61 Things That Make Life Awesome

For reasons completely beyond me, the holidays tend to be an emotional time one way or the other.

Some people love them, others despise it.

In honor of the strange foray of emotions holidays tend to bring I decided to change it up a little :) .

Below is a free flowing stream of conscious about “What Makes Life Awesome”.

I just kept writing until my mind went blank.

61 Things That Make Life Super Awesome! 

  1. Wheat bread
  2. Improving every day
  3. Exercise
  4. Books
  5. Vegetables
  6. Great customer service
  7. Nice people
  8. My parents – Ron-a-owa and Torti (Those are their knicknames)
  9. My brother – Elibear
  10. My sisters – Mari and Xochil
  11. Friends
  12. The internet
  13. Skype
  14. Watching sports with my mom
  15. Goals
  16. Smoothies
  17. Starbucks feta egg white wraps
  18. French press coffee
  19. Interesting people
  20. Motivational audio
  21. Really cool socks
  22. Language
  23. Butterflies (the animal )
  24. Butterflies (the feeling)
  25. Laughter
  26. The eyes of an engaged human
  27. Peanut butter
  28. Martial arts
  29. Avocado
  30. Making people smile
  31. Kisses
  32. Falling in love
  33. Music
  34. Morning rituals
  35. Dogs that sleep on my feet
  36. Burritos
  37. Feeling loved
  38. Understanding a few words in a new language for the first time
  39. Writing a blog post that people love
  40. Being inspired
  41. Inspiring someone else
  42. The feeling of holding a new book in my hands
  43. Completing a huge historical fiction novel
  44. Dancing like no one is watching. 
  45. Laughing at myself
  46. Brown Rice 
  47. Free coffee refills
  48. Fresh apples
  49. A great country music song
  50. Deodorant (I hate bad body odor!)
  51. Passion
  52. Love
  53. Nature
  54. Children
  55. Honesty
  56. Integrity
  57. Humor
  58. Courage
  59. The sound of rain 
  60. Sleeping 8 hours
  61. Watching puppies trying to climb stairs

What’s on Your List?

Though it seems very simple this exercise is very powerful.

By doing this it will immediately put you in a positive frame of mind. No matter where you are on the spectrum (love the holidays or want to punch it in the face) this exercise will put you in a better mood.

Take a pencil or pen and just start writing “what makes your life awesome.” Just keep going until you feel like stopping. Then reread that list. It’s powerful!

For the comments:

What’s on your list?

 

  • Michele Lang

    Love it! Let’s keep it going. A White Christmas! We have snow here in Chicago for the first time this season–and it arrived a day earlier than I’d heard it would! Yayyy! Merry Christmas, Izzy!

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      I love snow… and when I say “love” I mean LOVE snow :) .

  • Michele Lang

    Happy holidays to you (and thank you for your kindness earlier this year) and Happy New Year to one and all!

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Happy Holidays to you Michele :) . I’m glad to have had the opportunity to help.

  • Sean

    Happy Holidays to all the ninjas out there!

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Hahaha! Nice :) .

      I’m gonna do you 1 up Sean:

      Happy Holidays to all the ninjas and non-ninjas :) .

      I hope you have had an incredible day.

  • renese

    merry christmas! I hope you have a great christmas in Japan :)

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Merry Christmas to you as well :) .

      Actually I was able to come and visit my family for Christmas.

      I’m in America for the holidays :) .

  • Stephanie St. james

    Happy Holidays Izzy! Can I say how much I love your siblings names! And mom and pops nicknames adorable! What a fantastic Idea to just express the things in life that we are gratitude for! Attitude of Gratitude is so important and it truly does lift your spirits no matter what mood your in if you focus on Gratitude! I’m going to go make my list now and I’m actually stating the work on my GOAL BOOK! I hope you are working on yours!

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Hahaha! It cracked me up when I saw this comment because you know what I was doing just before I read it… I was working on my goals for 2013!

      I love putting together goals because it’s so incredibly powerful! I love the process of planning it all out because it forces me to step back, identify what I want, create a plan, and really identify how to make it happen.

      Looking forward to skyping Stephanie :) .

  • Shane

    I know that music is on the list, but for me, music makes life awesome because I’m a musician. As a musician, the ability to convey feelings and emotions through music makes life completely awesome.

    Other than that, give me some good food, some good friends and I’m happy as a clam. :)

    And Izzy, I think it’s completely awesome that your sister is named “Xochil”. I want to pronounce that as “So Chill”… lol.

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Hahaha! Nice man :) .

      Actually how you want to pronounce my sister’s name is the exact way many of her teachers did growing up. The correct way to pronounce it is So-Chi. If you can roll your “L’s” then you can add a light “L” sound to the end.

      Music is awesome!

      • Shane

        Yeah, but like to me it’s like she’s “so chill”… lol.

        • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

          That’s beautiful man! Really beautiful :) . The part about music – not mis saying my sisters name :) .

          • Shane

            No doubt, lol. :)

  • http://www.facebook.com/andrew.harvard.58 Andrew Harvard

    Really cool collection!

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Thanks Andrew :) . Glad you enjoyed it.

  • http://www.modernmom.com/blogs/wendy-irene Wendy Irene

    That was fun reading your list! It made me feel grateful too. It looks like you are 1 of 4 kids, 2 boys, 2 girls. Me too! I have 2 brothers and 1 sister. Wishing you a very Happy New Year!

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Wendy that is awesome that you recognized that! Nice detective skills… Actually I bet those your “Super Mom Skills”. I know you got them :) .

      I think “Mom Skills” are more powerful than “Ninja Skills” :) .

  • Lindsey

    Hmmm, a few on my list? Sushi, burritos, pizza, Mexican food in general, hot beverages, wine, beer (um, I guess I’m listing all food, huh?), my cats, family, friends, reading the 30 year old Ninja, a clean house, Jack Johnson, my dad’s ranch……hey that was fun. :)
    Great idea on the list.
    Hope you had a good holiday. :)

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      Lindsey that is an awesome list. In particular I like your reading selection :) .

      I hope your holiday has been lovely, amazing, and wonderful… Gosh Darnet! :) .

  • Meg – I Stop For Suffering

    That’s awesome!!

    A few of mine:

    Tea (black tea, milk, 2 sugars ;-) )
    My favourite perfume
    My little boy waking up each morning all soft and squishy
    My nephews
    My Kindle
    Meditation
    Jigsaw puzzles (especially hard ones)
    my iPod

    :-)

    • http://www.30yearoldninja.com/ Izmael Arkin

      So awesome! I love that you are all about jigsaw puzzles. That is a fun one :) .