Lincoln Community School gave me the opportunity to have a powerful conversation with the teenagers. I always enjoy my time with teenagers, as their exuberance is always a reminder to how our life should look like and how alive we should feel.
There were some good questions, smiles and many deep in thought.
I discussed several Guideposts alongside Brené Brown’s book from The Gifts of Imperfection. Find below some points discussed during my presentation.
- Be Authentic
Being true to yourself in a world which makes it so difficult to be that who you must be.
- Self Compassion
You can’t give what you don’t have. Start loving yourself by stopping judgement, self criticism and self doubts. Instead start being mindful and feel with others. Let go of perfectionism as there is no such thing as perfect.
- Right Attitude
Have resilience; the ability to overcome adversity and sticking it out. Be positive and optimistic and try to be resourceful connecting with people for support. Always find time to take a look at the mirror for a critical look at yourself and finally have that attitude of gratitude.
- Be In Action
Use your mind as your tool and let it serve you in focus and discipline. Take baby steps towards your goal and find ways to chunk it up so its not too overwhelming.
Action is the language of God and when you start getting into action then providence will come to your side.
Goethe quote: “Whatever you do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius and power and magic in it.”
- Faith
Have faith in yourself and the world. Acknowledge that you need to let go of certainty sometimes and embrace uncertainty using your intuition.
- Creativity/Self expression
We are all creative beings and we need to find out what means for us particularly. It’s imperative as that’s how our heart sings, that’s how we engage our souls. It’s our truth and fills our life with meaning. It’s what brings us alive. The world needs our creativity so we can serve it and that’s how success flows.
- Play
Play is apparently purposeless. Basically this means that we play for the sake of play. We do it because it’s fun but it has no end result or gain. It brings excitement and renewal and helps deal with stress.
Laughter: This creates an emotional connection. It’s like we communicate together without talking. I’m not alone. It tells you I’m with you, I get it.
Song & dance: there is this spiritual connection of completely letting go, It’s full body vulnerability. It moves us emotionally and puts in the mood for comfort, celebration and inspiration. We give permission to ourselves to be free.
- Rest
Respect our bodies and their need for renewal as you can’t believe some of the consequences of not getting proper rest.
Less is more as we are brought by doing too many things instead of focusing on few things we love.
- Calmness and Stillness
Calm is creating perspective and mindfulness while managing emotional reactivity. Anxiety is extremely Contagious, but so is calm. Practice calmness.
Stillness is not about focusing on nothingness; it’s about creating a clearing. It’s opening up an emotionally clutter-free space and allowing ourselves to feel and think and dream and question. E.g Prayer/Meditation/music/watching a sunset.