Every Monday, I post a quote on Motivation on Karmic Ally Coaching’s Business Page on Facebook. The image above is an example of one that I posted using a favorite hash tag – #MondayMotivation

It reflects something that many of us are too scared to claim – our unique Point of View (POV).

Point of View is a statement that sums up what we deeply believe about our subject. It’s your opinion and what you want the world to know about you and your stand.

We may not use the exact words of our POV in our daily words but it should be something that is reflected in the way we see and approach the world and in our actions.

When you create a Life Stance Manifesto, you are giving voice to your views.

Your POV shows up everywhere – your conversations with family, friends, colleagues, customers and even in your social media activity.

Try this experiment. The next time you log onto Facebook check your newsfeed for updates and the interactions on them. Check one of your updates and see who liked or loved it and who left a comment.

Most probably they’ll be people with whom you have a lot in common and who share your views.

This is true even of friends who never tire of sharing cat and dog photos and who are most probably animal lovers will have their own friends liking and commenting on the photo.

On the other hand, try LinkedIn updates and see what happens. When it comes to professionals topics, you’ll find some people endorsing the post and others who might not know the person who has posted it adding their own spin and a different view.

We need to embrace our unique POV but also respect that of others (which incidentally is a sign of strong Emotional Intelligence).

Even if the opinions of others are not the same as ours, all dialogue should be done with courtesy, an open mind, tact, and remembering to align our words and actions with our ethics, integrity and beliefs – all components of a strong point of view.

Your POV sets you apart from other people who do similar work and helps you to stand out from the crowd. It’s your unique angle on a particular topic.

It’s not something that you can be coached or trained to create. Although a coach or trainer can help you move away from trite hackneyed statements that you might create by copying someone else’s.

It’s something that you believe about yourself, your work, your expertise or your subject.

It’s the preamble in my Meet Your Coach page on my website and isn’t some slick set of sentences written by a copywriter but one that was developed after spending hours working on what I truly believed and wanted to hold as the North Star for my business and myself.

My own point of view finds expression on my website, blog and on Social Media.

Nothing is impossible if you are willing to step out of your comfort zone and take action to achieve what your heart truly desires.

That’s why the majority of my blog posts and updates always show lots of how to do things or attempt to prompt you to think.

How to develop a robust Point of View

Here’s an interesting fact. Back in school, when you were writing a book report agonizing over first, second and third perspective or a paper in college; you were being really being asked to present your point of view. Even if it did not feel so at the time.

You might have picked up opinions about the book or topic from elsewhere and presented it in a perfect manner only to have your teacher or professor ask you about what you really thought.

That is what having a point of view is about.

Figuring out what your own opinion is can be challenging when you’re deeply immersed in the opinions of other people.

This can range from what a group of friends should eat in a restaurant all the way to our political and spiritual views.

In this post, we’ll look at how you can approach topics with an objective mind, and how you can work out what you really think about something or even life and work in general.

1. Read widely and on diverse topics

The first and most crucial point about forming your own opinions is that it’s vital to read widely – and consider what you read critically, looking for holes in arguments.

Reading books outside of our professional interest or of other genres helps to stimulate the mind to look at things from a different perspective and establish our own unique viewpoint.

It fuels our imagination and when we can look and think beyond what is in front of us, we get an opportunity to understand ourselves better. It opens the door to further thinking about other perspectives and views on the same topic.

Do we agree with other views or do we have a different one?

2. Consider and take into account any personal biases that you have

Perhaps calling it biases is harsh but the truth is our backgrounds, upbringing and experiences shape how we view the world and how we respond to it.

I still remember the day Mr Bob introduced Karl Marx to his first year undergraduate class for Politics 101 back in the University of the West Indies. It is something I will never forget because his prophecy came true.

To lightly paraphrase

“Ladies and gentlemen in the class, I am now going to introduce you to a man and his philosophy that will inspire you till the end of your graduate years but when you step out into the real world and start looking for a job, you will also realize that capitalism will feed your starving belly.”

