Have you ever considered you are too hard on yourself? That you were keeping your character or personality from shining brighter? Often times, we may in our heads critique ourselves too harshly when we, in fact, have unbridled potential. Remember the importance of self-love, self-value and self-confidence with these 5 ways to let yourself shine brighter:
1. Remember positive moments, and build your self-confidence for future endeavors on these.
Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan once described the way she gained her confidence and composure before each and every performance. She said she went over her past successful performances in her mind, training herself to collect confidence and enthusiasm.
While it may be hard at times, try to focus on positive events in your past. When you might be feeling overly self-critical, remind yourself of these. Consider how great it would be to keep building up and outward rather than being unforgiving and unfair to yourself and losing sight of what you can achieve. If you feel like there aren’t enough positive moments, you might create them by daydreaming. Visualize where you want to be, and work on goals (as I’ve written before) to help you get there.
2. Let yourself shine based on your character or personality, and try not to rely on materialistic goods.
While a good facial, designer outfit or nice car could help you look and feel great, one of the best ways to lock in star power is to build it from within. Material goods such as clothing, footwear, and makeup may be a great way to showcase your inner light, but be wary that relationships cannot be necessarily based solely on appearances. The best quality relationships will likely come from letting others get a glimpse of your valuable character and personality. As Oprah famously quoted Dr. Maya Angelou in a recent commencement address, “Your legacy is every life you’ve touched.”
3. Keep on nurturing the relationships that you find as the most supporting, encouraging and positive forces in your life.
Quality relationships are the ones you can’t get enough of because you know the other person genuinely cares for you. Indeed, the best quality relationships are like beautiful flowers, which you’ll feel compelled to nourish so you can feel the love, light and beauty they bring with them.
By nurturing such relationships, your light will grow brighter also. Their positivity and support will help you feel understood, respected, appreciated and ready to give back to others in wider social circles. Your light, your impact will be felt far outside your inner ties once you begin to make others feel encouraged and supported.
4. Practice good habits such as self-care, ongoing learning, and good manners, including giving thanks.
For any person who wants to shine brighter (i.e. through their personas and character), these simple, everyday habits are a must. If you have trouble with these, try to pick up one habit at a time.
Self-care will help you feel and look great. Continued learning can keep your brain young and active, while also seeding wisdom. In fact, there is reduced cognitive decline among those who continue learning into old age. And good manners, including giving thanks, give you a lot to feel good about since these show caring, politeness and respect. In fact, according to successful entrepreneur Mark Ford, the key to getting what you want in life without offending people is good manners.
5. Grow your capacity to be mindful.
What is mindfulness? According to one definition, it is the “quality or state of being conscious or aware of something.”
Why is it important? Growing our capacity to be mindful might include mindfulness meditation, which, according to Harvard Medical School Neuroscientist Sara Lazar, has the following effects: better understanding of ourselves and others, greater resilience under stress and emotional strength. Such traits can help us embrace life, create more happiness, and be a brighter light to those around us!
In all, try these 5 ways to let yourself shine brighter to those around you. If not all of them at once (which is hard), try adopting one at a time. Surely, with practice, diligence and time, you will touch more lives.
