“You inspire me to do these things”
“Are you saying I’m a muse?”
“I’m sure that’s not the first time you’ve been called that.”
But it was. Who gets called a muse these days? OK, yeah, historically, the Muses were nine daughters of Zeus… but I can take some liberty here, right? After all it is generally accepted that the muses inspire people to be their best. That’s a heck of a compliment!
That’s the kind of thing to stop and be grateful for. Are you taking a moment to be grateful when someone compliments you? Not just any compliment, but the ones that make your heart twinge a bit.
There are somehow these compliments that mean more to us than others. They mean a little more because that’s the person you want to be perceived as. So, that’s pretty big, right? Someone seeing you as the person you want them to. THAT’S living your true self!
Adding character not accomplishments
Who you are has a lot to do with character, yet we seldom work on our character. We think “I want to be an artist… a husband… a mother… a natural therapeutic message practitioner liaison.” But, how often do we think “I want to be fun… reliable… sweet… outgoing”? I’d say we don’t do that near as much… but aren’t those the qualities we look for in friends and relationships? You don’t want an artist friend who’s a jerk… but it doesn’t matter whether that sweet reliable girl is an artist or a mother, does it?
Charming. Doesn’t that sound like something you want to be? It was for me. Never really understood why, but if someone thought I was charming, well, they’d have a little piece of my heart forever.
Years ago, somewhere in Texas, I found myself talking to a woman at a B’Dubs. We wind up chatting for most of the night but go our separate ways. A swap of Facebook ID’s and Email addresses allowed us to keep in touch half a country away until her contract expired. Even though they offered her an extension, she chose another route.
Four months after the night in Texas, she and I were enjoying a beer near Philadelphia and she says “If you wouldn’t have been so darn charming, I …”
You know… I have NO idea how the rest of that conversation went.
How to become a…
You can be anything with practice, right? So, why not practice the characteristics you want to embody? Be the person you want others to see you as.
Let’s say you want to be passionate. What would someone who was passionate do? Get up in the morning excited to _________. Actually do it, too. Passionate people get caught up in their work. Passionate people tell everyone what they’re working on. Passionate people enjoy the good parts of something and ignore the bad. Passionate people find ways to weave their “loves” into everything they do. Want people to see you as passionate? Be passionate.
If you cannot be wise, pretend to be someone who is wise… and behave like they would.
How about a practical application? The BIG one! Do you want to be happy? Rather than expecting something is going to happen, some goal achieved, and you all of the sudden feel happy, what if you simply act happy? Let’s see: if you smile… if you laugh at yourself… if you look on the bright side… if you have faith that everything will work out. Well, you’d be happy.
“Easier said than done”, right? Wrong. That’s all there is to it…
Transformation
So… now that you’re acting like someone who’s __________, well… you ARE _________. There’s little struggle to be someone you already are. (← Tweet this)
I was recently called a Guru. I sort of argued it, given my stance on the subject, but just between you and me… I kinda always wanted to be considered a Guru. Check! Thanks, Maria. I didn’t go around telling people I was a Guru, I simply offered my view on things that others struggle with, too.
Go ahead. Be those things you want to be known for. Be amusing, if you will.
