What does self-doubt sound like for you?
When I am being fully myself, I am too much for other people.
When I am unapologetically me, people often get triggered.
When I am speaking my truth, people often don’t understand me.
When we step into full self-expression, without holding anything back, we often feel uncomfortable, vulnerable, and in-confidence; a sense of feeling naked, so we might try to hide behind titles, identities, and fear just to be accepted and fit in.
Many of us face this when embarking on a journey to fulfill our potential. The mind throws all its creative storytelling power to generate doubt, fear, and stress. It tells you “you are not good enough” or “who are you to be doing that?” The mind tries to make you feel like you don’t belong because it’s terrified of discovering that, well, it doesn’t belong. Not in its current function, at least.
Self-expression, like leadership, is not something we do; it is the natural extension of ourselves. We cannot do self-expression, but what we often do is hold ourselves back from naturally expressing ourselves and, with that, our leadership. The mechanism of the mind to hold back and restrict expression is energy-draining and full of effort. When we overcome this mechanism and stop putting our energy into holding back, leadership and self-expression become effortless. They become the natural moment our ourselves, just like a flow of a river.
To truly embody our leadership and self-expression, we must go through a transformational journey, much like the hero’s journey who returns back to its natural environment— precisely the same, yet with a completely different function or purpose.
Many of us think we need courage, confidence, and clarity in order to act. But underneath them, the only thing we deeply look for is TRUST. Trust is the only real measure between you and that very next step in expressing yourself, your leadership, or creating the business you LOVE.
Trust happens in this flow:
- Choice
- Commitment
- Constant practice
All of us have been hurt or our expectations haven’t been met before and I often hear from my clients, “how can I afford to trust?” But, in reality, it is the other way around– you cannot afford not to trust!
Not trusting provides us with a fearful, isolated, and doubtful reality. I encourage you to commit yourself, right now, not to afford not to trust anymore! Gift yourself the most rewarding gift one can have – trust unconditionally. Trust so much that no person, event, or situation can ever take it away from you or make you choose to experience an untrusting reality.
How to practically step into a truer version of yourself as a leader? Repeat these words, with your entire being, every morning when you wake up and every evening before you wrap your day:
I transform judgment into unconditional love.
Fear is my instrument for expansion.
Conditions illuminate my potential.
Limitations help me extract my spirit within.
Resistance shows me the path to enlightenment.
In your true nature, you are (already) that which transforms, expands, illuminates, and enlightens all experience.
Then visit the trust flow of choice, commitment, and constant practice:
- Choose to trust initially, don’t wait to build trust over time. Don’t wait for someone’s proof to earn your trust.
- Commit to yourself that you trust unconditionally from this moment on
- Constant practice in every conversation, situation, and decision. Be the most trusting person in the room
You cannot afford not to trust anymore!
With heart,
Gil·ad (eternal-joy)
