Posted on by Helene Johnson

When did you last hear yourself?

Mallorca, Spain

You read that right. When did you last hear yourself?

… What do you really want to do today?

… What do you want to give yourself permission to do, to feel, to be…?

… What do you want to experience on your own for yourself?

… What guilt or regrets you want to let go of?

… What joys you want to embrace?

We wear many hats in a demanding society that pushes us to do more and seek external achievements and validation.

We are conditioned since childhood to seek established life milestones: school graduation, marriage, kids, retirement… and to seek everlasting happiness, otherwise something is wrong with us.

There is nothing wrong with any of these beautiful life milestones. There is nothing wrong with wanting to be happy.

But we start to be wrong when we give away our sense of self.

… When we forget ourselves.

… When we forget to seek peace inside.

… When we forget to quiet the external voices, from the loud toxic ones we should ignore to the the best intentioned ones.

… When we abandon ourselves from the fear of being abandoned by others, including by the people who are the dearest to us.

… When we sacrifice so much of our selves that we forget who we are, deep inside, after many layers of conditioning and limiting beliefs have been stripped off.

Today will not come back and your last day on this Earth is undetermined.

This is not about making dramatic decisions and life changes on how you want to spend your life through the end of your time, quitting jobs or relationships.

It is about waking up to your own self. That’s right, that beautiful and imperfect you, who has wounds but also wishes and hopes, who has a past but also a present and a future.

You are worth it. No matter what the future holds, you have got this. Don’t be afraid for your story to unfold in expected and unexpected ways… Your life is a garden where seeds are planted, and the harvest gets ripe at the right time.

The law of an awaken life is that nothing is wasted: no experience, no relationship, no life lessons, no rock bottom,…

Love dearly and deeply, very importantly starting with yourself.

Hear yourself. You are in the right place and at the right time to lead your life from the most beautiful and sacred version of yourself. Undeterred. Unapologetic. Strong and wild. Self disciplined and consistent.

We see, we hear, in general. But are you truly and deeply hearing yourself? It’s your time to hear yourself and lead your life as it should be, your own. You can’t outsource your precious life to anything or anyone. 

And from this place of peace and leadership with yourself, you will live better and love better. You will shine and not be afraid of your own light. You will seek understanding and joy. You will embrace any lessons of painful experiences that your life cannot always be spared of.

If you haven’t heard yourself in days, years, decades, …

Hear you … the true you, evolving and learning every single day.

Hear you … the one to love dearly and hold in self-compassion.

Hear you … the one with big dreams and hopes, no matter where you stand today.

Posted on by Helene Johnson

Book Review: Wild Courage

Book: Wild Courage, Go After What You Want And Get It

Author: Jenny Wood, a former successful executive at Google, and a speaker and writer on leadership development

Key message of the book: “Wild Courage” is an easy-to-read book, written with a clear purpose to fuel your personal and professional growth ambitions. With a lot of anecdotes and funny stories from her own life and career, the author is reframing nine negatively labeled traits into skills to develop to achieve success.

Each of these nine traits is defined by the author with the word “courage”:

  • Weird is “the courage to stand out”.
  • Selfish is “the courage to stand up for what you want”.
  • Shameless is “the courage to stand behind your efforts and abilities”.
  • Obsessed is “the courage to set your own standard”.
  • Nosy is “the courage to dig deeper”.
  • Manipulative is “the courage to influence others”.
  • Brutal is “the courage to protect your time and energy”.
  • Reckless is “the courage to take calculated risks”.
  • Bossy is “the courage to listen and lead”.

Courage is presented as key to success: “Successful people take action despite their fear. They muster the courage to do what’s necessary to succeed before it’s encouraged by others -or even considered socially acceptable.”

Each trait is defined in a new perspective, a constructive and positive one, in a way that makes it clear why such trait is necessary to get what we want in life.

  • Weird is owning your greatest strengths and being authentic about them “instead of second-guessing yourself out of desperation to fit in.”
    • “It’s about being yourself and revealing that self appropriately, both in your resume and everywhere else.”
    • “Figuring out who you are – how you think and solve problems, what you enjoy and dislike, the values that matter most -is essential in (a) deciding what to chase in life and (b) actually catching in.”
  • Selfish is the courage to “champion your agenda at least as strongly as you champion the needs of others.”
    • “Fighting for yourself just as enthusiastically as you fight for your friends and colleagues.”
  • Shameless is “no more apologizing for who you are and what you can do”. While shame is “a normal and healthy reaction”, “applying shame’s energy to finding a solution brings relief. Taking action tells your brain that you’re solving the problem. It’s the lingering shame that has to go.”
    • “Shame doesn’t care what you’re saying or asking. It just wants you quiet, inoffensive, invisible -“safe”. Opening that big mouth habitually builds that shameless muscle.”
  • Obsessed is having the inner drive to excel. “When you’re obsessed, you find the discipline to get out of your own way” and adopt a growth mindset where everything can be learned: “I’m not the leader I need to be yet”, while taking care of your physical and mental health and having proper boundaries.
    • “Obsession derives from two convictions: (1) that what you want matters and (2) that you can achieve what you want with sufficient effort.”
    • “You will never grow and evolve without pushing yourself to do the hard, careful and deliberate work that tests the limits of your capabilities.”
  • Nosy is letting curiosity be a compass, without being too aggressive, obnoxious or disrespectful in interactions with others.
    • “Ask [questions] politely, prioritize the mutual win and act on what you learn”.
    • “Answer questions with the same degree of vulnerability, authenticity and candor you expect from others.”
  • Manipulative is not about using others but “being influential, inspiring, motivating and persuasive” by adding positive energy in any room – in a truthful and authentic way.
    • “Warmth isn’t being complicated. It can be as simple as framing a neutral message in a more positive way.”
  • Brutal is being “direct, clear and consistent with your words and actions.”
    • “To achieve your goals, you must commit to spending your time and energy in accordance with your true priorities, no matter how painful it sometimes feels.”
    • “Brutal frees up time, energy and mental bandwidth”.
  • Reckless is to “err on the side of action”.
    • “You can seek perfection or progress. Not both. And, unlike perfection, progress is possible.”
    • “To the fragile ego, any failure is unacceptable. Successful people fail far more than most people do.”
  • Bossy is about being a “genuine boss: an empathic, supportive, yet decisive leader who knows when to speak up and when to listen, when to let the team figure a problem out themselves, and when to step in with help and a fresh perspective.”
    • “Use your power responsibly”.

This book review by Growth Is A Journey is an invitation for readers to discover the book in its entirety.