4 Things You Can Do Now To Adopt a Winner’s Mindset
What I learned from studying Taoism.
Let’s be honest, you are your most valuable asset. If you’re not investing in yourself, your success will be minimal, no matter what you do. It is time to invest in yourself before anything else. Here are 4 things you can do now to start the next year off strong!
1. Transcend Judgement/Preservation
Like the marigold flower blooms all summer, a primrose is a late-blooming winter flower and has a short life span. Like a flower, we each have our own time of fruition. Why not go with the flow of things this time around?
Even if our opinion is justified, criticizing others usually makes them weary and defensive.
Criticizing also takes our attention away from our lives, which should be number one in focus. Self-righteous criticism and arguments only massage the ego, perpetuating separation, increasing personal and planetary conflict. The Tao reminds us:
“Though some people seem bad, do not reject them.”
No doubt we have learned how to build tolerance this year, but certainly not out of weakness. It has been out of the need to preserve our power! Preservation will help accomplish our goals and bring more success to our work. On the other hand, condemnation is fragmentation. It is time to uplift and save our power, not impose and drain them. Power is strength and strength means being in harmony with nature. Let’s preserve ourselves and the planet! Remember that without it we’d have no place to accomplish anything.
2. Transcend Anger
“The best fighter is never angry” — Tao Te Ching
There is no denying there has been plenty to get angry about. But there’s also never been a better time to transcend, which is an amazing thing! Anger repressed kept inside undermines our health, poisoning our minds and bodies. Our anger is real but we can’t allow it to dominate or victimize us, therefore allowing a more hostile world.
One very important lesson to learn is how to deal wisely with anger. In The Tao, we learn everything is energy. Anger is a powerful energy, which is hard to ignore. The Tao teaches us to channel anger and use its power as a win for yourself and others. Transform the energy into an exercise, an art, or any project you care about. I did this for many of the frustrations I was having with the inequalities in the world. I took writing classes to help channel my anger into words. I ended up writing poetry, which I now love. I later took ariel yoga to build strength in my muscles and learn to build trust in others. Now when I’m angry I create art or join a class. I transformed my anger into creativity, into learning something new. Now I can say there’s nothing more I love than hanging upside down in a hammock. Ask yourself, what new skill or art could you use to transcend fear into more love for yourself or your work?
Whatever it is for you, use it to learn or create something you never thought you would! With this power being transcended into higher levels of consciousness you can only add to the fulfillment of your dreams and the betterment of the planet. It’s a much better place to be in when more people live their dreams!
3. Self Acceptance
“When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be.”
— Tao Te Ching
The Te in Tao Te Ching means a few things, one of which is self-acceptance. Don’t waste any more of your energy on self-criticism. The Tao teaches us that everything in nature is valuable, everything has its place. Think about how that relates to you. A flower, a tree, a squirrel, each manifests its potential differently. Why should we be the only species that continues to try and do things all the same way? Why should we be any different from the ways of nature?
A rose does not wish to be a lily and a lily does not wish to be a rose. Accept who you are in totality. Learn more about what makes you special and practice it more and more each day, until you’re the best version of it. You can do this by accepting who you are right now, and if you can’t, then now is the time to decide who you want to be and build upon it. Without looking back or even forward, be the person you want to be now! Live in your dream self today! The Tao teaches us imagination is a gift and can be closer to our true selves. The more you can accept yourself the more your outer reality can reflect the things you want. All manifestation is doing is reflecting your level of acceptance.
It took me a bit of time to get this into practice. I thought I knew what it all meant the first time around, but when it came down to embodying this it didn’t come easy at all. But that was because all this time what I had been learning was the process of duplicating someone else’s success. What already worked for them, not what was going to work for me. All that I had been learning was false information. It was going against the grain, against the natural way of who I was, who I wanted to be, and who I naturally am.
Ask yourself, who are you naturally? Do you like this person? If so, keep nurturing and having fun with who you are. Life should be lived fulfilled all the time!
If you don’t like this person staring back at you, then first be compassionate. Then take the time to get to know who you’d like to be and be brave enough to take the first step toward this person. Remember there is far more to gain here than there is to lose! When we heal our inner world, we grow our external world to a place of more acceptance and abundance. So go on and accept every inch of you!
4. Beyond Ego
Witness how all life connects. The way of love is not egotistical or possessive, which is simply a mask (no pun intended) to the truth that lies dormant inside. Somehow, somewhere along the way, we encountered something that was out of alignment with our true self. This might have created some pain or hurt. Some of us still carry that womb deep inside, and instead of confronting it, we mask it with fancy silks and scarves. The point is to realize we all deal with things differently and letting go is one of the hardest things humans have to do. If you can master this art, however, growth and success can become much more fun and less stressful and challenging. It doesn't have to be hard all the time!
This year let’s face it, it’s time to be in the best relationship we’ve ever had, not just with others, but with ourselves. If we want growth in our lives it’s time to cut away from the people, the habits, and the mindset that feeds our ego. Ask yourself, where are you feeding your ego?
Remember these things are limited to just our ego. In fact in the end they cause more problems than they are worth.
This year was a major tarot card tower moment. It was also a death card moment. It is sad to think, so much of our planet, our world has died this year. However, the next card in this circle of life is temperance. It is time to begin creating harmonious new cycles. Let’s start now!
It is not too soon to start thinking about what you can do now to kick off the next year stronger than before.
Where is it that you want to invest your time, money, and energy? How will you transcend all that you've learned?
It’s time to put it all into writing just like any other contract with an agent. It’s time to sign it and date it, with the title being: Investing In My Dreams. Now is the time to go for the thing you thought you could never do. Now is the time to expand your natural gifts and make the world much brighter!
