This may explain why the annual battle to get fit, lose weight and change habits feels like a bit of an uphill struggle. Have you also noticed how your energy for exercise and transformation feels much more buoyant in the spring? So perhaps this year, instead of listing your resolutions this month, might I invite you to turn inward and consider these 5 reflections instead…

1. What did 2020 teach you about life, love, and what is important?

The wisdom traditions point to the purpose of adversity, conflict, and hardship as doorways to both self-knowledge and insight. The teachings reveal that we need the bitterness as well as the sweetness of life. In fact, this recipe of ups and downs gives life its full flavour.

It is therefore our very human vulnerabilities that give us access to the fleeting preciousness of every day and our commitment to living, powered by the inevitability of our own demise. In this way the energies of transformation, and the birth/death cycle inspires our ambitions, hopes and dreams.

So what did 2020 reveal for you? And if you had ordered 2020 on Amazon – how many stars would you give it in your online review?

2. How ready are you to embrace your shadow?

As Carl Jung teaches: ‘One does not become enlightened by imagining figures of light, but by making the darkness conscious.’

So it is true that you will never grow as a professional, particularly when you take on management and leadership responsibilities, if you are not open to seeing, understanding, and overcoming the shadow aspects of your personality.

Your shadow nature, rather than being your burden is the doorway you must use to access your gifts and super-powers. If you are not sure what your shadow characteristics are, ask the people you are closest to for some friendly constructive feedback or ask yourself what negative traits have been pointed out by others, which you find difficulty accepting… Perhaps 2021 is the time to embrace the shadow a little closer and find your way through the darkness into the light of your own increased awareness.

3. In what new ways will you bring awareness to your work this year?

The process of human endeavour on the surface appears to be all about progress whether it be technological, industrial, or social, but really the hunger of the human species arises from the desire to know and experience itself fully. Eckhart Tolle says that we all have the same ultimate purpose which is to awaken. We do this in our own ways by increasing our capacity to hold more truth within awareness.

We can see this play out currently as the world grapples with an increasingly urgent environmental calamity. The facts of this have been known for decades, perhaps over a century, yet only now is there enough stable intentional awareness of the issue that we can begin to deal with it seriously.

So on a local level and within your own relationships what are you ready to bring more awareness to this year?

4. What have you been waiting to feel ready to talk about?

Over the years I have realised that much of my work is about giving people the language, confidence, and skills to have difficult conversations about important topics. We all struggle with this. Our desire to bond and please works against us here – it is often just easier not to say anything. Yet, years of silence creates mistrust and distance. So this year, what difficult discussions can you prioritise and how can you set yourself up to represent yourself with integrity and lead with compassion in those conversations?

5. Having been through 9 months of disruption and given your new routine, what do you need more of and less of to feel balanced, healthy and well this year?

This question is all about self-nurture and self-compassion. How can you best serve your own needs and by doing so increase the amount of care you are ready and able to visit upon those around you? All conscious leaders know that dedication to their own wellness is foundational to their best output. What do you need?

Here’s to the emergence of conscious awareness in your life and work in 2021!

By Neil Seligman

Here are a few more lessons you might want to reflect on from 2020: 2020: A Year in Review – 5 Lessons We Will Remember

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten-day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Resolutions Shmesolutions! January is for Reflection! appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Nobody wants to be thought of as selfish. In this endeavour many people make an enormous effort to ensure that they are understanding, caring, generous and empathetic towards other people. For some people this generosity of spirit, energy, resources and love comes very naturally, and for some people it is more conscious and deliberate, both approached are as valuable and as positive as each other.

However, there are those people who extend their energy so far, and stretch themselves so thin that they forget to look after themselves. Personal wellbeing can fall by the wayside if one is not mindful and conscious about one’s own needs. These people are often so focused on being helpful, that they are unaware that they are going without, and for others, they fear the perception that they are not doing enough. Whatever you are able to give, whatever the reason you are giving of your time and energy, it is imperative for your own health and wellbeing, that you continue to make yourself a priority.

1. The Stigma Around Selfishness

Many still manage to confuse the meaning of the word ‘selfish’. Of course, if you are a hoarder of resources, somebody who actively works towards the discretion of others for your own gain, someone who prides themselves for their lack of empathy, or somebody who lives with an ‘every man for himself’ attitude, then yes, in this instance, you might be on the selfish side. However, remembering to look after your own health, both mental and physical, does not make you selfish. Yet there are many who don’t seem to think this is an acceptable priority when in pursuit of helping others. Many are still afraid that they may be labelled as selfish, and so go above and beyond to avoid such a possibility (as well as having a genuine drive to give unto others, of course).

2. You Are Not Ignoring Others

And so, we come to the next slightly skewed perception; that looking out for your own wellbeing and being mindful of your own needs implies that you are ignoring the needs of everyone else. This is simply not true. Selfishness is a label that sticks to those who are consumed with the self, and put themselves first 100% of the time. Putting yourself first, ensuring that you are housed, comfortable, fit, happy and well fed, is essential. Bing your best self is as important for you as it is for those you support, so put time and energy into ensuring that this is the case.