We were all in awe of Mr. Bob and as he predicted, a herd of Marxists was born, who argued with everybody and quoted stuff like ‘religion being the opium of the poor’.

Our view of the world and the establishment became biased because our friend Karl Marx’s point of view had captured our young imagination.

My parents found it amusing putting it down to youthful exuberance but must have been relieved that we were at that time, halfway across the world from my grandparents in India, who would have had a fit hearing me talk like that.

We transformed into capitalists 6 months after graduating because we had to earn a livelihood and those principles really didn’t work unless you were in a completely socialist setting. The fact that the USSR disintegrated a few years later and India went in for liberalization only proves the point.

As I learned through this experience, when it comes to finding your true opinions, you need to overcome bias by assessing the evidence behind the opinion, the facts as they stand and force yourself to look at things objectively.

3. Maintain a journal or blog

Writing a journal helps us to articulate our thoughts clearly. Whenever an independent thought comes to mind, write it down. You may end up finding something that contradicts your thought, but this is all part of the process of reaching your own conclusions.

Another good way to discover your true point of view is to start a blog. Sharing your views with others will lead to comments from those who either support your view or provide a different view altogether that might lead you to assess your original ideas.

When we understand other’s point of view, it enables us to express our own in language that they would feel comfortable with and thus willing to listen to us too.

Final advice to help create your unique view point

While developing your point of view, remember that having unique ideas is not the same as articulating it properly to others.

You have to present them in a fair-minded and rational way taking into account that the other person is intelligent and has his or her own experiences that they will use to evaluate your stand and point of view.

You will need to demonstrate the strength of your point of view using the skills of reasoning, evidence and persuasion. Your arguments to support your opinion will appeal to others if they are presented with reason, ethics and emotion.

Be ready to support your claims with specific instances and concrete facts to appeal to the other person’s common sense and rational thinking.

Fluffy stuff won’t work and misrepresenting facts will be counterproductive. At no time should any of your actions or words give others a doubt about your principles, integrity or character.

The goal of stating our point of view is to get others to consider it with an open mind. It isn’t a contest with a gold medal at the end and using unethical means is the best way to ruin your credibility and reputation.

Communicating our point of view is not a unilateral activity. It helps to understand the other person’s point of view or sentiments to enable us to present our opinion on a matter in a way that will appeal to their logic too.

Getting others to buy into your point of view requires impacting them at an emotional level, which is what happened with our class of undergraduates when we discovered Karl Marx.

On a bigger world stage, it was Gandhi’s argument for Home Rule that the Indian population found appealing and they followed him.

When the Jallianwalla Bagh Massacre took place and Mahatma Gandhi declared it was time for full independence, the nation followed his call to action.

The rest is history but the essential point is, Gandhi had applied the 3 keys of appealing to his audience – reason, ethics and emotions.

Your turn now.

Do you have a point of view on topics that are important to you? Do you see how it affects your view of the world?

Share your feelings and findings with me in the comments box below.

Once you have a point of view, you need to articulate it in the right way to be seen as an influential leader. That’s why it’s equally important to develop your Signature Voice. Click here to learn more or on the image below.

Let’s get one thing straight. I’m not an advocate of the ‘fake it till you make it’ tactic. I do know there are times when we need to appear confident even if we’re not particularly feeling that way.

One body language tip that not only helps us appear confident but can actually work on the sub-conscious mind to make us feel confident has to do with the eyebrows.

Used properly, it can assist in demonstrating Executive Presence.

Folklore about the Underdog becoming the Top Dog that raised Eyebrows in Court

Back in the days when my diplomat father was posted in Kabul, the long winter season meant staying at home and reading books. It was too cold to go out and play.

It was around this time that I was presented with a book full of folklore from all over the world. I read a story about how an underdog Japanese Hero fought the Fiercest Warrior in the Kingdom to transform from underdog to Top Dog. He won the hand of the princess in marriage which was the main prize.

I must have been 10 years old at the time. Having long forgotten the name of the story, the eyebrow part remains evergreen in my memory.

