Becoming Your Best Self

Becoming Your Best-Self
What does the best version of you look like? How would the best version of yourself feel about yourself? What self-development practices, habits, and disciplines would the best version of yourself do? What’s the point of becoming the best version of ourselves? The point is to find greater health, wealth, strength, healing, power, happiness, and meaning. The following are general tools, tips, and concepts to life we can apply to thrive and flourish.

Holistic Health
Enriching our lives starts by honing in on different areas of our holistic health. Holistic health is interconnected. Spiritual, Emotional, Intellectual, Physical, Relational, Occupational, Environmental, and Financial Health. Each sphere of health requires a variety of different practices, strategies, and exercises that increase our level of health.

Start Small
Creating healthy habits and minimizing bad habits takes time, consistency, and self-control. In order to realistically make these changes, we must start with what is small and easy. We must break down our behavior into creating a system of habits and routines. Be specific about the changes you’d like to make. Just being 1% better is progress towards your goals. Stay active, and keep moving. Don't worry about completing a large task, make small, easy, and obtainable goals you can achieve. Take small baby steps in the right direction! I have the habit of over-generalizing my goals, where they aren't specific. Start with easy obtainable changes you can do. Self-control is something you can develop more of. Structure and schedule your day. Make commitments, resolves, and promises to yourself towards doing little healthy habits. Build from your successes and positive reinforcement.

Morning Routine
It's important to start the day right. That includes sleeping early the night before to get enough rest. In the morning, practice the art of Silence. Focus on taking a few deep breaths and simply drinking water. Tell your body and mind to Relax. Simply be and empty your mind.  

Positive Affirmations
How we think about ourselves affects our emotions and how we feel about ourselves. If we fill our minds with positive affirmations, we increase our mental and emotional health. Learn to reframe our negative thinking. Do not dwell on the past, or worry about the future. Focus on filling yourself with a positive mindset. You have wholeness, fullness, and abundance within you. Speak life and energy into yourself. How we think and feel will generally manifest in our behavior and habits.

Gratitude
Always remember to be grateful for all that you have in life. Think about the good people in your life. Thank God for all that He has blessed you with. Reflect on the simple pleasures and freedoms we have. Find joy in the small things. Not everyone has a loving family, not everyone has good friends, not everyone has a comfortable bed, not everyone has food, and not everyone has two eyes and legs. Remember to appreciate all the good that we have in our lives.

Internal Locus of Control
Self-belief and self-efficacy are about building self-confidence in your ability to succeed. Belief is powerful. Take responsibility for your life and the things within your control. If you want something bad enough, you can take the necessary steps to achieve your goals. What actions and behaviors would a healthy and disciplined person do? What aspects of my life are within my means of control and what are out of my scope of control? Do not be controlled by your thoughts and emotions, rather control your thoughts, emotions, and behavior. Do what you know is good, right, and healthy. Reinforce the good. 

Exercise
Physical activity is essential to developing a strong mind and body. Exercise has several therapeutic benefits that can also increase our self-esteem and mood. Aim to incorporate exercise often into your weekly schedule. Start small and work your way up.

Nutrition
We are what we eat. Consider our unhealthy eating habits and cravings. Understand how certain foods affect your body and mind. Focus on eating clean and organic foods. Eat to live, not live to eat. Find healthy foods that give you energy and promote a stronger mind and body.

Learning
In order to improve our minds, we must become great students. Read books, Watch videos. Find mentors, Listen to teachers. Journal about the life lessons you learn. Seek counseling and coaching. Apply what you know. Take ownership of your self-improvement. Utilize your strengths, opportunities, and resources, and unlock your higher potential.

Acceptance
A challenging lesson is learning to accept life as it is. It’s about allowing life to take its natural course. Practice a sense of stoicism, and non-resistance. Developing non-attachment and a strong inner life can help us to accept that life doesn’t always go our ideal way. Disappointment is inevitable but discouragement is a choice. Choose to accept where you are in life and learn to be ok regardless of circumstances. Don’t sweat the small stuff. Let go of the past. Have grace for yourself. Forgive yourself and forgive others.

