Be The Person You Want To Experience In The World
My Nana. Her kindness and love know no boundaries.
The title is pretty self explanatory, yah? Be the person you want to experience in the world. If you want to experience love, kindness, humor, generosity, beauty, adventure ... BE loving, kind, humorous, generous, beautiful and adventurous. Set a strong example with yourself, from your source of truth, of the characteristics and qualities you desire to improve in the world. As above, is below.
The world is our mirror. We see what is inside of us, in others, and in every detail of life.
Be the person you want to experience in the world is very similar to the great Ghandi's quote, which is often mistaken as "Be the change you wish to see in the world."
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change. As a man changes his own nature, so does the attitude of the world change towards him. This is the divine mystery supreme. A wonderful thing it is and the source of our happiness. We need not wait to see what others do.” – Mahatma Gandhi
How do we do just this? Below are some tips to get you going:
Decide and find what motivates the shit out of you, and spend time doing that.
Treat yourself to the good things, every single day. Special occasions aren't the only time to celebrate with dressing up or drinking champagne or minding your manners. Everyday is a special occasion. We are humans ... do you know the odds we've already overcome to be here, as humans, in this time, on this earth?! The odds, by this article's calculation are: one in 10^2,685,000. If it's been a while since you were in a math class, that little ^ means 10 with 2,685,000 zeroes behind it. So, a wildly impressive way to beat the odds to be a human. Go you! Go us!
Kindness is free. Spread that shit around.
Open the door for others. Literally and figuratively. Help a friend make a connection via introduction. Hire an underdog. Offer your hand in assistance when someone seems unstable. Offer to carry someone's groceries to their car. When you hold a door for someone, smile at them, wish them well. Do it from a place of love, with an attitude of gratitude.
Give give give accept. Give give give accept. Give give give accept. This is a strong play on Gary Vaynerchuk's book Jab Jab Jab Right Hook.
Love others, especially when they don't love you. Think love, be love, act love, breathe love. I don't mean all the hippie dippie woo woo shit. (Actually I do, but in a very practical and practicable way.) I mean when someone cuts you off in traffic, instead of flipping them off, give them the fucking benefit of the doubt. Take a deep breath and smile and wave at them, letting them know "hey man, that's way cool! You are welcome, sir. Cheerio." Maybe they've had a shit day. Shit life. Maybe they have explosive diarrhea and are trying to find a toilet. Maybe their time in their car is the only time they're in control of an element of their life. The point is, we don't know the reasons others have to choose the decisions the way they do. Give them the safety to be as they are, where they are without judgment.
Wear clothing and shoes and accessories that you feel good wearing. What makes you feel powerful, confident, sexy, comfortable, ready? For me, it's a button up oxford and jeans or slacks. Suits for nicer occasions such as weddings, and shorts and t-shirts for weekends and more casual things. Functional, comfortable, tailored, well fitting. Nothing crazy that you need to pay a lot of attention to, and fits well into nearly any social situation. Textures and colors make a wildly vast difference in how you feel in outfits ... if something's itchy, or a drab color, leave it out. If it feels good and the color makes you feel good about yourself and life, bring it in. For you, it might be fitted jeans and a sweater. Or Nantucket Reds and a polo shirt with boat shoes. Or golf shorts and golf shirt. Whatever it is, keep it respectful, respectable and thoughtfully put together.
In short: be your best self, make the next right decision with every decision. Set strong, good examples in every area of your life, especially with the "small" things. Because, the small things are the big things.
Live Good, Live Well