How to be the Best You Can Be

Our greatest fear is not that we are inadequate, but that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that frightens us. We ask ourselves, Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, handsome, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? 

     Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you... as we let our own light shine, we consciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our fear, our presence automatically liberates others.

~Nelson Mandela

Once we believe in ourselves, we can risk curiosity, wonder, spontaneous delight, or any experience that reveals the human spirit. 

~E.E. Cummings

Filling our minds with positive thoughts, getting up to do something productive when we'd rather sit around and do nothing, taking chances and doing new things ... these are the types of actions that lead us toward becoming the best versions of ourselves. 

Being 'the best you can be' is about letting go of what others consider best for you and doing for yourself what you think is right - and if you're uncertain about what is right, just look for the love. 

Look for the love is just another one of those short, pithy statements like "actions speak louder than words" ... but surprisingly enough, as familiar as we are in theory with these witty little maxims, few of us test them out. 

Look for the love is about 

knowing what you love 

and doing that. 

Exploring is what it takes to become the best versions of ourselves. We never know which experiences (or which people) will ignite or bring out our passions, our raison d'etre, so we have to allow ourselves to explore, to take chances, to get into a new situation and instead of bring old mindsets along for the ride, allow ourselves to look around, to survey the landscape, and to try out new things .... or be open to new ideas and suggestions. 

If you have people in your life with whom you enjoy spending time, places that inspire you, things you like to do, songs you like to sing, art you want to make, bikes you enjoy riding, mountains you dream of climbing, new experiences you dream of having ....

Go for it! 

Take an ordinary wall and paint it! 

Make each moment amazing! Indulge yourself! Dive into life ... because swimming in the world feels better than sitting by the side of the pool wondering what the temperature's like.  

And if you're gonna get in the pool,
make a big SPLASH! 

You'll get wet ... and it might be cold ... and you'll have to shower and get cleaned up afterwards ... but how happy will you be in the moment? and how happy will you be that you jumped in? and how relaxed will you feel after having done so?

This relaxed contentedness is called self-satisfaction. It is the feelings we experience when our wishes are being met. We cannot become the best versions of ourselves without this feeling and this feeling cannot be faked. We can pretend to others that we feel this way, but we know the difference on the inside. 

The best of who we are is reflected in how we choose to live, laugh, love, and play.

That's what people remember 

... that's what brings us close.