Written for Latin Business Today
When it comes to living a fulfilling life, it starts with understanding how you live.
Socrates said that knowing oneself is the beginning of wisdom, and in a world full of conditioning and limitations, it seems more important than ever that we take time to get to understand who we really are. But where do we even begin?
As I embarked on the journey of self-discovery, I found an acronym that helped me hit the ground running: VITALS.
VITALS is an acronym that stands for Values, Interests, Temperament, Around-the-Clock, Life Mission, and Strengths/Skills.
Your values are your motivations towards action; your interests are your passions and hobbies; your temperament describes how you act and are and your inborn preferences; your “around-the-clock” refers to your biorhythms and the time of day you feel most active, energized, and able to perform; your life mission is your purpose and goals in life; and your strengths are those of your character and abilities.
When I sat and seriously thought about this (which honestly took a few years), I eventually understood that we don’t even know ourselves on a physical, much less on a spiritual level. I had studied the human body and dove deep into our patterns and our minds, learning about manifestation and the law of attraction, and after a year and a half, I was finally able to map out the factors that lead to the disturbances in our minds, so that I could help others uncover their conditionings and limitations.
It starts by uncovering the masks you hide behind.
Honestly examining the internal and external factors that are affecting you as an individual, and reflecting on how they are affecting your ability to act in the world, will help you create a different outcome to your situation.
The internal factors that affect your life involve the well-being of both your physical and your psychological state, and how they influence the way you show up in the world. These internal factors include your physical health, your psychological health, your mental patterns, your emotional state, your relationship with yourself, and the level of connection you have with something higher than yourself.
The external factors that most often influence your state of mind are your environment, your relationships, your finances, your career, and how much you allow yourself to show up authentically and aligned with your life. When you are unhappy with your living conditions, your relationships, the state of your finances, or your career path, you will spend a lot of time worrying about it and trying to solve these issues and situations that are plaguing your life.
Taking time to reflect and understand who you are, what situations you are facing, how you are affecting or perpetuating them, and whether or not their solution is in your hands will help you become more of an observer of your life and provide you a healthy sense of detachment that will open a lot of mind space to ponder solutions instead continue to be absorbed by the problem.
Challenge – Get to Know Yourself – Discover your VITALS:
This challenge may take you hours, maybe even days or weeks, depending how deep you want to dive and how much baggage you carry.
What are your?
- Values
- Interests
- Temperament
- Time of the day you are at your best
- Purpose and goals
- Character strengths and skills
Once you’ve gone deep and figured these out, it’s time to:
- Decide if your VITALS are serving you?
- Determine whether you are living authentically?
- Be honest with yourself…
…are you focusing on your passions?
…are you developing your strengths?
…are you living a life of purpose?
…are you manifesting the life of your dreams?
…can you do something to elevate your life TODAY?
With enough time and practice, you can integrate these teachings into your day-to-day life and live authentically without even thinking about it! It all starts with Knowing Thyself.