What does it look like to live a truly authentic life? Perhaps you have made a few changes this year. Have the ups and downs of 2020 have propelled you forward into self-discovery, healthy cooking, or moving your body more frequently than ever? If not, what are you waiting for?
Having a healthy body is important for our health and longevity. Having a healthy mind is beneficial for our outlook on life. Our daily perception of happiness comes from our emotional intelligence. Embarking on an inner growth journey will likely spill out into making smarter choices with our bodily health as well. Because the more we learn about ourselves and our habits, the easier it is to change our mindset and turn negative behaviors into positive ones.
Let’s discuss a few topics that can to expand your mind. As you head into a new year and a whole new you, having more tools to use can only make your lives easier and more fulfilling.
Growth Mindset
Dr. Carol Dweck, Stanford University, coined the phrase: Growth Mindset. She believed that abilities and skills could be obtained through effort. They were not limited by intelligence, nor are they set in stone. Precisely the way we think correlates with our success. Therefore, we all hold the ability to make changes to our thinking which can better our outcomes.
Emotional Intelligence
“Emotional Intelligence is a set of abilities to do with emotions, specifically the capacity to perceive and understand emotions within oneself and others, express emotions effectively, and manage emotions within oneself and others.”
Dr Ben Palmer, founder of Genos International
Photo from Results thru People
The Genos Model of Emotional Intelligence focuses on 6 competencies, that when developed shift Mindsets.
1. Self-awareness
2. Awareness of Others
3. Authenticity
4. Emotional Reasoning
5. Self-management
6. Inspiring Performance
Feminism & Equality
Feminism goes with equality like growth mindset goes with emotional intelligence. They go hand in hand. The negative feedback we hear about the word “Feminism” isn’t as often associated with the word “Equality.” They are literally the same thing.
In looking at the Genos Model above, we see that #2 focuses on the Awareness of Others. Having our eyes wide open means we are paying attention to how others are treated in this world. Instead of only looking out for ourselves we have the capacity to feel empathy for others, while also taking care of ourselves.
“Equality feminism is a subset of the overall feminism movement that focuses on the basic similarities between men and women, and whose ultimate goal is the equality of the sexes in all domains. This includes economic and political equality, equal access within the workplace, freedom from oppressive gender stereotyping, and an androgynous worldview.”
Feminism: A Journey to Equality
This workbook is a wonderful tool that can help you deeply discover yourself. Equality and feminism are the themes with journaling exercises to encourage personal growth. Written by Jennifer Vollbrecht and Danaelle Rodriquez, this workbook gives us permission to tune in and play.
Their Feminism workbook celebrates equality in a refreshing and fun way. The pages draw you in with their unique artistic style. The printed words, combined with beautiful artwork will delight you with a perfect balance of calm and excitement. Each page guides you through an inspiring journey to discover more of yourself. You will be directed to write as you go through the simple exercises.
You are asked to label parts of yourself as a way to take ownership of all of your fantastic titles: leader, mother, fighter, artist, beautiful, and goofy, etc. You will be guided to write a letter, to share your dark side as well as what makes you feel alive. In the end, you will have your own story, written in your own words as a celebration of YOU!
The end of the book contains twelve pages for you to explore your deepest thoughts and emotions. This is when you can soar by sharing your own unique story. The thoughts and ideas you present during these lessons could be the seedlings of a big passion project that has started to grow. Taking the time to tune in will unlock hidden creativity that may otherwise lay dormant in you.
Consider this book when going through big changes in your life, such as the first year of motherhood, after a painful breakup, or after moving to a new city and taking a different job. Therapy and good friends are valuable tools during huge changes, yet you may crave more than they can give. Sometimes you need time alone for reflection and processing.
Self-care
When setting goals for 2021, keep self-care high on your list. I find the things I least want to change are the very things I need to change about myself. Find your thing and make a plan!
- Reading and taking classes on having a growth mindset, emotional intelligence, and feminism are like seeds being planted. Your growth will ripple out into the world, spilling all over people.
- Making changes in your eating habits to lower inflammation, reduce glucose levels, and strengthen your heart, will give you more energy, less pain, and greater confidence.
- Adding in meditation and/or yoga will allow you the opportunity to tune into yourself while tuning out devices and outside distractions. This quiet time allows our minds and our hearts to speak to us in the form of intuition. That quiet, all-knowing voice can be heard when we tune inward.
- Taking a walk, enjoying a bath, journaling, dancing, and getting a massage lowers cortisol levels which lessen stress and benefit our hearts, our mood, and benefits our health.
- Stopping work at a certain time each day may be harder while working from home. However, this simple commitment means we value ourselves enough to take extra care.
Buy your copy of Feminism: A Journey to Equality and start growing!
Anastacia Elizabeth Walden is a writer, editor, and owner of Walden Writes For Women.
