Open your eyes with curiosity, even in the face of fear.
You have to open your eyes in order to see. Yet fear and frustration tend to narrow your vision.
So, how can you get yourself to open your eyes and widen your perspective, no matter what?
Well, today I’m sharing 3 steps to use compassionate curiosity to transform a difficult part of your day.
The good news here is that you can successfully address troublesome issues that undermine your well-being, steal your time, and deplete your energy.
And it all starts when you open your eyes with compassionate curiosity.
“Sometimes it takes a good fall to really know where you stand”
Hayley Williams
How it helps to open your eyes…
Convert the worst part of your day to a fresh path forward. Much potential is trapped in frustration, embarrassment and uncertainty.
So, would you like help with the part of your day that troubles you most? Using the 3 steps I’ve outlined below, you become the guide you’ve longed for.
Here’s how:
1. Describe the situation.
I recommend writing about it, quickly and without censorship. Only you will read it, so include everything you would confide to a trusted friend. Express any self-doubts, regrets and resentments. And as you do this, let pent-up feelings flow through you and out of you.
2. Ask kind and searching questions:
Never under-estimate your power to get to the heart of the matter. You may touch upon the central issues the first day, or it might take a number of writing sessions. What matters is that you commit to a fresh approach. Write down any and all questions that you would pose to a friend who wrestled with a similar issue. Be willing to challenge old assumptions.
3. Open yourself to surprise.
Frustration, embarrassment and uncertainty hold one thing in common: you feel them when you empower forces outside yourself. To graduate beyond feeling paralyzed, experiment with shifting the power back into your hands. When you open your eyes, you’ll realize that the power was always there, unseen and untapped. Your mind-shift will illuminate new possibilities.
And digging deeper…
When Frustrated: Explore letting go of what you want from others. What changes? Envision taking initiative to re-define the impasse. Brainstorm scenarios. What potentials open up?
When Embarrassed: Consider forging a new approach based on taking full responsibility for what you wish to hide. Make these lessons the cornerstone of new efforts. And think back to inspirational stories that feature a serious setback as “the best thing that ever happened to me.”
When Uncertain: Confide your fears and doubts to yourself as you journal. Bring full empathy to yourself. Also recognize that in committing to learning and growing, the uncertain can be embraced as your new set of lessons. Think back to some of the ways you’ve already overcome obstacles and self-doubt. Ask yourself what skills you would like to learn in confronting this new set of challenges. Then use your answer as a foundation to build upon.
Curiosity is Powerful.
Curiosity coupled with compassion lets you open your eyes and move forward with your life.
Compassion is your humanity. It’s what you experience when you spontaneously empathize with others and wish the best for them. At the same time, you respect their ability to struggle and evolve, growing in independence and confidence. This is the quality of love that you also deserve, and that you can provide to yourself.
Curiosity is your open encounter with the world. In the same way that a child’s curiosity opens new doors every day, your curiosity is your embrace of the unknown.
So, listen to your self-talk. When you hear defeatism, blame and bitterness, gently take note. Then open up your options and create questions that challenge old assumptions. By championing your growth using compassionate curiosity, you will emerge from daily ordeals with new levels of insight, competence and good will.
How will you start doing that today?
Here’s more help…
Do you ever feel like you’re running on empty and there are no gas stations anywhere to be found? That’s what it’s like when you aren’t taking care of yourself.
It’s an awful feeling, and one that’s all too familiar for many of us. In fact, if I had to guess, I’d say that finding time for self-care is one of the biggest challenges going. And I’ve created an E-Guide that addresses this challenge and offers you a path to creating your own, rejuvenating self-care routines and rituals. It’s titled “Self-Criticism or Self-Care? How Your Choices Define You, Your Time, and Your Life.” This E-Guide gets right down to business as it offers questions, insights and exercises aimed at helping you come to a deeper understanding of:
- What gets in your way when it comes to taking care of yourself.
- How your capacity for compassion is connected to self-care.
- The activities that are most nurturing for you, and how to include them in your schedule, EVERY day.
To begin your self-care journey and claim your copy of “Self-Criticism or Self-Care? How Your Choices Define You, Your Time, and Your Life” click below:
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