Top 10 Most Important Things To Me

Why would you want to make a Top 10 list of what is most important to you? How can it serve you? How to go about it? This today's challenge.

Making a list is the oldest trick in the book to keep you on target, and not forgetting.

Think shopping lists, to make sure you buy everything you need on your next visit to the supermarket. Every time I either didn't prepare a list, or look at my list (like this morning), you can be 100% sure I'll forget to get something I need (this morning, it was my eggs for breakfast next week!)

In this instance, making a list of your Top 10 (or any other number you choose) of anything, reminds you of your priorities, the way you lead your life, what is close to your heart, what helps you the most.

After all, in this life, with all its few ups and many downs, all the challenges we face on a daily basis, we often get lost and forget values or little things we live by, and we all need a little help remembering.

No matter how shitty my day is at work, how much I run around like a headless chicken, feeling dizzy and overwhelmed, this Top 10 list reminds me that this is not it, that there are things so much more important, essential and valuable to life than the stress of having to sort out someone else's cock-ups and having a dozen things to do at the same time on a daily basis.

I know that focusing on these precious things switches me off from the stress and aftermath zombie-like state when I get home. This list keeps reminding me over and over again that this madness is not my life, it does not define it; it is only a life situation.

What defines my life is all the things that matter the most to me (this list), for which I am always ever so grateful, and thinking this way, seeing things this way is a total shift of consciousness. But it has changed my life - literally - and contributes every single day to my happiness and inner peace.

Now how did I go about creating this list? The answer is brainstorming. I thought and focused on the question and let the ideas flow naturally, writing them down in my notebook. You will find that the more ideas you think about, the more will come up - which is a great help to know yourself.

You will also notice that, very often, the first ideas you came up with will be in your Top 10 because they came spontaneously, as a reflex, coming straight from the heart, without hesitation. It certainly was the case for me.

Then, from your list, you go through all your ideas and let your heart/instinct speak for itself; you will automatically prioritise these ideas - which are more important and which are secondary.

Finally, you can put your 10 remaining ideas in order of importance.

This technique will work from any Top (10) list you wish to devise.

You can write your final list nicely - designing a poster, collage, a card, any format you like - and display it somewhere in your home or keep in your bag so that, anywhere you are, you can remind yourself of what makes your life so special and precious.

This is my Top 10 List:

1. my loved ones
2. my health
3. safety
4. learning and personal development
5. my art supplies and creativity
6. truth and honesty
7. kindness
8. honour
9. food
10. my meditation practice

And here is my Top 10 list poster:

With much love x