People often present an image to others that is not reflective of who they truly are. The goal is to not change that image you are presenting to others. The goal is to have your actions live up to that image every single day, otherwise it becomes nothing more than a facade you use simply to please others in the moment or to gain acceptance. Uninspired architecture, movie reboots, quick-fix diets, get rich quick schemes, uninspired relationships, are all a byproduct of a society that isn’t just willing to settle, but accepts settling, and tries to convince itself that it is striving for more when it isn't.

Living from your true, authentic self is not easy. It requires introspection, hard work, discipline, and a focus that goes well beyond what the ordinary person is usually willing to dedicate to. It also comes with criticism, judgment, ridicule, and a level of vitriol that the average person is not willing to accept, which people often use as a deterrent from seeking greater progress and resign to conformity, or being afraid to step fully into one’s true self. The price tag for walking the path of one’s true calling may appear to be very costly, but it is not nearly as expensive as the price for doing nothing and settling for a life that is uninspired and unworthy. The rewards are: mental clarity, physical, emotional, and spiritual health and growth, confidence, and a feeling of self-worth, and a level of authenticity that you have never experienced. The cost of not striving to maximize one’s potential is: declining health, emotional unfulfillment, mental chaos, not serving others at the highest level, reaching an evolutionary dead end, and usually regret at some point about not stepping up, even though life has given us numerous opportunities to do so. To give a relatable example of how not living up to one’s true purpose can be damaging to health, talking about work can serve well. Many or most people have been in jobs where they felt emotionally unsatisfied due to any number of reasons. Usually that occurs when we are committing to a job that we don’t love to do, but it “pays the bills.” This happens when we are stuck in survival consciousness(amygdala), rather than from a state of higher consciousness, usually associated with the prefrontal cortex of the brain. It has been clearly demonstrated that our thoughts influence our emotions, and our emotions eventually influence our physical condition. When we are out of alignment with ourselves, our emotions and our body will give us feedback. It doesn’t mean there is something wrong with our bodies. They are designed to let us know when WE are doing something wrong or doing something that is out of alignment with who we truly are. Continuing to disregard what our bodies, and our lives are telling us, will result in decay and decline.

People say that change is hard. It is not nearly as hard or time-consuming as you may think, and is much easier than resisting change and self-improvement at every turn. It takes a lot of time and effort to continually make excuses for why we can’t improve our lives when doing anything other than improving our lives will have a detrimental effect. In order to rise beyond any plateau previously visited, and stay there, you need to align your actions with your words and not blame anyone or anything for holding you back. When we blame external circumstances, we give those things power while completely disempowering ourselves. Taking responsibility not only gives us our power back, but it also creates the conditions from which we can choose a different outcome if that is what we seek.

We live in a society that wants and often demands that we conform, often for the sake of efficiency. It’s easier to force conformity than to cater to specific individual needs. If you acquiesce to those demands, you have no one to blame but yourself. It is your job and responsibility to push back harder against society than society is pushing you. Society will not give you a space at the table. It is your job to create your own space at the table, and eventually, you’ll be sitting at that table by yourself, not waiting for someone else to give you a seat, and not feeling the need to sit next to anyone. When you truly understand this, and get to the highest space of elevated thinking, you will be in a position to share your wisdom and help others create a space at their own table.

Evolution is an ongoing process that has no limit and no end. Complacency, thinking we have already done enough, is the antithesis of evolution. When we refuse to evolve, we can be certain that the same issues in our lives will continue to present themselves repeatedly, sometimes in a slightly different form, but no less a reminder that we have work to do on ourselves. Einstein was quoted as saying, “We cannot solve our problems with the same level of thinking that created them.” It is not strategy that will help us navigate out of repeating patterns. It is elevated thinking, and that is only possible when we leave complacency behind and fully commit to ourselves, our true selves, and not the self as the world defines us.