Jul 23

Jul 23 Jump Start Your Transformation

“Embrace the power of little things and you will build a tower of mighty things. Mighty things are made up varieties of little things put together!” ~ Israelmore Ayivor

As human beings we all have three things we can say we have in common no matter who you are, where on this planet you were born or what race you are. You are born, you live and learn, and then pass on. Whether life hits you with a blessed life or a terrible one is irrelevant to the fact that you must “live and learn”. Many people don’t understand this concept and believe life simply happens without thinking about what they are learning about and how this can impact their life. By doing this, people are not being intentional with their life, they are either surviving or existing, day after day, no real goals, or plans. This is not because some of them purposely want to, they just don’t think about anything past today because they are truly surviving.

However, we were not designed to simply exist or survive. I believe we were meant to thrive, but to do this you must be intentional on understanding yourself better. As a retired community college instructor and now leadership coach, I have come up with a strategy known as “The Quad Core of Self” that can help you jump start the way you see yourself in the world and motivate you to see beyond, the possibilities are endless if you can change the way you think of yourself. It starts with you being real with yourself, no more in denial, whether it’s good or bad behavior, it starts with a true self-assessment.

There are many assessments out there that are very good, however they leave out the fact that you are a three parts being. Therefore, your auto evaluation should include all three parts of you. Here below is the description of how you can do this daily without getting technical or all tied up in theories.

You are three parts being: Body, Soul, Spirit. To understand each one, let’s sum up what each one is and how they intertwine with our world.

Your Body – the vessel by which you can interact on Earth. It engulfs your world-consciousness. With it you see, hear, smell, touch and taste which helps you to determine likes or dislikes. Your body is the base of your learning. You put a jacket on because your body tells you it’s cold outside or put on a bathing suit when your body is telling you to take a cool swim on a hot summer day. It is where your physical strength, well being or ailments can influence the internal part of you.

Your Soul – this is defined as your mind, will and emotions/emotional intelligence. It encompasses your intellect (also known as Freud's theory of personality, id or subconscious) which is your state of mind concerning things like belief systems. It houses your emotions like love, fear, or confusion. Critical or analytical thinking for decision making can be blinded by emotions. It is the home of your mental health. This area is critical in your learning because it tells you how or how not to feel about whatever it is you are interacting with, or how you perceive things. For example: “As a man thinks, so is he” Proverbs 23:7 or for those of you that are not religious René Descartes “I think, therefore I am”

Your Spirit – Your true self, connected to your faith/ or core belief system, your energy, your lifeforce.

For example: Christians, Muslims and Jews belief is we are made in the image of God and our spirit is connected to Him. Buddhist believe we can be one with the universe in spirit. Agnostics believe in their spirit connecting to many paths leading to a higher being and so on.

Use nature as your outlet to exercise, pray or meditate

This series is not to convince you any specific faith system, but whatever you do recognize that the state of your spirit must be evaluated too.

Here are the next questions which are the basis of this series. You need to evaluate each one individually with three simple questions:

1. How well am I taking care of my (body, soul, spirit)?

The answer to the first question will help you define the next

2. Do I really love/respect my (body, soul, spirit) enough to change the way I do things that can affect it negatively?

The answer to the second question will determine your pathway

3. What things do I need to do, or not do to change the way I feel about myself or the pathway I am on?

This is a basic evaluation that can be done to help you jump start your transformation. You cannot start anything without a plan. It takes a person 21 days to create a habit so make sure once you have seriously thought about yourself, determined some things you want to change, create a 21-day plan, or do an internet search and find one based on what you want to change. Some people need a partner to start their accountability. If its weight loss, go to the gym’s trainer. Marital problems? Go to your councilor, pastor, or priest. Addictions? Get into a support group but the point is, get help. No one is an island, and we all need someone to lend us a helping hand. My transformation started over 20 years ago, it’s time for me to pay it forward.

Next week: Soul Searching with Words