Life is 10% what happens to you and 90% how you react to it.
Charles Swindoll
Life is all about mastery. No matter what religion/spiritual practice you engage in, a common thread is that you’re here to master something. Specifically, you’re here to master yourself.
Whether that be to sacrificing your needs for others’, developing habits that don’t necessarily come easily, showing forgiveness and compassion to people that logically don’t deserve it – you’re called to master yourself, and in turn, this life.
There are four components to self-mastery. Go through each of the four areas where self-mastery is required in your life, and see how you rate yourself in each. Then, follow the simple steps outlined below to take the first steps in life mastery.
body, physical energy
- Do you wake up every morning feeling rejuvenated?
- Can you engage in moderate exercise for 30 minutes at a time without feeling winded or exhausted?
- Is your body relatively pain-free?
- Do you go through the majority of your day feeling awake?
- Do you feel flexible, nimble, and sprightly?
For each yes, give yourself 20 points (for a total score out of 100).
mind, mental focus
- Do you feel that time flies by throughout the day?
- Can you stay focused on a task for 45 minutes at a time without getting distracted?
- Do you feel adequately challenged or stimulated with most of the work you’re doing throughout the day?
- Are you aware of mind chatter (the things your mind whispers only to yourself)?
- Do you understand where your behaviors come from?
For every yes, give yourself 20 points (for a total score out of 100).
heart, emotional wellbeing
- On a scale of 1-10, how often do you feel happy?
- On a scale of 1-10, how often do you feel gratitude?
- On a scale of 1-10, how easily do you forgive others?
- On a scale of 1-10, how easily do you forgive yourself?
- On a scale of 1-10, how much do you feel understood by others?
- On a scale of 1-10, how much do you feel supported by others?
Add your score, divide by 6, and multiply by 10.
soul, spiritual meaning
- What are your gifts and talents?
- How often do you share your gifts/talents with others?
- If you died yesterday, would you be regret-free?
- Why are you here on this planet, now?
- When you have life-questions that can’t be answered by the people around you, how confident are you that those questions will be answered in other ways?
Review your responses. How do they make you feel?
How’d you do?
If there are mastery areas you’d like to increase your scores and responses on, here are some tips to get you started. Pick any in each category, and commit to doing each on a daily basis, for the next 40 days.
Body:
drink a glass of water as soon as you wake up
ditch the elevator and take the stairs
get ready for bed 15 minutes earlier than normal
set an alarm to go off 3x; each time, close your eyes, take a deep breath in, take a deep breath out – whisper to yourself, “free and heartfull” three times.
Mind:
set an intention every morning: what’s important today?
doodle with a blue pen for 15 minutes
listen to solfeggio frequency at 741 Hz
identify a sentence that makes you feel alive and powerful. repeat mantra to yourself 3x day
meditate
use your non-dominant hand throughout your day for activities that you usually use your dominant hand
do nothing for 30 minutes
Heart:
write a paragraph about three things you’re grateful for
relinquish the need for control over people
relinquish results from past situations
give 30 minutes of your day to helping someone else
hug someone for 20 seconds
call someone you love and ask them what their favorite part of their day was/is so far
Soul:
meditate
identify 3 talents you were born with/nurture
learn something new about a culture you don’t know much about
remember what made you laugh when you were 10 years old
pray
what will people say about you at your funeral? identify something you need to change in your life now
Live with intention. Lead with inspiration.