others, please your parents, or because everybody else is doing it?
Are you enjoying what you’re doing and how you are living?
If not;
What is the optimal life for you? How would that look?
What kind of life would give you optimal health (mental/emotional/spiritual/relational/physical), inner peace, a good mood, enthusiasm and an overall well-being?
That, my friend, is the optimal life.
It’s your true life. The ideal life, according to you.
However, with that said, it does not mean that it’s a life without challenges, tribulations and adversity.
I’m not talking about a fairy tale utopia type of life where everything is always perfect and just the way you want it to be.
We all go through trying times in life at some point or another, that’s life, it’s all part of our human experience.
The difference is that when you live your true life you understand those challenges in a different way and you see the blessings and gifts the difficult times brings with them.
Therefor there is always peace within and your heart is always full of love, no matter what.
When you are connected to that which is true within you, happiness is yours, peace is yours, and a zest for life is yours.
That’s optimal living;
When you live your life in a way that is true for you and you alone.
It’s a different kind of life.
It’s your own.
It only takes but a moment to decide to pause; to find a few satisfying conscious breaths that have the power and potential to completely shift your present moment perspective during any given day.
This can be done at your desk , on your commute to or from work, on a stressful or frustrating phone call, while arguing or fighting with your partner or even during an intense sport you might be playing. First thing is having the awareness or understanding that you are in need or desire those few good deep breaths to create that conscious mental shift; that’s probably the most difficult piece, the knowing you need it and know it’s immediate benefits! Second is the willingness to take the very short time it takes to pause or shift your attitude or feeling into something different, a more peaceful and grounded mindset, calm perhaps. It’s completely up to you.
In this particular photo above, I wasn’t feeling stressed or frustrated at all. While driving through the Joshua Tree National Park, I began to feel so grateful for and amazed by how insanely gorgeous and powerful the area felt. So we pulled the car over and walked a bit, I saw an opportunity to sit down on the earth and take it all in! This is another one of those moments we can be aware of, those moments that if you are paying attention, have your eyes and heart open, we can pause to take a few deep breaths, those breaths can bring you to the present moment feeling that feeling of WOW, isn’t it great to be alive?! Not as a thought or a quote or any kind of cliche, but to feel it so deep down in your body and in your bones that you can’t help but to take advantage of the gifted moment in your life! With every deep breath, focus on the freeing and extended exhale grounding you into this special moment in time you stopped to participate fully in :)
You don’t have to be stressed or frustrated, or to be in some beautiful place to ‘pause and breathe’. In fact a good practice might be to use this tool in your everyday ordinary moments. While sitting at dinner with your family, or helping your child with homework, in a casual conversation with a friend; your daily moments can be special and worth pausing for too. The practice of being in awe and grateful for all things, the highs and the lows, ups and downs and everything in between; it’s all worth our attention. Take a deeeep inhale and follow it with a long exhale. Thanks for reading!
