To answer that question, we must examine the definition of fulfilment.

What does it really mean, especially when it comes to your health and wellness goals, and how EXACTLY do you achieve such a thing?

The Merriam Webster Dictionary describes being fulfilled as “feeling happiness and satisfaction” and “feeling that one’s abilities and talents are being fully used”.

My coaching mission is to help people breathe simplicity into their lives through the optimization of nutrition, stress tolerance, and mindset, so they can be the happiest, healthiest, most fulfilled version of themselves.

Being happy and healthy are mainstream concepts, which most people can wrap their heads around. But being fulfilled is a bit vague and perhaps something that we don’t often consider.

A sense of satisfaction is integral to the concept, so let’s begin by exploring what it means to be satisfied.

Being satisfied is accepting that you’re exactly where you need to be. It’s living in the moment and trusting in the decisions you’ve made, not second guessing them.

Nor is it worrying about who you’ll be tomorrow. You might have an idea for how you want to grow, but being satisfied means having the unshakable belief that you’ll get there. There is no resentment for where you are today.

It’s simply believing that you deserve the life you’ve been dreaming of and that you have everything you need to get there. You’re on a path that has no deadline. It’s a journey and you acknowledge the beauty in that journey—you’re not waiting to achieve the outcome before giving yourself permission to feel satisfied or fulfilled.

The truth is that owning a sense of satisfaction, and therefore fulfilment, is about intentionally crafting a mindset that allows you to receive those things and accept them as your reality.

Your mindset is the lens through which you filter all things in your life. It’s the story you tell yourself about yourself—what you’re worthy of, what you’re capable of, and everything in between. It’s how you see the world in relation to yourself—is it conspiring to do you good or drag you down?

I had a great conversation with a client this week that illustrated just what this means in practice. She’d moved from Nova Scotia to British Columbia’s interior a decade or so ago. She told me she’s never even considered second guessing that decision because what she’s gained has been so enriching. She celebrates that she’s etched out a place in her community working in a job that has purpose, spending her free time volunteering to help animals in need, and has built a social circle of amazing friends who are active and like minded.

She is, in a word, fulfilled.

How you view your life can be like that too. The part of your brain that dictates what you pay attention to and what you dismiss, is called your Reticular Activating System or RAS. The RAS is a bundle of nerves at your brainstem responsible for the filter that your mind uses to weed through the millions of images, sounds, smells, and other pieces of data that you’re exposed to each day to highlight the ones of importance.

Set your RAS to look for what’s going well and why you’re fulfilled, and you’ll get more of those indicators.

Set your RAS on all the reasons life isn’t going according to plan and you guessed it—that’s what you’ll be choosing to reinforce.

In those simple terms, you have a lot of power to shift your mindset to change the things you focus on if you don’t like your current lens. You can choose fulfilment over all the other possibilities.

People often come to me feeling frustrated, unhappy, disempowered, and trapped in a body that doesn’t reflect their best self.

They’re dissatisfied AND unfulfilled.

To help my clients move towards a sense of fulfilment, I guide them through three pillars, including defining their purpose, reframing their perspective, and recognizing opportunities for play.

Fulfilment comes when you have a clear sense of purpose that anchors you. It’s crafting a state of mind that accepts that you’re exactly where you need to be on your change journey. You know just how to move forward, but you’re not stressed about the destination because you’re engrossed in the pleasure of mastery that comes with accomplishing each step.

Fulfilment is bolstered by flexing a sense of gratitude in every way you can—shifting your perspective to value all the good that’s come your way. It’s understanding that even the tiniest of wins are still wins and progress trumps perfection every time.

It’s looking for ways to turn mundane health and wellness “tasks” into opportunities for play, embracing the fun in being creative, getting better at things, taking action, and following through on the goals you set for yourself.

Let me ask you again—are you fulfilled?