Apparently, the Ladies of the Court had, according to the fashion and standards of beauty of that time, shaved and painted high eyebrows which went up in amazement.

At one point in the story, they disappeared into their hairline when the underdog Hero was making mash of the Fiercest Warrior in the Kingdom.

Looking back, I suspect that was the beginning of my fascination with facial expressions in general but certainly eyebrows!

Since children are normally treated as flies on the wall, it was easy to observe the adults.

This included my parents and teachers. The school principal was a good object of study because his mustache moved too along with his eyebrows.

I didn’t spare the house help or parents of my friends. My sample included just about anybody who qualified as ancient from a 10-year-old child’s perspective.

I even recruited my younger sister and friends, and we had fun.

What was meant to be a fun game ended up teaching me quite a bit about the role of eyebrows as expressions of confidence and assertive body language.

Indicating assertiveness with your eyebrows

Step 3 in my book Self Confidence in 8 Steps, shares 2 self-coaching exercises to implement confident attitudes.

In this post, we’ll look at a few ways to exhibit confidence and assertiveness to support the inner work that is required for change with our eyebrows.

Believe it or not but eyebrow control is absolutely crucial during the early days of imbibing self-confidence and an assertive stance. If the eyes are the mirror of the Soul, then the eyebrows can help you wing it until you get the hang of being assertive.

An assertive person’s eyebrows are relaxed and will match the tone of voice. A person who is passive would raise their eyebrows indicating lack of assurance and a desire to please. Eyebrows that are pulled downwards indicates aggression or lack of clarity.

Try it. Go to the mirror and try out expressions based on your inner feelings and see what happens with your eyebrows. Better yet, observe others. You’ll get the drift.

Make your assertive and confident stance even more effective by maintaining good eye contact with the person that you are talking to. Take it a step further by standing tall in a relaxed manner.

In my post Executive Presence & Professional Brand needs a Strong Vocabulary I mentioned that body language comprises 55% of effective communications.

Practicing eyebrow control is winning more than half the battle right there.

Supplement your body language with a steady, firm, medium pitched tone of voice. Stress on your key words delivered in a warm, clear and sincere manner using your Signature Voice.

Apply these tips and you can exude self-confidence and assertiveness even on a day when you are far from feeling it.

How do you cover up your moments of passive behavior?

Additional Assertiveness Resources

There are lots of posts to help you with your assertive behavior at my blog. Here is a small selection including my book Self Confidence in 8 Steps.

 You can also visit Amazon India

Executive Presence & Professional Brand needs a Strong Vocabulary

Karmic Ally Coaching’s Executive Presence Checklist

Stun Gun the Meanie

When your time management is not enough

Japanese Warrior Picture Credit: Pixabay

Disclosure: If you purchase a product through a link on my site, there’s a good chance I’ll receive some kind of “thank you money” from the company or person I referred you to. For more details, check out my full disclosure policy (link is also available at the bottom of every page).

Daring to set boundaries

As human beings, we can go to two extremes in boundary setting.

We can elect not to set up any boundaries at all thus allowing people to treat us the way they want.

This impacts our sense of self-esteem internalizing our feelings which when they finally hit the surface can be volcanic and aggressive to the extent that the other person may not recognize us.

Think of a pressure cooker which lets off steam.

On the other hand, we may become so rigid in our boundaries that we don’t allow people to come near us and refuse to change.

Ideally, we should set up boundaries that are fluid and flexible to match the need of the situation and the people we are dealing with.

Our personal boundaries may change over time. A rule of thumb is to be adaptable but firm on matters of self esteem and principle. Develop your self-awareness.

Emotionally Intelligent People know how to maintain boundaries

 

Create your Boundary Statement and honor it

Boundaries can be set up as your principles, policies or rules with which you deal with the world around you.

If you have problems setting up boundaries, then the best way is to write them down and look at them from time to time to remind you what boundaries you have set for yourself.

This is the second step to setting up boundaries.

Many years back, I found myself having work related health problems and the beginnings of a strain in my relationship with my family members who had started mentioning that I was treating the home more like a hotel.

