How To Use Mindfulness To Share Your Inner Greatness

We need enlightenment, not just individually but collectively, to save the planet. We need to awaken ourselves. We need to practice mindfulness if we want to have a future, if we want to save ourselves and the planet. – Thich Nhat Hanh

Think about a time you had a great thought. Or how about a time when something came to you so effortlessly that those around you looked at you in awe. What did you do? Brush it off?

Maybe you weren’t aware, but it was awesome. And so are you.

We all bring unique perspectives, strengths, and experiences that we can share with the world. But sometimes, our humbleness causes us to overlook our moments of inner greatness in life. The missed opportunities that serve as reminders of what our strengths and sources of happiness are.

If we brush these moments off too quickly, we miss out on the valuable insight that allows us to become resourceful and original.

The call to action is to become more mindful in our lives to help uncover our strengths. First, we must learn to spend more time internalizing these wonderful life experiences so we know exactly how to share our inner greatness with the world.

How do we learn?

Psychology has taught us that how we learn is a two-stage process – activation and installation. To do this, we need to be mindful of these moments of brilliance and internalize them for longer periods of time.

The common expression in psychology is that the neurons that fire together, wire together. But the other part of the equation we forget is that the longer neurons fire together in the present moment awareness, the more encoded they become.

Our negative states do not require much time but positive states are much harder to encode. These moments require longer duration, intensity, and emotional connections for maximum effectiveness.

How does this relate to our strengths?

Positive psychology supports that happiness is a result of feelings of purpose. And that the key to living a meaningful life, is accomplished by the recognition and use of our strengths for the greater good.

When we are more aware of our strengths, we are better able to recall and use them to approach problems more resourcefully.

Experience the wins

Whenever you come across anything you feel is epic or brings you joy, take some extra time – 20 seconds to 1 minute – internally to experience these emotions. We all must be more mindful of your thoughts, feelings and bodily sensations during this internalization.

The same applies to moments of strength. Internalizing these moments are what provide us confidence and allow us to understand how we can contribute our expertise to any problem we face in life.

Put them away in your memory bank and visit them often. Only then will you be able to effortlessly recall and apply these experiences as a starting point to help you solve the next challenge you face in life.

Self-affirm the wins

Scientifically, affirmations have been proven that they have the ability to rearrange brain neurons responsible for “positive thoughts.” Our words are powerful determinants of our actions and give us reasons to believe.

While it might sound cheesy, saying positive, strong phrases to yourself is a great way to influence your subconscious mind. Your subconscious them begins to recall your strengths and help you recreate these thoughts in reality.

Quit being so hard on yourself. Your negative self-talk is only taking you further away from who you want to become.

Still, can’t find your strengths?

When all else fails, the best answer is to seek feedback from those who know you best.

You never know what you can achieve unless you ask.

When did it become so wrong to ask others for help? When did we become so shy of criticism? The simplest thing you could do to reconnect with your strengths is to ask friends, family, co-workers, or even your supervisor.

And if they are being brutally honest, it can naturally turn into a conversation that helps you get feedback on how to build your strengths even further.

What if we spent time each day internalizing the positive moments or making the great things we already do or know…better? This represents a more mindful approach that makes us more aware of how we can use our own strengths and happiness to positively affect the world.

But in order to recall these strengths and begin to use them in our lives, our brains need more time to process and internalize these moments.

When we forget about the moments when our strengths shine through, we are unable to create new moments of brilliance to recall on. The moments that bring us joy and happiness and offer opportunities to become more resourceful in all facets of life.

by  Kyle Barichello

Kyle’s purpose is to inspire those to change their perspective on how proper nutrition, movement, and mental health can lead to a more fulfilling life. Choose Your Wellness, is a blog designed around helping everyone find wellness strategies that work for them to Simply Kill It Every Day in life.