Unlock Your Best Light & Shine Brighter

Unlock Your Best Light & Shine Brighter

Why is it that we are encouraged to do more to shine brighter, we must do, do, do...accomplish, accomplish, accomplish...influence, influence, influence.

All these things have us swirling leading us to be overwhelmed and anxious.

I’ve always struggled with anxiety from a young age trying to perform with a goal of perfection only to make the moment more stressful. People can see you on the outside and think she’s got it all together but on the inside your bubbling over.

Over time I have developed tactics for personal wellbeing to assist in overcoming feelings of anxiety. I still have days when my feelings of anxiousness take over.

Once I was able to find strategies for mindfulness I found I was more productive with centering myself each day. When my day provides more time I typically will write in my journal, listen to worship music or a message from a favorite pastor, or I’ll engage in physical activity. However, some days there are fewer minutes in the day and I needed to find other methods for times off feeling overwhelmed. In the blog titled 22 Mindfulness Exercises, Techniques and Activities for Adults there are a variety of strategies shared for mindfulness. One that I use quite often is called the 3-minute Breathing Space (excerpt from Positive Psychology Blog):

1. The first minute is spent on answering the question “how am I doing right now?” while focusing on the feelings, thoughts, and sensations that arise, and trying to give these words and phrases.
2. The second minute is spent on keeping awareness of the breath.
3. The last minute is used for an expansion of attention outward from the breath, feeling the ways in which your breathing affects the rest of the body.

The activity helps me to reduce feelings of anxiousness and refocus on the task at hand. But let’s be honest, some days are better than others. I believe now my ability to catch myself in moments of anxiousness is more prominent and I can acknowledge when I need to make a choice that will benefit my health. Here is a quick video blog I posted earlier that shines some light on my initial thoughts regarding the potential to unlock our best light.

It is important to acknowledge that there can be times when it is hard to be mindful on our own and we need to seek help. When we are in a depressed state or suffer from extreme anxiety it can be hard but important to acknowledge outside help as a priority.

How does all this doing create more anxiety and unhealthy behaviors?

“For leaders who are working in stressful situations (Andrea et al., 2009), this greater mindfulness enables them to view situ- ations “for what they really are” without rumination or worry of past or future negative events. Rather than being mindless and frantic, present moment awareness and attention allows the leader to focus on the issue at hand, not on the problems that may arise, or have previously arisen. This allows leaders to fa- cilitate reflective choices to situations that in total benefit their mental health outcomes and well-being” (Roche, Haar, & Luthans, 2014, p. 477).

My hope for all of us is to find mindful strategies that work best for us.

To be mindful versus anxious is a lifelong project.

​There will be good days and days we fail miserably. However, if we have a personal wellbeing toolbox that meets our individual needs we will be more likely to unlock our light and shine brighter.