A couple of weeks ago as part of my “Live Your Life with Heart” partnership with CocoaVia^®, I shared 5 ways that I make the most of every day. I asked you guys to share back to me how you live a life that’s full of heart and happiness and received some seriously amazing responses in the comments.

They were perfect for compiling into a “listicle”-type feel good post and I love it when you guys can help me create content and we can all learn from each other and share ideas. That’s what community is about!

So if you need some motivation to get out there and live your biggest and best life…here it is!

Meditation, Journaling and Prayer

1) Each day I take 5-10 minutes to mediate. It’s the best clearing in the world. It keeps me grounded. – Denyne

2) I keep a gratitude journal and remind myself of my blessings. It keeps things in perspective when I start to complain, grumble or think the grass is greener in someone else’s yard. Writing one thing a day is enough to remind me of how lucky I am. Things may be not perfect but I have an abundance of the intangibles that money can’t buy! – Liz

3) I start and end the day with a short meditation. Right now I’m using “Journey to the Heart” as my daily meditations. – Hillary

4) I almost always read my bible and write in my journal every morning to get my day started! – Alicia

5) I’ve been doing [a gratitude journal] for about 3 months with my 7 year old, where he writes one thing and I write one thing we are thankful for from the day. At the end of the month, we’ve been going back and reading them, and it is amazing to me that even after a short period of time I forget some of the little joys from the day! It has been a really nice habit to get into. – Lauren

6) Ever since going through yoga teacher training in January, I’ve made an effort to incorporate pranayama into my daily life! Even a couple rounds of ujjayi before a potentially stressful situation helps! – Alaina

Connection

7) My rule is at least one hug a day and I have to read before bed! – Rachel

8) I snuggle and play with my kids – even when there is laundry and dishes to do. We are all so much happier since I have ‘let go’ of having to have all the chores done and taken the time to spend together. – Erika

9) Even if we have a busy day, I make sure I sit and eat meals with my daughter. For that time, it’s just us and so precious. – Madeline

10) Yoga and intimate daily conversations with my husband, young adult children and their significant others, reading what I call gratitude pieces like your blog post today reminds me of all the peace, serenity, happiness and love that fill my everyday. – Lesq

Self-Care

11) Yesterday I went to acupuncture and took an epsom salt bath. The difference in the way I feel mentally and physically today is huge! – Danielle

12) I like to go to the gym on my lunch break. It’s the perfect time to exercise, and I also get to socialize a bit with friends while I’m there. – Jill

13) For me, my goal for this year is to turn off work when I get home as best as I can and leave the emotional stress at work. (I am a school psychologist in an urban district) So I am going to cuddle my cat more (which I already do plenty of) but I am going to make a conscious effort to choose love. Turn any negative or angry thought into a loving, grateful one. It has made such a difference for me thus far. – Mollie

14) I’m lucky to work in a building that is along a river with a lovely river walk out front. During the work week I make a point to step outside each day for a 15-30 minute walk to clear my head and get some me-time. – Rosie

15) I like to start every week day with a workout first thing in the morning (5:30 am). It is the best way for me to start my day and get me going. I feel better knowing my exercise is complete and nothing can get in the way throughout the day. – Angie

16) Over the summer I have really enjoyed taking a long walk either really early in the morning while the sun is coming up or at night. I have a Fitbit and I try to get 15,000 to 20,000 steps a day. – Amanda

Technology Boundaries

17) My #1 rule to decrease distraction was deleting my social media apps from my iphone!! I had gotten into the habit of checking them without even really WANTING to. I was just mindlessly doing it. I still have them on my ipad so when I get home and am relaxing, I can skim through the happenings of the day… and I have found that I don’t miss it throughout the day AT ALL! – Ashlee

18) Making sure to take a lunch break away from my desk! – Meg

19) One thing I do to minimize distraction is to put my phone on silent and behind my laptop screen so that I can’t hear or see anything pop up on it while I’m working. Then every x amount of time (half hour, hour, whatever) I’ll give myself permission to check it and chat for a few minutes before returning to work. – Jen

20) I absolutely shut down my phone at night! usually by 7 pm, you can’t reach me via cell – the important people, if they really need me, can call the house phone! – Meredith

CocoaVia Giveaway Winner

I have been using the CocoaVia^® Unsweetened Dark Chocolate powdered stick packs in my smoothies and chia pudding regularly since learning about the product earlier this summer. This daily cocoa extract supplement delivers 375 mg of cocoa flavanols in one serving. Taken daily, numerous scientific studies have demonstrated that cocoa flavanols promote healthy blood flow from head to toe†.

I’ve really enjoyed this partnership with CocoaVia^® to share their “Live Your Life with Heart” campaign and to bring some topics to my blog about discovering and nurturing passions and making the most of every day. Thank you for your engagement with this project, and I hope you’ll try CocoaVia^® yourself very soon!

The winner of my CocoaVia^® giveaway is comment #27 Karen who says, “To make the most of every day: I work from home and turn off my computer at 5 PM to spend time with family! To decrease distraction: get outside and run, ride or hike. I found out yesterday I have a stress fracture and torn meniscus so I’m going to sit outside for coffee until I can start walking.”

Congratulations Karen!

Let’s go into the weekend from a place of gratitude.

If you were writing in a gratitude journal right this moment, what would be the first thing on your list?

Disclosure: I was asked to participate in the CocoaVia^® “Live Your Life with Heart” campaign. I was compensated for my time.

†This statement has not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. This product is not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.