3. If Not You, Then Who?

The thing is, if you spend all of your time not being mindful of your own needs, who else is going to? Although you might be able to receive help and advice, nobody, if you spiral downwards, can truly save you but yourself. You must carve out time in your day to check in with yourself and make sure that you are getting on all right.

4. A Healthy You Is Better for Everyone

It’s been said before, and I shall say it again, if you can’t help yourself, how can you expect to help anybody else? Think of yourself, for a moment, as a car. If a car is run down due to neglect; its engine rusting, its exhaust hanging off, and its windscreen cracked… if it is in a bad state and low on petrol, then how can you be sure that it is going to get passengers from A to B? If it has not been looked after then it will not run efficiently or reliably and the journey is likely to be uncomfortable. The better you are in yourself, the better you can support other people.

The world should be made up of happy, positive productive people. In order to contribute to this healthy, happy ideal, we need to ensure that we are putting out the best version of ourselves into the world. Offering a well looked after you is also of benefit to others. Look after yourself.

By Chris Thomson

Self-love and self-care is all about supporting your overall wellbeing. We hear a lot about wellbeing and how looking after it is good for us, but what does it actually mean? … How to Define ‘Wellbeing’

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post Reasons Putting Yourself First is Not Selfish appeared first on The Conscious Professional.

Nobody is perfect. Indeed, what does it mean to be perfect? What is for sure is that the criteria for perfection will be different from person to person. This being the case, your faults may or may not have credence, depending on who you are!

Your faults may be genuine defects, or they may only exist in your mind. Your faults might be physical, social, emotional, attitude based or in your outlook. What is vital to your resilience is that you both acknowledge these faults, whether real or not, embrace them and treat them with love.

1. Face Your Perceived Faults

Often we ignore what we believe to be our faults. We try to avoid thinking about them, or even daring to connect with ourselves and name what they are (or what we think they are). Have you ever thought to yourself, ‘I’m in such a bad place, and I can’t work out why.’ In these moments, can you honestly say that you have sat down and dedicated your thoughts to pinpointing what that reason is?

Perhaps you perceive yourself to be physically imperfect. You might be feeling anxious about how you have behaved in some way, or about the way you continue to tackle certain situations. Perhaps you react emotionally to some things in a way that is detrimental to your wellbeing. First of all you must diagnose the core your worry; what do you, personally, think your faults are? Whether these faults are actually faults or not is less the focus at this stage, just locating the source is a big step in learning to love yourself.

2. What Do You Love About Yourself?

It is all very well to beat ourselves up about our faults, but how often do you celebrate your virtues? I have heard it said many times that if a hundred things happen, we, as humans, will often dwell on the one thing that wasn’t great, rather than the ninety-nine things that were. If you are going to pinpoint your faults, you should spend equal time reminding yourself of what is fantastic about you as well. It’s only fair!

3. Comparison is the Enemy of Self-Love

Imagined faults are often created because we think others have it better. That person is fitter than I am. That person is more attractive than me. If only I was as clever/as kind/as successful as that person. This is no way to love yourself. We are all different. Take me for example, I have a judgemental relationship with my body. I am getting older, so it is harder to keep fit, and I don’t like that I am heavier than I used to be, or that I now have back fat, or that I have a bit of a belly. I said this to a young, slim friend of mine. He told me that it was nonsense, that I was perfect as I was, and that he wished he had my arms. We all compare ourselves, and the likelihood is that you have something somebody else wishes they had. This would be less of an issue if we just focused making sure we were happy with ourselves, regardless of other people.

4. Is There Anything You Can Do?

Your faults then. Is there anything you can do to change them? If you don’t like your body, is there something you can do to change that? Would the change be worth the price? If you aren’t sure that you are emotionally fit, or that you are behaving as you would like, is there somebody you can talk to? Is there somebody you can see? Are your faults unchangeable, and therefore not worth beating yourself up about?

5. Be OK With Yourself

Accepting your faults is paramount. Talking about them openly, accepting them as part of your personality and learning to love them is essential to ensuring that you are the best version of yourself. Wellbeing and resilience depend on self-love and confidence, this relates to everything that is good about you, and all the things that are not so good. Be yourself and work on being OK with it.

By Chris Thomson

Being hard on yourself? Boost your wellbeing by keeping negative thoughts at bay… 6 Ways to Override negative Thoughts

P.S. Whenever you are ready… here are 4 ways we can support your personal and professional Conscious Goals:

1. Access Free Live Meditations & Energy Transmissions

Inside our private Facebook Group, The Conscious Professional Mindful Community where Neil leads live weekly community events. Join now for free.

2. Learn To Meditate With Neil Seligman In Just 10 Days!

Zen in Ten, our flagship online course, is a ten day mindfulness challenge for people who need to slow down.  

3. Work With Neil One-To-One

See if a Conscious Coaching Partnership is right for you. Book a 15-minute discovery call with Neil here.

4. Bring The Conscious Professional To Your Business

See if The Conscious Professional training and coaching programmes are right for your team or workplace. Book a call here.

The Conscious Professional is dedicated to delivering inspiring corporate mindfulness and professional resilience training, conscious leadership coaching and workplace wellbeing services at the level of professional excellence. Thank you for following our blog.

The post How to Embrace, and Love, Your Faults appeared first on The Conscious Professional.