“Your smile is your logo; your personality is your business card; how you leave others feeling after an experience with you becomes your trademark.” Jay Danzie
Whether professionally or personally, all of us care about how others see us. All day, every day, other people’s responses to us serve as a mirror, letting us know if we are being accepted or rejected.
We all seek to be valued, appreciated, and understood. Depending on others for this validation, however, creates a vulnerability. It’s fine as long as we’re feeling accepted. But when we feel the sting of rejection, we’d better be clear about what we know about ourselves.
It’s doesn’t have to be a trap.
The more we know our own value, appreciate ourselves for who we are, and understand ourselves with compassionate clarity, the less it matters if we are accepted or rejected.
It’s not about perfection.
What’s ultimately important is how we decide to show up. We all have bad moments, or a period of sustained bad moments (i.e. grumpiness or snarkiness). We all have dark moments (sadness, grief, loss, trauma, depression). Sometimes we’re out of sync. Sometimes we distract and disconnect from our essential self – that part of us that continues to guides us to a higher, more expansive version of ourselves.
It’s about connection.
When we’re out of sync, disconnected, frustrated, or discouraged, our task is not to change our external circumstances. Our task is to change our internal state.
Re-aligning with who we truly are is the most effective way to change our inner state.
In the quiet moments of prayer, meditation, or contemplation, you know what it’s like to connect with your soul. You feel the peace, contentment, and deep satisfaction of that connection.
From this place, you chart your day. From this place, you make your plans. From this place, you create. From this place, you step out into the world with your smile and your radiant personality. From this place you connect with others, and they are impacted by you.
And others, having been in your presence, feel uplifted, encouraged, appreciated, valued, and understood.