Honestly speaking, I was not surprised. I was putting in long hours at work, more often than not because new demands were being made on me, my subordinates or colleagues.

None of us were able to complete our work on time and I was often caught in a situation of sitting waiting to complete my task.

This is one of the downsides of working in global organizations. Some of your colleagues are coming into work when it is dinner time in your location and you should really be at home.

 

When the migraines and fatigue started to kick in, I had to take a call.

I couldn’t eat another pizza to save my life and glugging coffee was just not working in my favour.

Controlling or influencing my colleagues was out of the question. They were equally fatigued, but I could control my actions. I talked with our supervisor, and we worked out a plan for the entire team.

In the meantime, I created my boundary statement when my doctor started to warn me about future health implications of my lifestyle.

I was much younger at the time but feel free to swipe some of the elements to create your boundary statement:

 

My Boundary Statement

 

Communication is a vital key to success

Once you know your boundaries, communicate them to others. This is the third step and an important one because if others don’t know your boundaries, then they will unknowingly keep stepping over them and the purpose of the boundaries is lost.

Communicate the relevant boundary to the relevant person. There is no point telling your family that your weekends are only meant for family and you don’t want to be disturbed by work but it may be relevant to an associate or colleague who calls to vent or expects you to talk of work on a Sunday when it is not an emergency!

Communication can be done in subtle ways as well as explicitly. Do it whichever way works best for you but make sure that the message gets across. Practice this communication and in time it will become a second nature.

 

Self preservation requires protecting your boundaries

The fourth step is to protect your boundaries. In other words, communicating is not enough; you need to make sure that you make it clear by word and action that you mean business.

Be authentic, demonstrate integrity, be firm and polite and always be true to your word. In other words, your actions should speak louder than your words.

Returning to the boundary of weekends with family, you may choose not to answer your phone on the Sunday.

Or take the call but politely say you are busy with your family. Inquire if the reason for the call is urgent.  Complete the call in less than 5 minutes. The message will get through loud and clear.

There are other ways that you can help yourself and regain a balanced life. Each idea reinforces the concept of boundaries.

10 Steps to a Balanced Life – The Karmic Ally Way 2014 from Vatsala Shukla

 

To Sum up

Enforcing boundaries you’re not used to enforcing is often not very easy.

It is human nature to seek the approval of others but when it encroaches on your life and you lose control of your time, then surely practicing the protection of boundaries is a worthwhile and valuable effort.

Boundary setting and enforcing is an important skill required to be assertive and manage your time effectively. As with all skills, practice makes perfect.

Which steps will you take to reinforce your personal boundaries? Do you have any other recommendations or suggestions for creating effective boundaries? 

Written By: Vatsala Shukla

Personal Boundaries

Assertiveness, self-esteem and self-confidence are all linked to each other.

When you have a high sense of self-esteem you are able to assert yourself without showing up as aggressive.

Your body language and communications exude a sense of self-confidence. This in turn helps to attract the right opportunities and people into your sphere of influence.

Asserting ourselves and what we stand for in any aspect of our life can improve our self-confidence.

For that, we need to first set up our personal boundaries and set limits for others that are acceptable to us.

The story of Ruby’s journey to assertiveness and self-confidence

During my student days in London, I had a friend whom I will call Ruby (yes, friendship means we don’t reveal true names) who used to get walked all over by another girl.

We gave this other girl the code name Meanie in our student hostel.

Ruby would cry about it to the rest of us, get her cup of tea and counselling. She’d promise to be more assertive. 2 days later the cycle would be repeated.

Perhaps being the youngest in our group of girls on the corridor had something to do with it. Quite possibly it was also Ruby’s desire to be part of the group to which Meanie belonged because they were the IT group.

The fact that everyone else was wary of Meanie or the fact that this girl had no female friends and the IT group had only one girl member did not put off my friend.

She didn’t understand the value of belonging to a happy bunch of young women who had a purpose in life. We were a quasi-family for each other in a country far away from home.