Friendship
Friendships add to our support system. Some friends are for a temporary season, and some are lifelong. It’s often not about the quantity of friends, but the quality of friendships. True friends listen, empathize, understand, encourage, and overcome disagreements/ conflicts.  

Work & Money
How hard you work is within your sphere of control. Hard work pays off. Work smart and work hard. Manage and steward your money wisely. Budget and organize your expenses. Invest in assets, not liabilities. Don’t spend money on things you don’t need. Be punctual, respectful, and professional. Find work that utilizes your skills, strengths, experience, and education. Find work that is meaningful and helpful to others.

Cognitive Distortions
Understand when we have negative thoughts or untrue thoughts. Avoid thinking errors such as Disqualifying the Positive, All or Nothing Thinking, Overgeneralization, Jumping to Conclusions, Magnifying or Minimizing, Personalization, Shoulds and Oughts, Emotional Reasoning, and Labeling. Fight against pessimism. Manage your self-talk.

Values
Know your values and your priorities. Take care of the things that mean the most to you. Find fulfillment in growing in virtues, holiness, and character. Work on your ethics, morality, and integrity. Do not cheat yourself or others by taking shortcuts. Don’t do what’s easy, do what’s right. Learn to be honest and stand for your beliefs. Practice what you preach and don’t compromise your values. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Your behavior acts in accordance with your values and priorities.

Assertive Communication
Speak with truth and love. Learn to say no thank you to things you don’t want to do. Learn to not avoid conversations. Learn the art of conflict resolution. Share with others what you’re comfortable with and not comfortable with. Have the courage to speak with confidence, and the discernment to know what or what not is best to disclose to others.

Mindfulness
Learn to reset and refresh yourself throughout the day. Center yourself on your daily goals/ habits. Take mental breaks to reset and take care of your responsibilities. Practice prayer, spirituality, solitude, contemplation, mindfulness, and rest in God. Find techniques that relieve stress and restore energy.

Self-Worth
Know yourself. Know your value. Be kind and gentle to yourself. What aspects of your life define your identity? Stop caring so much about what others think. You do not need anyone to give you validation or approval. You determine your self-worth. Self-love is obtainable. Self-love is caring for yourself. Treat yourself as someone you value. You do not need to people please or be someone you're not to earn self-worth. Be confident in who you are and who you want to be. 

Support-System
Ask for help and support when you need it. Have several people you can turn to. In the same way, offer counsel and guidance to those who need help. Have good peers, and mentors that have your best interest. Understand your attachment style. There are anxious or avoidant tendencies that may be unhealthy. Surround yourself with good people.

Consistent Discipline
Have the self-control to make good choices. Do good things for yourself that you don’t always feel like doing. Restrain your behavior from bad habits. Focus on delayed gratification and future-orientated rewards over temporal/ instant gratification. Long-term consistent discipline develops greater health and fulfillment. Train yourself in healthy disciplines. Competence comes from repetition and practice. Make rules, commitments, and promises to yourself to keep yourself accountable to do what needs to get done. 

Christianity
Abiding in God is less about doing things for God and more about being with God. Remain and stay connected to Jesus as the True Vine. Religion is spelled DO, and Christianity is spelled DONE. We do not need to do things to earn, gain, or win greater favor from God. We must be careful about turning Christianity into only legalistic rules or strict obedience to the law. Rather, Jesus talks about a relationship through faith. Jesus says, "Come," "Follow me" and to, "Remain in me." God calls us to repent and believe. Turn from your idols that we put before God. Slow down, surrender your heart, seek first His kingdom, and trust that He provides for our needs. The practice of abiding in God is about simply being in His presence and being satisfied with Him. It's not about how much a Christian does. What He desires most is a transformed heart. Sit at his feet, receive, and abide in His love. There is nothing greater than to know and be found in Him.