4 Steps to Being Your BEST Self
Evolve into your best self by transforming your story and engaging your talents.
BEST Self
You are constantly changing. Resistance is futile. Instead, try embracing change and using it to your advantage. Sometimes your environment changes, and other times your perspective changes. No matter what external factors change, you change a little or a lot as a result. Be proactive. What changes would you like to have happen? Invite those changes as you transform and evolve into your best self. Here are the four steps to help you embrace your changes:
Butterfly
Evolution
Storytelling
Talents
Whether the change you’re facing is big or small, you’ll spend less energy and enjoy the ride much more if you embrace it. You might be thinking that you don’t want to embrace negative changes. You won’t know whether it is negative until it happens and you decide that it was negative, based on your perspective. Be curious about the positive things that could come from the change.
Butterfly
Butterflies are amazing. As caterpillars, they are totally focused on eating. Then they surround themselves with a chrysalis, so they can transform. They don’t just instantly change. They have to dissolve their caterpillar identity into a hot mess of soup goop. Within that goop, they have all they need to create a beautiful butterfly. When they’re ready, they struggle to break free, which makes them strong enough to survive. Then they pause long enough for their wings to dry. Finally they fly.
Humans go through a similar transformation. Although we do not grow physical wings, we recreate ourselves to be able to soar to great heights. As children, we consume constantly, growing mentally, emotionally, socially and physically. As teens, we go through puberty, during which we dissolve our childish identity, which results in a hot mess that contains all we need to recreate ourselves into an amazing adult. We struggle through the process to gain the strength we need. Then we pause to solidify our new identity before we continue on our journey.
We have an advantage over the butterflies, because we can transform more than once. Major life events often act as catalysts for transformation. Whether the event is big or small, the principles are the same. You need to dissolve your attachment to the old identity and use the substance to create the next stronger version of yourself. Take all the time you need to integrate your transformation. Then fly!
The keys to a successful transformation are positive self-talk and constantly redirecting yourself to a centered state to allow yourself the time and energy you need to transform. Trust that you have all you need to transform.
Evolution
Transformation results in an evolution to a greater, stronger, more mature version of yourself. The degree to which you evolve depends on your level of resistance versus acceptance. You can choose to accept the changes that are happening and to be proactive in evolving as much as you can at your current level in your life spiral.
Evolve your belief system by shifting your mindset. What limiting beliefs need to be transformed to empower you? Many people have limiting beliefs that revolve around a sense of not being good enough, a sense of isolation and/or a sense of lack. Shift your beliefs where needed to affirm that you deserve a wonderful life, you can have wonderful relationships, and you can receive all you need to fulfill your purpose.
Evolve your response system by shifting from reactions to response-ability. When preparing for a meeting of any kind, send love and good energy to those you’ll be meeting and set an intention for the best possible outcome for the meeting. This prep step puts you in the right energetic state to be positive and naturally invites others to be positive by responding to your energy. Reactions are based on fear, and love conquers fear every time.
Evolve your health system by taking care of your elemental needs - air, water, earth, fire and aether. Air is the most immediate difference between life and death. You can use your breath to energize you and to destress you. Water is second. Both internal and external hydration are important. Earth provides us with all the nutrients we need. Eat as close to nature as possible. Fire comes from the sun and physical movement to rev your metabolism and energize you. Aether includes all the intangible needs for security, belonging, esteem and actualization. Consciously choose to evolve all aspects of your health system.
Storytelling
Your life is made of stories that you tell yourself. Your past is a series of events that you share as a story from your perspective, which may be modified over the years. You presently identify yourself as your current story about your various roles, relationships and resources, and the meanings you’ve made about them. Your future is the story of who you want to be. Stories can change for various purposes, so why not change your perception of the stories to make them the best version possible?
Start with yourself. What is the best story you can share about your identity, who you are and your philosophy of life? Fill a treasure chest of stories about your accomplishments, your favorite relationships and your abundant health and wealth. Include the facts and only spin toward good and positive aspects.
Next focus on your stories about your family and friends. What roles do they play in your life? What positive labels do you give them. What are the main events that you’ve shared with them? Even seemingly negative events often result in more positive outcomes. Include important facts and positive spins.
Finally, what are your stories about how you view life itself? What is your big picture view of this amazing world? What is your contribution to the world? Or what contribution would you love to make in the future? Choose the best facts and spin.
Nothing is 100% positive or negative. Everything is neutral until you label it. Sometimes the apparent “worst” events provide you with the greatest gifts. So give your stories a positive spin.
Talents
Another aspect of being your BEST self is to emphasize your talents. Our culture still emphasizes specializing in one area, but we are finally learning again to embrace more general talents, even if one is our specialty. So fill your treasure box with a list of all your talents, whether big or small and mental, emotional or physical. Don’t take any of your talents for granted.
Start with your intellectual talents, your rational intelligence. Assess your best qualities pertaining to your ability to learn and assimilate information in any area. How do you gain understanding and wisdom? What are your vocational skills? List them all, none are too small or insignificant to consider.
Then consider your intuitive talents, your emotional intelligence. What are your best qualities in your relationships and your social skills? Are you supportive, a good friend? Are you an arbitrator between friends or coworkers? Do you have intuitional flashes and have you learned to trust them? Remember, no talent is too small to list in your treasure chest.
Next comes your instinctual talents, your gut instinct. Which of your natural traits and developed strengths control your subconscious reactions? Are you calm in a storm? What physical talents have you developed? List even the little ones.
Hiding your talents causes them to atrophy, so use them all frequently to fulfill your life purpose passionately, truthfully, lovingly and completely.
Going Deeper with Being Your BEST Self
In the next several blog posts, I will discuss the steps to being your BESt self in more depth.
3 Stages of Transformation
Embrace Your Transformation into Your BEST Self
3 Keys to Inspirational Storytelling
Share Your BEST Stories as Treasures
3 Ways to Multiply Your Talents
Amplify Your Talents to Be Your BEST