Things finally came to a head when one evening, there was a loud bang on my door.

I found Ruby outside crying her heart out.

Over the cup of tea, I learnt that this time, Meanie had gone to Body Shop where my friend had a part-time job as a cashier and handed over a bottle to her for refill, without the money and run off with her Mauritian boyfriend while my friend was serving a customer.

Ruby got a dressing down from the Manager because the customer she was supposed to have been serving complained.

While the admonishing was justified, it was most upsetting. A warning had also been issued and that this was not the first time something like this had happened at work.

Unaware of what coaching or assertiveness training was at the time, we finally took the bull by the horn.

I gave Ruby an ultimatum. Either she brought tea bags and cake with her the next time she came crying to feed the set of 6 friends who were part of her support group, or she needed to stand up for herself and put her foot down.

In other words, to set up her personal boundaries.

Ruby had the assurance of the support group (who had by now all assembled in my room since the crying could be heard down the dormitory) that we would support her but the first step had to come from her.

It took time for my friend to become assertive but she eventually did much to everyone’s relief. The other girl suddenly found herself with no female friends.

Lesson on preserving self-esteem

This brought home a lesson on how people can damage their self esteem by letting other people use them, one way or another.

These people range from their colleagues, friends and even family, to strangers they meet on the street.

Meeting people, talking to them and other interactions should be relaxing and a connection based on mutual trust and respect.

But it is not like instant coffee and one has to work on these connections and relationships to ensure that they meet our needs as well as those of the other party.

If you don’t want others to use you, then you need to set up clear and concise boundaries – even with family.

There are 2 ways in which people can use or abuse you:

• By getting your various resources, without giving you something of equal practical value in return, or

• Compelling you to repress various sides of your personality, which makes you less authentic.

It is one thing to be kind and nice and quite another to be putting the needs of others before yours. Particularly, when there is no mutual compensation or benefit.

Setting up personal boundaries is essential

Having personal boundaries means indicating by your behaviour, and verbally if the other person is so thick skinned as to not get the message (beware, some accomplished users have learnt the art of wearing the other person down into acceptance like a hard sell salesperson) of what you are and are not willing to do, of what you will and will not tolerate from others.

Having well established boundaries allows you to build healthy, non co-dependent relationships and live a normal healthy life.

It is similar to the way cats claw the trees to establish territory and male dogs urinate on trees and lamp posts.

Two dogs in my building actually do it on the wall near one of the entrances and you know it’s there because the other dogs run!

As humans, we have the benefit of being able to set up boundaries using psychology, communication skills, body language and more subtle actions than our animal friends.

The first step in setting up boundaries is to know and understand oneself

This means to introspect and ask oneself

• What do I want and not want
• What am I comfortable
• Is there any action, speech or behaviour of others that makes me uncomfortable
• At what point do I feel that someone has overstepped a limit

There are other questions to consider and writing them down helps.

Once you have an idea of what you are all about, it becomes easier to determine what your boundaries are. Chart out an action plan with the new information.

Remember to be flexible and fluid. No boundary is set in stone. The types of boundaries that you have can change over time as you change.

I go into further detail in the second part of this blog series on boundaries. Continue your journey here.

Develop Your Self-Awareness

Any transformation or change starts with self-awareness. This is true for personal development as well as improving your Emotional Intelligence.

Read more about Developing Your Self Awareness guide and Workbook here. Or get this product immediately by clicking the image.

 

Self Confidence in 8 Steps

I’ve got a more detailed Self-help and Self-study program Self Confidence in 8 Steps on Kindle.  

If you’re a Do It Yourself buff who wants the guidance but loves to fly solo, then read and apply the guidance in this book. Just click on the image!

 

Have you ever had a critical boss, colleague or “friend” who has managed to put you down in such a manner that no one noticed it apart from you?

Think hard, has there ever been a time when you have been receiving so-called constructive criticism or well-wisher advice that has left you knotted in the stomach?

Or confused you when you replayed the conversation wondering whether your response was adequate and appropriate to the situation?

