How to show up as a person more
+ being more intentional within your relationships
Yesterday I argued that your clarity and confidence could be increased by being more congruent in your own mind with your identity.
We did this by following a simple exercise that focused on our view of ourselves and who we strive to be.
In the beginning, I mention our self-image and how we treat other people as being part of the foundation of that identity.
But because we only discussed how you could dial in on your self-image and who you are, today we’re going to examining the second part — your relationship with other people.
How would you ideally like to interact with others?
What kind of presence would you ideally like to bring to each of your personal relationships — and strangers in general?
Setting New Standards
If we strive to create more meaningful interactions with people, we must be intentional about what kind of energy we bring to the table.
With all of us running around trying to manage our mind with our fluctuating emotions and different life circumstances — it can be difficult to be the person we truly want to be at times with the people we regularly interact with.
Most of us (at least me) have either lost our temper or allowed an inconsiderate or rude comment to slip out of our flapping mouth to a stranger or loved one who didn’t deserve it.
And that is because before we went into that situation, we were not intent on using our better qualities to serve that person for the better.
Most of us are too busy focusing on serving ourselves instead of using our gifts to help other people.
If we want to be more intentional, we need to be conscious of how we engage others, which will inherently create deeper connections and bring more congruency into our lives.
If you were to walk into a room, and other people could only three words to describe how you interacted with them — what three words would you want them to choose?
These could be words that you relate to but are also aspirational.
In other words, someone may not currently describe you as being that way, but if it’s something you’d like to work up to, that’s okay too.
It’s not just how they would currently define you.
If you could imagine the perfect you, what three qualities would describe how you interact with people?
After you’ve listed out a bunch and then narrowed it down — now it’s time to remind yourself of these throughout your day and consciously remind yourself of them before your interactions.
Me
I personally wrote down: kind, inspiring, accepting, positive, assertive, authentic, relatable, optimistic.
After some deliberation, my final three: optimistic, authentic, assertive (in no particular order, but I think that sounded good)
Notice how I ultimately went with my 5th, 6th, and 8th choice after deeper introspection.
Writing down and visualizing the words and allowing your mind to make a concrete connection with one over the other helps clarify how you’d ideally like to interact with others.
Now Comes the Work
Actually implementing it into your life.
Which can be easier said than done, as they say.
So now that you’ve given it some thought and have your three clear in mind use them as your personal mantra daily when dealing with the people you encounter in life.
By consciously being aware of how you want to be perceived, you will slowly start to embody those characteristics.
Before you realize it — those moments you use to dread with people will mean more than they did before because you bring your most intentional self to the table.
I am confident that if you want to create deeper, more meaningful connections with those closest to you — you’ll take me up on doing the exercise above.
Thanks for reading!
With love ❤
