What would you be if you could be anything you wanted?

No, I’m not talking about doctors or plumbers or nurses or electricians or accountants or teachers or preachers or IT professionals or brick layers or other professions. I’m talking about qualities and/or behaviors that you want to be or to have, for yourself. Some people may call them values or character traits or superpowers or noble qualities.

How do you figure out which ones are yours, or which ones you want?

Imagine that you have the ability to give every newborn baby in the world one quality, what would it be? Joy? Wisdom? Self-Acceptance? Creativity? Compassion? Power? Competence? Emotional intelligence? Persistence? Love? Curiosity? Something else? Go ahead, give them a second one…and a third. Those are qualities that are important to you, and likely the ones you want for your own life..

How do you focus on them to have them show up in your life?

One way is to be mindful in focusing on them. Suppose you wanted to be kind or compassionate.

- First, how do you define those qualities for yourself? What would they look or sound like?  

- Second, how would you express them in your everyday life, what would you actually do to be kind or compassionate?

- Third, how would you remind yourself about them every morning, noon and/or night? “I intend to….,” “I am willing to practice being…,” “Whenever I have the opportunity to be … I will ….”?

It’s often helpful to create a statement that you can speak out loud, or write down in order to make it more concrete for yourself.

- Make it short and simple so that you can remember it.

- Make it in the present tense.

- State it positively. The brain hears positive statements and skips right over “not” or “don’t.” If you see a sign that says “don’t run,” The brain doesn’t compute the “don’t.” It’s much more effective to remind someone to “Remember to...” than it is to say “Don’t forget…”

Having said all that, what are you now willing to do with your intention to be or show the character traits you value, that you wish everyone in the world had some portion of? What would you do differently today that you haven’t usually done in the past?

Does it feel different? Better? Worse? Is it more fun to behave from your specific intention than if you didn’t?

Just notice how your life feels when you’re conscious of your intention and live from that quality within you. Notice if there is any fear around expressing that intention, and what kind of fear it is, whether it has to do with something you can control, or if it has to do with what other people may think of you, or something else.

Once you start noticing those fears or your new ability and conscious intention, you can do something about it – both your intention, and any fears around letting it shine out of you into the world.

Photo by: Dhivakaran S / Pexels