Do You recognize Passive-Aggressive Communication when it’s staring you in the face?

Quite possibly you have been subjected to Passive-Aggressive communication with mixed messages that can easily trip even the most assertive individual.

This style of indirect communication is quite destructive. It’s often not easy to identify as the body language may not match the tone or choice of words.

Sometimes the comment may be funny or full of sarcasm. Warning bells should sound if you are receiving mixed messages which are leaving you confused or making you resentful.

You might be dealing with a toxic colleague.

Then it is time to take action before your self-confidence takes a hit.

One example that I remember from my teen years happened to a friend which illustrates the point.

On hearing that statement she was completely stunned – was it a compliment or a jibe?

Hours of girl-talk later, we were not sure but felt it was criticism and knew she should have responded. If only we had known, about the assertiveness skill of fogging to diffuse criticism and prevent conflict.

How to master the assertiveness skill of fogging

Fogging is based on agreeing with your critic like a fog bank. Here, we look at the criticism as feedback accepting that it is only that person’s opinion. Your own opinion about yourself is the one that matters.

But what if there is some truth in what the other person is saying, however sloppily it is communicated?

Instead of launching into a defensive attack or arguing, would it not be more productive to try to get to the root of what is being communicated?

With fogging you acknowledge what the critic is saying or some part of it which may be true.

You may not agree with what is being said as relating to you, but you agree with the possibility that what they say is true.

In other words, you absorb the criticism without getting defensive. You stay calm, leading to further dialogue as the other person feels they have been heard.

You can also ask the critic to clarify their assertion thus putting the burden on the critic to explain themselves.

Don’t be surprised if the critic backs off.

It is quite exhausting to continue criticizing someone who is not reacting in the manner the critic would like.

In my friend’s case the options would have been:

1. If she felt, there was some truth in the statement. You’re right, my eyes do take attention away from the acne on my cheeks

2. If she didn’t agree with the criticism but was willing to admit to the possibility of the critic being right. Sometimes my eyes and other features do deflect attention away from the acne on my cheeks

3. If she didn’t agree with the criticism, she could simply admit to the principle of the criticism. Sometimes it helps to have other features to cover for the flaws on a person’s face

Past the absorption stage the next step would have been to ask for clarifications. Like, what should one do about the acne?

My friend might have learned something useful about acne treatment or better yet, the critic might have backed off!

In such a situation, which option would you use? 

PS. Carrying off this assertive technique requires self-assurance and confidence. If you feel you need help in that area, please do check out my Kindle book – Self Confidence in 8 Steps.

Know someone who is suffering from criticism and needs a strategy to tackle the aggressor? Please share this post with them using the share buttons below. Thanks!

Written By: Vatsala Shukla

Visualize this scene and think of how you would handle it

You have just finished a presentation in front of important stakeholders for approving a project.

You’ve put in a lot of hard work and many an hour outside of work to get it just right.

The stakeholders buy-in. Your project gets the much coveted Go Ahead Signal.

A colleague walks up to you, shakes your hand and says, “Well done. You were brilliant!”.

How do you respond to the compliment?

Do You

1. smile and say “Thank You”
2. smile but wonder if the colleague has a hidden agenda and what he wants
3. smile and brush it off saying it was not all that great and that you got lucky

Which one did you select?

Was it A? Responding with a simple smile and Thank You reflects healthy self-confidence and Assertive Behavior.

If your response was B then the suspicion on your part indicates aggressive patterns while a C reflects a low sense of self-esteem and confidence in one’s abilities.

How you respond to a compliment is a good indicator of your sense of self-esteem and self-confidence

One can learn a lot about oneself and others from the way compliments are received or given. We may not realize it but an honest compliment when given with sincerity can make a big difference to both the giver and receiver.

Assertiveness is all about having the ability to respect and admit your self-worth when receiving compliments. It is also about respecting the worth of others when giving compliments.

It may not be all that easy though. We all have our cultural backgrounds, parental and school tutoring where we may have been taught that being confident of our abilities was a sign of arrogance, how being humble was more important and not to show off.

