by Janelle Legge | Oct 24, 2017 | Wellbeing
Are you feeling stressed and energetically bombarded by everything that’s going on around you at the moment? If you can relate, then it’s important to set aside time to reconnect with what nourishes you on a more spiritual level. Because stress and living in constant overdrive is not only bad for your mindset and general health, it’s hurting your brain.
Here’s why self care really matters and isn’t something to put last on your ‘To Do List’ :
Studies in brain science show that optimal brain states occur when you’re relaxed. That’s when you’re the most creative, can think outside the box, and come up with genius ideas and solutions. It’s also when you’re the most centred, grounded, and connected to your very core.
Stress is a precursor to anxiety and negative, toxic thinking. All of which impacts you on a molecular level. When you’re consumed by negative, toxic thoughts and feelings, it constricts your brain’s ability to function at it’s best. It narrows your awareness and focus (resulting in tunnel vision), and your ability to dream big and visualize positive outcomes. You start to believe your own negative scripts around what’s possible and what’s not.
Doing regular self care is vital to good brain function and a healthy, expansive, enriched life. It’s what allows you to BE in the moment, and open to possibilities. You’re also able to step out of the chaos and think clearly and see what needs to be simplified. And it’s a solid way to build your confidence and improve your self image.
If you’re ready to clear out the negative toxic energy in your life, here are 3 things you can do to get off the treadmill of stress and overwhelm and into more optimal ways of being:
3 Steps to Spiritual Cleansing and a Healthy Brain
1. Be honest with what’s not working for you
Take some quiet time alone to be really honest with what’s going on in your life. Make a list of all the things that are making you feel resentful, exhausted, flat, or uninspired. Decide what you need to release so you can make space for what’s personally rewarding and authentic to you.
2. Know what nourishes you
Spend time in an environment where you can unplug, relax, and be in the moment. This might be in nature, by the ocean, or listening to calming music. Journal what nourishes and inspires you, and how you can bring more of this into your life on a regular basis.
3. Listen to your body every day
Your body is your most reliable barometer for letting you know when you’re on the right track, or heading off course. Tuning into what you’re feeling in the moment is a powerful way to grow awareness around how your thoughts and behaviours impact your feelings. It will help you identify what’s draining your energy, and what you need to release. It’s about shifting your focus away from the outer environment and taking the time to tune into what’s going on inside you. And if you find this difficult to do, yoga, tai chi and other forms of moving meditations are great ways to get started.
Knowing what de-stresses and nourishes you lets you be the best version of you. It enriches your brain, your outcomes and the quality of your entire future life.
by Janelle Legge | Feb 25, 2015 | How To Self Actualize
If you’re not backing yourself and your own ideas then knowing the 7 essential self actualizing mindsets and behaviours is the antidote to living your life according to someone else’s ideas and rules.
It’s the pathway to evolving a style and philosophy that comes from your centre.
Choosing self actualization as a way of life, changes your life.
And if you look at artists, explorers, entrepreneurs, creators – anyone who’s totally rocking it and having a blast living their brand, you’ll find self actualization as one of the top common traits all these people share.
But most of us need regular inspiration and reminders to stay on the self actualization path. And it’s totally doable.
Self actualization is about cultivating attitudes, mindsets and behaviours that let you discover from real experiences what’s personally meaningful for you. What you’re made of. And to create from this.
It’s the pathway to reaching your perceived potential. But you don’t stop there. You keep going way beyond this into infinite possibility.
Here’s how you can get on the self actualizing path, if you’re not already, and stay on it:
7 Essential Self Actualizing Mindsets and Behaviours
1. Be curious
Curiosity coupled with optimism are trade mark qualities of self actualizers. Curiosity creates optimism, openness and excitement. When you’re in these states, you have more energy. You’re more vitalized in a natural and healthy way. It’s curiosity and optimism that keeps self-actualizers going, wanting to forge new paths, explore and test new ideas and see what happens next.
If you’re wondering what curiosity and optimism looks like in action in real life and in business, think Richard Branson, the high-end version of self actualization. If you can model just some of this kind of approach to life, you’re doing well.
2. Grow your potential
Self actualizers LOVE to learn and see personal development as a birth right. They totally get the value of investing in themselves and know they are worth it. They’ve learnt from experience that the more they develop and stretch themselves personally and in their biz/career, the richer and more amazing their life becomes. And everyone around them also benefits.
3. Back your own ideas
Self actualizers have confidence in their own ideas. They’re prepared to back themselves. It’s this kind of self-belief that frees you up to be creative and innovative. It’s not about waiting around for, or relying on, the approval or opinions of other people. Self actualizers believe they have agency in the world and can positively influence their environment and the lives of other people through their ideas and creations.
4. Know and Trust yourself
At the centre of self actualization is being self-aware. Get clear on your values, beliefs and what you want out of life. Self awareness is also about being intuitively tuned into what you’re feeling. It’s seeing your feelings as a live stream of vital clues and information about yourself, other people and situations. Self actualizers know how to decipher and trust their gut-feel on things. And if this is an area where you feel you’re not strong, it’s something that you can learn. It’s about first “looking inward, then moving forward” ~ Rachel Zoe
5. Love yourself
Being self-aware is also about self acceptance and self compassion. And applying the same consideration to other people. It’s about being okay with where you’re at – at any time in your life. Just being you and being in the moment. Self love is also about believing that you’re worthy enough to get your needs met. That you can go out into the world with self belief and confidence and get pretty much whatever it is that you want out of life.
6. Complete Things
Self actualizers know when they need to be disciplined and focused and can stay on task until the job gets done. They also get the value of bringing in the right people and resources. It’s through building a track record of bringing things to completion, that you build self-confidence, self-trust and self-belief. The positive reinforcement you get from each successful completion encourages you to take on bigger and better things in life, knowing you’ve got the goods to make things happen.
7. Live your passions
Self-actualizers are prepared to turn a personal passion into a successful enterprise, or at least give it a go and see what happens next. It’s a stand out quality that sets them apart. Most people don’t follow their passions, for a whole range of stories and beliefs that they have bought into. At a cost. Living your passions is enriching on all levels, because you’re doing and experiencing life through all of your senses. It’s great for building in new neural pathways from having meaningful and vitalizing experiences. When you live this way, you thrive. So start taking your passions more seriously. Optimism and passion are great for your health. They release endorphins and all the feel good chemicals in a beneficial way. Your passions are vital clues as to which pathways will nourish and reward you the most on a mind, body and soul level.
So if you want to feel self confident and start backing yourself and your ideas, self actualization is where it’s at.
“Our self feeling in this world depends entirely on
what we back ourselves to be and do.”
~ William James
