Who Do You Want to Be? Right Now…

One of the messages I return to often in my work is, who do you want to be, right now, in this moment, in spite of FILL IN THE BLANK (too much work, the roof is leaking, the kids are making me nuts, my boss is insane, I’m completely overwhelmed).

Who do you want to be… right now? Even with all that’s going on around you

Just typing this is helping me breathe.

I want to be patient, approachable, calm, and I want to keep my sense of humor! Phew. A tall order but that’s who I want to be. How about you?

As a coach, I hear lots of stories

Life is hard. It’s challenging.Amen to that!And yet when we remember this simple-yet-powerful question, who do I want to be, and how do I want to be, even with –FILL IN THE BLANK — going on, it’s like hitting the pause button on the remote.Stop. Breathe.I have control over this.I can pause the stressful feelings and ask myself:Who do I want to be?Oh, yeah, I want to be peaceful. Ahhhhhh.

When I do this, I feel a shift

I begin to come from a different place.Suddenly the problems and issues don’t seem so bad.I’ve hit the pause button and let my Inner Compass take over.The wise part of me.Now I can approach the challenges in a calm, capable way.

There’s a lot in this world that we cannot control – the weather, what my boss does, how my company decides to restructure itself, whether people like me or not, etc., etc.The list of what we cannot control is super long.

We can try to influence situations and people – and if you have good ideas about influencing, do it!You may succeed. And if we can’t influence, hit that pause button:who do I want to be now that my suggestion was turned down?Oh yeah, I want to be patient, calm and approachable, and perhaps laugh a little.

The one thing you have FULL CONTROL over in this ever-changing life is Who Do You Want to Be?

Hit the PAUSE button and ask yourself that.