M.I.A: 3 Guiding Principles for Sustaining Your Growth & a Positive Mindset

Missing in Action?

   Mia’s Italian Kitchen?

Most Improved Award?

Did you ever receive the Most Improved Award?  I recall receiving it a number of times in elementary school for reading.  Countless times in high school I received this award, especially for track and field.  When I joined the cross-country team in college, I was introduced to weight lifting.  Wow.  I had no clue what I was doing, we never touched a weight in high school.  Skinny and clueless.  However, by the end of the season I found myself receiving the M.I.A for the 2011-12 year out of all male sports team players.  Back then, this award represented lack, inferiority, and weakness.     

This year, for me, is a symbolic representation of the END.  The end to the remnants of toxic thinking that once ran my life.  As I’ve come face to face with the stories that once only operated on a subconscious level, I am given the opportunity to take back my story.  I am given the opportunity to tell my story with new eyes, a new perspective. 

These are 3 guiding principles for life and anyone who is striving to be the best version of themselves. 

  • Trust the Process.  (you know this, but you need to hear it again)

When you put a cake in the oven, you know that in time it will go from a pudding like substance to a deliciously baked mass.  You trust that the temperature will substantiate its transformation.  You trust this process.  In the same way, you must trust the flow of your life.  You must trust YOUR process.  If you are clear about what you want and have set your intentions, sit back and enjoy the lessons birthed from your journey.

  • Find Authentic Motivation. (would you agree that the world needs more authenticity?)

You must go within and find your authentic source of motivation.  Ask yourself:  why does this matter?  My personal motivation is to give everything my all, to lead with my heart.    I love the saying, “how you do anything is how you do everything.”  This pushes me to do all things with excellence.  Your motivation must be grounded in authenticity, otherwise you will energetically align your efforts with a source of energy NOT true to you.  The result?  Karmic rebound, fatigue, and disconnection.

  • Forgive.  (here we go again!)

Inevitably, we return to forgiveness.  You must carry forgiveness with you, each and every day.  Please, do not leave home without it. So often, we think about forgiveness being connected to someone else.  Forgiveness is about the relationship you have with yourself.  What conversations are you repeating inside your head?  Are you scolding yourself and replaying an event, reliving how you weren’t perfect?  You need forgiveness.  Where you have the courage to forgive yourself, you are then freed to grow more deeply and love.

Change your relationship with improvement, with progress and process. 

What are you awakened to?  I’d love to hear how this message has helped you.

Xoxo.

Dr. Darrien Jamar