by Janelle Legge | May 10, 2022 | Anxiety
Step away from the noise. Follow your own inner directives.
Learning to live with uncertainty requires a solid sense of self where you’re able to think independently and cope with whatever life delivers. Yet when the world is in a state of flux, it can take a lot of energy and self-coherence to not get pulled along with the panicked herd.
It can take a lot of inner reserve to be able to follow your own inner-directives, do your own thinking and research – and stay grounded and calm. More than 2 years into this ongoing atmospheric uncertainty and upheaval, cultivating a solid sense of Self is one of the most worthwhile things you can do amidst all of the alarmism and anomalies. We’ve had our senses bombarded with repetitive mind-numbing scripts for over 2 years now.
So if you’re feeling energetically and emotionally scattered and drained by all of this uncertainty and flux, reconnecting with your own inner guidance system is the best way to re-charge, reinvigorate and re-empower yourself.
It requires turning down the incessant noise and distraction so you can clear out the rubbish thoughts in your head and focus on what you need to do to raise the quality of your thinking, your vibration and your overall wellbeing.
Establish daily routines so you can connect with your own inner guidance
It’s taking a holistic approach. Setting up daily routines and good self-care regimes are the starting points for this. Yoga, exercise, spending time in nature, meditation and gratitude journaling are excellent grounding activities that bring you into the present moment so you can connect with that quiet, confident voice deep inside of you. You’re then better able to become aware of the quality of your daily thinking and start replacing negative thinking spirals with thoughts that empower, uplift and support you.
Uncertainty and the unknown triggers the primitive parts of your brain that’s hard-wired to constantly scan the terrain and look for danger or unusual patterns. Learning how to live with uncertainty requires over-riding the primitive-brain’s reactive rapid fight, flight or freeze responses – or to at least be able to step back, reflect and choose to respond more constructively to whatever’s going on.
Daily meditation (even 10-15 minutes a day is powerful and life-changing), yoga and other moving meditations help build your self-reflective capabilities. They help you connect deeply with yourself, how you’re feeling within your body and create the space to become aware of the thoughts that are dominating your consciousness moment to moment.
Listen to your intuition
People-pleasing or ignoring your inner voice to go along with the crowd, or what some in the media are telling you to do – when it just doesn’t feel right for you – not only damages your instincts, it seriously messes with your self-cohesion and erodes your self-confidence and your self-respect.
That quiet voice inside of you is there for a reason. Listen to it and find the additional information you need before making important decisions that can have lasting results and consequences. Because each time you ignore your own inner-directives you dull your instincts, undermine your self confidence and become disconnected from your own power.
Commit to your self and your wellbeing now
So what’s one thing you can do to better support and nourish yourself starting today? Just pick one thing that you can do each day and build up from there.
Back yourself. Trust yourself more. You’ve got this.
*If you’re feeling anxious and ungrounded book an online therapy session to get the support you need.
Tags: Anxiety Coping Strategies, Anxiety Relief, Intuition, Living with uncertainty, Mindfulness, Mindfulness in daily life, Motivation, Present moment, Self actualizing mindsets, Self Empowerment, Self Esteem Boost
by Janelle Legge | Jul 22, 2017 | Self Actualization
Being creative, innovative and developing your own individualistic style are core self-actualizing mindsets and behaviours. They take commitment and self belief.
It’s almost impossible to self-actualize, reach your highest potential and thrive when you’re constantly looking over your shoulder to see what everyone else is doing and then judging yourself in relation to this and adjusting your behaviour accordingly. Causing you to just blend in with everyone else. It’s one of the biggest distractions and blocks to connecting with and cultivating your creativity. It’s also one of the biggest things that will hold you back and keep you stuck at your current level.
Not honouring your creative self eventually leads to unhappiness, frustration and boredom.
If you’re feeling disconnected from your imagination and own inspirations and creative ideas, then it’s likely that your creativity was shut down at some stage. Maybe for you this happened when you were growing up? Parents and teachers can unknowingly squash the natural exuberance and creativity that children love to display, particularly if it’s triggering their own disowned spontaneous, creative and more individualistic selves.
This can play out in many different ways. The ambitious parent who was never allowed to pursue their own creative interests growing up gets annoyed and critical when they see their own child expressing similar desires and discourages their creative efforts – without even realizing this is happening. The frustrated artist who begrudgingly teaches for a living because they can’t survive off their artwork alone, unintentionally criticizes and squashes the natural talents of a gifted student.
Or maybe it’s happened in your professional life? A common scenario here can be the toxic, envious colleague who sends personally attacking feedback on a presentation you made because it didn’t fit with their idea of how you should have ‘done it’. Or being bullied or stonewalled in the workplace because it’s a ‘tall poppy syndrome’ culture where anyone who displays vitality, innovation and creative potential gets stripped down.
Creativity can get shut down and stifled for a whole range of reasons.
If someone’s criticized or attacked your creative efforts in the past and it’s been keeping you stuck, then it’s time to leave those experiences behind and start telling yourself a new story around this.
Connecting back to your childhood is a potent way to reconnect with your creative, uncensored self.
Here’s an example of what I mean by this. Growing up, I loved playing out in nature and creating make believe places using nature as my props. My grandparents had a beautiful big willow tree in their garden and we had a huge pine tree and gum trees in our backyard at home. I also loved dressing up with friends and being in school plays and did Art all through school. So for me, being out in beautiful nature and being around anything to do with art and performance are potent ways to reconnect with my creative side.
Self-Actualizing Mindsets – Self Reflective Practice
Create some space and time to reflect on what you most enjoyed doing as a child.
How did you like to express yourself through creativity and play?
Where did you like to play growing up?
What were your favourite games?
How did you best like to express yourself, your ideas and your imagination?
Patterns such as suppressing creative self-expression, people pleasing, always comparing yourself to others and being overly outer-focused instead of inner-focused get passed down through generations.
Until you decide to break the pattern and start doing life on your own terms.
Where do you need to lead more and have the courage to express yourself in ways that your authentic self can shine through?
Are your environments supporting your creative self-expression or do you need to surround yourself with new, more like-minded people who want you to succeed?
When you honour and invest in your creative self and develop your own unique style, you inspire others to do so as well.
by Janelle Legge | Jul 15, 2017 | Self Actualization
One of the stand out traits of successful people is having the self-confidence and self-belief that you can shape your environment so that it supports you and works for you.
Knowing you can influence your environment in positive ways is one of the top self actualizing mindsets that leads to personal fulfilment and career and life success.
You’re also able to better empower others and support their success.
Feeling powerless to change your environment and circumstances comes from your past. It’s usually an indicator that you’re holding onto old beliefs around fear, security and power that you absorbed growing up.
If you’re not feeling satisfied with your life, your work or your environment, then do something to change it.
Self actualizing mindsets and behaviours are key to positive change and feeling capable and confident in the world.
Believe in your potential to grow. Try something new each day.
The fastest way to shift your self image and build self confidence is through real life experiences that empower you and show you what you’re capable of achieving.
