Recognize who you are deep within
Recognize who you are, deep within, and draw strength and pride from your value and your heritage.
Growing up in Mississippi in the 1960s could have been bleak considering the social environment at the time. But it wasn’t. The adults in my family, our schools, churches, and communities made all of us feel valued and worthwhile.
We knew who we were because we were loved and taught to love all people based on their integrity, honesty, and genuine concerns for others. We were never measured by our material possessions.
Our worth was based upon what was in our minds, hearts, and souls. We knew that we could not make excuses for not helping others, or even more important, we could not make excuses for not helping ourselves. Giving up was not accepted. We were told that the words “can not” were not part of our vocabulary, and that if you tripped and fell, you must get up, brush yourself off, and start over.
I recall my third grade teacher giving the class an assignment to write a poem entitled “Who am I?” I took so much pride in writing that poem that I can recite it today without a moment’s hesitation.
That experience helped me to grow in self-awareness. It established a frame of reference for looking at myself and the world. Understanding yourself is important before you can understand the rest of the world around you and begin to use your gifts to the fullest extent possible.
FIVE TIPS FOR RECOGNIZING WHO YOU ARE:
- Make a list of the beliefs you have about yourself – negative and positive.
- Examine each belief. Where did it begin? Does it serve you and your goals to continue to hold that belief? Write your thoughts and feelings about your beliefs in your journal.
- Make a list of the values you were reared to hold. Are they active and appropriate in your life today?
- Ask those you trust to tell you their perception of who you are. You may be quite surprised by what you hear and gain valuable insight into the parts of yourself you’ve never acknowledged.
- Honor what you learn from the exercises. Be content with the you that is, and take steps to change the beliefs that no longer serve you.
Power Play! Discover the Secrets to Spirit-Winning Success by Lisa L. Wicker
Following in the footsteps of her trailblazing first book, The Winning Spirit: Building Employee Enthusiasm, Dr. Lisa J. Lindsay Wicker lays out steps for recognizing and developing the internal potential to achieve your goals and dreams. In Power Play! Discover the Secrets to Spirit-Winning Success, Dr. Wicker shares how to stretch, risk, and grow into a strong, fulfilling life, and explains: 12 steps for overcoming limiting beliefs, Why playing small doesn’t serve you or the world, and 7 keys for unleashing your personal power. As a bonus, Dr. Wicker provides more than 95 Power Plays for career and personal success throughout the book. Drawing on her career and personal life experiences, this empowering book helps you overcome limiting beliefs, guides you to new ones, and step by step teaches you the secrets to powerfully play the game of life. Power Play! is a fantastic primer on how to use your personal power in a positive way to win!
https://www.amazon.com/Power-Play-Discover-Secrets-Spirit-Winning/dp/0978922433