Creating Your Best Self Podcast David N. Johnson & T. Lavon Lawrence

In part 3 we discuss the power of creating lifelong relationships by discussing 6 important points:









* How to be more understanding







* Howe to show love & appreciation







* Being your best self







* The importance of spending time together







* How to be honest and trustworthy







* The tough one, wow to be a better communicator









It’s important to note that the relationships that we cover in this episode go much further than just romantic ones as we discuss friendship, family, and even work relationships.







Bonus: We left a blooper at the end!

In part 2 we discuss the importance of taking care of yourself both mentally and physically. When it comes to your physical health you must focus on 5 things:







* Regular activity* Good nutrition* Drinking lots of water* Your Gut health, and* Getting adequate rest







For mental health, we discuss 3 different topics:







* Psychological,* Emotional, and* Social well-being.







This episode is packed full of actionable advice so be ready to take some notes!

Spirituality is the first pillar for a reason. Without your spiritual core, which we will talk about in a minute, you can’t have the kind of outward relationships that are important to living a good life. You can’t be healthy, not truly healthy because true health is both physical AND mental. And your career will suffer because you aren’t connected with your bigger purpose. Your life will lack true meaning. 







There are 3 aspects of spirituality that we will discuss during this episode:







* Relationship (the most important one, the one that you have with yourself) * Values, and* Purpose







These 3 aspects form the foundation of your spiritual core.







Think of your spiritual core as you would your physical core strength.  Your physical core is a group of muscles that stabilize and control both the pelvis and the spine. It’s less about strength and how much you can bench and more about being able to maintain the body’s posture.







Your core strength helps you to get off the floor, stand up, or sit. It promotes efficient movement and improves performance. It allows you to be more resilient and less prone to injury. This is exactly how we want you to think about your spiritual core. It makes you more resilient and less prone to injury.

In past episodes we’ve spoken about your inner voice, living authentically, overcoming fear, and how to change your mental programming. Every one of those episodes involves the power of thought. 







The thoughts that you give power to are the root cause of your entire life. When we’re unhappy we seek change. Typically, this change involves buying things for a boost of happiness, traveling to escape our problems, or seeking substances, whether they be drugs, alcohol, or food to numb the mind and help us to forget. 







Of course, all of that is temporary because once the newness of the thing we bought wears off, once we return from our trip and the effects of the substances we take begin to fade, we always fall back to where we started, unhappy. 







So, the cycle repeats itself. We buy more things. Go on another trip. Or we eat more food and drink more alcohol. We bury ourselves in our work. We try to do things and create happiness externally, but the fact is that true happiness comes from the inside. 







Yes, your environment does play a role in changing your circumstances, but it doesn’t address the root cause behind why you feel the way that you do. 







In this episode we discuss how to harness the power of thought to power your life forward

While being part of a group isn’t inherently a bad thing, not being 100% you is. Depression comes from playing a role. It comes from not being 100% authentic to your true self. If you become okay with being subservient to the ideals of the group, if it goes against your core beliefs, then you lose a part of yourself in the process.







While the process of identity may begin in childhood it is influenced by a number of factors:







* Individuation – This is what we’ll be discussing in more detail in this episode. This is the process that we go through to develop our own unique self. * Society – Societal influences, not unlike the herd mentality I mentioned just a moment ago, play an important role in our identities. From culture to media, to gender and religion affect who we are and who we become. You may even feel pressure to change parts of yourself to fit in with the societal norm. * And Family – While your caretakers growing up had a huge impact on you your family will continue to play an important role in shaping who you are. For better or for worse. Your relationship with your loved ones will affect whether or not you have a strong or weak sense of self. 

Being your authentic self is essential for building meaningful relationships with both yourself and others. Being authentic means that your thoughts, words, and more importantly your actions line up and match your core identity. It ensures that you’re seen, it shows that you matter.

Being authentic lights your path forward. It gives meaning to your life and allows you to live in harmony with yourself. When your external life matches your internal identity, the entire world opens itself up to you.

Living authentically doesn’t mean that you’re always happy. It means that you own your reality, that you face your fears, and that your focus isn’t even happiness, rather, it’s wholeness. 

Living authentically means that you check in on yourself to ensure that you're living your life according to who you ARE instead of who somebody else THINKS you should be. Being authentic requires you to be BRAVE enough to be vulnerable. 

To allow yourself to be REALLY seen, to see who you REALLY are by exposing your thoughts and feelings takes both effort and practice. 

Most of us live dual lives. One internal and one external. It’s when those two lives are incongruent that we become an imitation of who we think we should be or who we have been told to be.