In some cultures, there is an instilled fear of the ‘Evil Eye’ – don’t be happy if others notice your achievement, you will have bad luck!

However, there is nothing in our backgrounds that tells us that we need to be aggressive or so meek that we cannot be honest, open and direct in our communications with others. Nothing that says we cannot accept our worth as well as that of others.

When you know you have done a good job, smile, be happy and graciously accept the compliment. Maybe give a return compliment, like “Thank You. I really appreciate your support.” The choices are endless.

The next time you find yourself displaying behavior that is not assertive, take a step back and ask yourself, where is it coming from? Which limiting belief is holding you back? Is it a fear or self-perceived weakness?

If you are aware of your fear or weakness, then practice the Confrontation Technique in my post Confront and Banish You Fears and Weaknesses Better yet, do the self-coaching exercise on

Sometimes it’s more a case of lack of self-confidence and this is covered in my Kindle book Self-Confidence in 8 Steps.

So, coming back to my original question, how do you receive compliments? Tell me about it in the comments box below!

A few months back, I was watching a children’s television show with my nephew about Indian folk tales in cartoon form. The story is one that even features in the Osho Zen Tarot Card deck as the explanation for the Major Arcana card called Conditioning.

It’s about a lion that was brought up by a herd of sheep and even thought he was one.

In the television version, the lion even wore a sheep skin and made sounds like a sheep, sharing their habitat and eating grass.

Then one fine day, an old lion that was passing by saw the sheep-lion and literally forces him to see his reflection in the forest pond. 

At that moment, the sheep-lion awakens to his identity and lets out a huge roar that resounds throughout the jungle. Leaves fall, birds fly away, the deer go scampering and the rest as they say is history.

I’d say the lion found his Gravitas!

Looking at it in modern day context, quite a few of us get caught in a herd mentality.

We forget there is a difference between personality and individuality.

It’s an indicator of low Self-Awareness and consequently low Emotional Intelligence.

We adopt a personality based on others’ perceptions and externals instead of looking within and finding our true voice – Our Roar.

The 2 Life Direction Choices Before Us

This story brings out the two choices that we have for direction in life.

We can either go along with the majority of society without thinking for ourselves. It is easier not to take decisions and responsibility for the quality of our lives.

Or we can choose to break free of conditioning and be guided by our inner Higher Source of wisdom. 

A person who is tuned into one’s Higher Source or God-Mind will find that they will be intuitively self-directed to rely on that intuitive self-direction from a Higher Source.

The many benefits of choosing to turn to the Higher Source

When one embraces guidance from one’s Higher and true self, the decisions that we make are the right ones for achieving the purpose of our soul in this lifetime.

Letting go of personal egotism, we also let go of our illusions. Thus, becoming more aware of ourselves and our surroundings. 

Focusing on externals alone can get us caught in judgments whereas turning inwards to our Higher Mind by maintaining a positive and peaceful attitude at the surface part of one’s consciousness through the practice of meditation, visualization, prayer and affirmation will enable us to raise the right vibrations in the atmosphere for our Higher Mind to more readily influence us through intuition. 

While the directions for affirmations, prayer and visualization are simple and can easily be learned by reading self-help books, it is the student who has to be prepared to let go of any previous conditioning.

The student must seek to listen to his/her Inner Voice and committed not to let personal ego and emotion corrupt the guidance messages received.

Making changes however may at times require being shown our reflection in the mirror either by our well-wishers or a guide.

This is perhaps where the old lion came into the story. To be the catalyst that changed the sheep-lion into a real lion!

But there’s more to just realizing that we need to step into our authentic power. Once we have the wake-up call, it’s time to answer our Call to Adventure. This Kindle book will guide you on your transformation journey – guaranteed!

 ROAR!

Once you’ve found your Roar, it’s equally important that others become aware of it, whether in your business or workplace. That’s where you’ll find this Executive Presence Tutorial useful.

Lion Roar by Lee Wag

Image by Heri Santoso from Pixabay

Written By: Vatsala Shukla