Are you an artist and you know that your work can touch hearts and yet you feel uncomfortable promoting it?
Or perhaps you are a corporate professional doing a respectful job, yet deep in your heart, you feel stuck and unfulfilled. Already for years, longing for more impact, for something that touches you personally…
These feelings are signposts telling you that you are playing small. You need to step up your game, stop dismissing what you really want in life and summon the courage to go after it. Summon the courage to be in the spotlights, to be SEEN and HEARD.
To Be Seen Is A Fundamental Human Need
We all have the need to achieve our full potential by developing and applying our talents and gifts.
We all need to be seen, to feel worthy of love and respect for our contribution to the world. It is such a basic and strong need that it makes us truly unhappy when it is not fulfilled.
The US psychologist Abraham Maslow described this need on the top two layers of his pyramid of human needs and motivation.
He layered human needs in five levels. As each level of needs is satisfied, the desire to fulfil the next kicks in.
Once the basic needs of food and safety are satisfied, meaning is what we need.
One can see, especially in the developed economies, that people are craving to find their purpose, to leave a meaningful life, to have a higher goal than just earning money.
Knowing that to be seen is such a basic human need, it is very surprising how many people choose to stay in that unhappy, unfulfilled state, maintaining a present-moment illusion of security or control.
Recent global research from Gallup Group reveals that employee engagement, measured in the involvement and the enthusiasm in their work is only 20%.
Why is that? What is stopping us from pursuing what we really want?
Confronting Shame: Courage Over Comfort
According to the research professor Brené Brown, it is shame that keeps us from feeling worthy to be seen and motivated to create the space for our true self to flourish.
She believes that for us to grow we have to confront our shame head-on. We have to walk through vulnerability to get to courage, therefore…embrace the suck. Be grateful every day, and choose courage over comfort.
And I tend to agree with her. Here is a conversation I had with a dear friend that confirms this thinking.
Your work is You!
No one wins if we remain unseen!!!
My friend is a very creative and gifted artist. For a living, she makes registrations of theatre, dance and concert performances. Although the money is good, deep down she is craving for her own artistic work to be seen.
When we talk about this, she says in a shy way:
“I wish, I was invited to exhibitions more often“.
When I ask why is that important, she answers:
“What good is my artwork if it stays unseen in my atelier? I know I can touch people’s hearts.”
But then she adds:
“Don’t get me wrong, I am not looking to be a famous artist. It is not about me, it is about my work.“
By all means, go out and play big! You have a lot to offer.
Being real, being open about the painful and shameful experiences takes courage, but it also transforms you from someone who is imprisoned by the past into someone who creates his own meaningful future.
In Search For Meaning
We started the above conversation with my artist friend in my attempt to explain why I am attending The Mentors online business and leadership school.
Why am I spending time on it when I have a decent job?
My story is no different than hers. I need to be seen. I crave to have an impact and know that my life and work are meaningful.
In the huge bureaucratic, inefficient machine of the big corporates, I feel unseen. I have no direct contact with the customers and it is difficult for me to feel the value of my work and stay motivated.
The mentors and the supportive, learning community help me grow and more often choose courage and vulnerability over shame and comfort.
This online business education opens new possibilities for me. I can still use my “corporate” skills only now I can connect to like-minded people and serve them with increasing confidence, in a more impactful, direct and personalized way.
Engaging with my whole being, with the full palette of life and professional experience, interests and passions, instead of just the brains.
If you are in a similar situation, contemplating a change towards being seen, but don’t know where to start, I encourage you to check the free webinar.
Spend half an hour or so to understand how an online business and a strong leadership education can be your gateway to a more fulfilling life.
We all have something in common, regardless of our professions and phases in life.
We all have the need to be seen and can get very unhappy and depressed if this need stays unfulfilled.
In an attempt to motivate us, myself included, to play big, I conclude with this mantra:
“Yes, I am imperfect and vulnerable and sometimes afraid, but that doesn’t change the truth that I am also brave and worthy of love and belonging“ – Brené Brown.
Learn more about the opportunities of creating an online income stream. Achieve financial independence and freedom to live life on your own terms!
>> Click here << for a list of books that recently influenced me profoundly and are today part of my body and mind.
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