{"id":3839,"date":"2013-01-06T12:01:56","date_gmt":"2013-01-06T17:01:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/?p=3839"},"modified":"2013-01-02T16:49:06","modified_gmt":"2013-01-02T21:49:06","slug":"what-if-the-world-is-better-because-of-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2013\/01\/what-if-the-world-is-better-because-of-you.html","title":{"rendered":"What If the World is Better Because of YOU?"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Today is Day 6 of my 31 Days of Self-Love posts to celebrate Self-Love Month<\/a><\/strong> with suggestions for jump-starting your own self-love and joining The Self-Love Movement<\/strong><\/a>\u2122.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Since it\u2019s Self-Love Month, it\u2019s very fitting to have Self-Love ambassador, my fabulicious friend, Lisa McCourt<\/strong><\/a>, as my guest today. Lisa coaches writers, creatives, and other joy-seekers who are ready to substantially up-level their success in work and in life. Author of Juicy Joy – 7 Simple Steps to Your Glorious, Gutsy Self (Hay House) she has published 37 books that have sold over 5.5 million copies, won six publishing awards, and gone into 11 languages. A frequent speaker at both writing conferences and self-growth events, Lisa lives in sunny South Florida with her two self-loving kids.\u00a0 And I\u2019m excited that I\u2019ll finally meet her face-to-face in March when I go there to speak.<\/p>\n

The Question You Need to Ask for 2013 <\/strong>
\nBy Lisa McCourt<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019m feeling extra-grateful right about now to a certain uber-inspiring luminary who was just crazy enough to have January officially declared Self-Love Month so all of us would have an excuse to revel in our own yummy deliciousness throughout these glorious kicking-off-2013 days.\u00a0 (Thank you, dear Daylle. Yours is the brightest light.)<\/p>\n

Are you reveling? Are you taking time each day to acknowledge your wisdom, your depth, your beauty . . . your own overflowing, juicy goodness?<\/p>\n

I\u2019m going to ask you a question and I want you to silently answer it in your head. After you answer it, I want you to tuck it away and promise me you\u2019ll pull it out often during this month of self-love and beyond. Make a mental list around it as you fall asleep each night. Deliberately call it up into your conscious awareness as you wake each morning.<\/p>\n

Ready for the question? How is the world a better place for having you in it?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ll give you a hint to get you started.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever spent a single moment expressing genuine affection to another human being, the world is a better place for having you in it. If you\u2019ve ever recycled anything, the world is a better place for having you in it.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve ever pet a dog, or picked a friend up at the airport, or laughed with someone, or given a gift, or drawn a picture, or fallen in love . . . this world is better for that.<\/p>\n

And sometimes people hear this and they\u2019ll start a tally going, like: \u201cYeah, I did some of that stuff. But what about all those times I didn\u2019t do the right thing? What about the times I really screwed up? What about the times I hurt someone?\u201d I\u2019m not asking you to pretend those things never happened. We all have those events in our memory vaults. I\u2019m simply asking you to notice what the Universe notices about you. You\u2019re here to make this world a better place or you wouldn\u2019t be here. And it\u2019s exactly what you\u2019ve done since the day you arrived.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a crazyass idea for you to try on: What if all those things you\u2019ve done that make you wince right now and feel that you should have done them better \u2013 what if all those things were divinely guided, too? What if, in their own brilliantly-disguised ways, those things actually made the world a better place, too? What if that heart you broke in high school gave your high school sweetheart the emotional momentum necessary to deepen and evolve as a person in precisely the way that was most beneficial and enriching for that individual? What if that roommate you heartlessly kicked out for not being able to pay the rent, was forced, uncomfortably, to mend a broken family relationship in order to have a place to stay . . . and that was exactly what the Universe had planned when it guided the two of you together as roommates in the first place?<\/p>\n

None of us is without regrets and it\u2019s so easy to fall into self-incrimination over past \u201cshould-haves.\u201d\u00a0 But what if it\u2019s all been exquisitely, irrationally perfect every step of the way?<\/p>\n

That laundry list of self-judgments you carry around — it\u2019s weighing you down so bad. And it\u2019s not founded on anything real. It\u2019s just a bunch of crappy beliefs that got dropped into your consciousness, and then got reinforced by your insistent determination to mentally harp on them. Objective reality is an illusion. Your reality is nothing more than the sum total of your perceptions, and your perceptions of the events around you are just by-products of your beliefs.<\/p>\n

Can you imagine the energy, the chi, the prana that would be released if you could neutralize all those egregious, self-love-robbing beliefs? Can you imagine what you\u2019d be able to create with all that newly freed-up energy and power?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the kicker: Those crappy beliefs are doing more damage than just keeping your self-love out of reach. They\u2019re also actually causing you to behave in ways that reinforce them. That\u2019s what our beliefs do. Beliefs are powerful perpetuators OF THEMSELVES. (Can you say \u201cself-fulfilling prophecy\u201d?) That\u2019s true for all levels of beliefs from the teeny tiny ones to the huge ones. Once a belief gets woven into your habitual belief system, you\u2019re programmed to reinforce it. If you\u2019ve got a belief that says you\u2019re a failure with money, you\u2019re going to keep experiencing financial failure. If you\u2019ve got a belief that says you\u2019re unlucky in love, guess what? No love for you. Until you get in there and do some deliberate work to re-wire those beliefs, you are their puppet.<\/p>\n

I guarantee you unequivocally that up-leveling your self-love will generate an up-level in every aspect of your life \u2013 money, romance, health, success. If you\u2019re not madly in love with every last spec of you right now, make 2013 the year you commit to changing that. Treat yourself to one of Daylle\u2019s programs. Treat yourself to one of mine. Pick something and start it. If you\u2019re not ready for a program, I implore you to simply make a promise to yourself right now to start loving YOU in some new and powerful way that feels doable to you.<\/p>\n

It doesn\u2019t work to just say, \u201cOkay, now I\u2019m gonna love myself. Yeah, I\u2019m pretty great.\u201d No.\u00a0 You can\u2019t fool you.\u00a0 You have to take action.\u00a0 Make it big. Go do some bold, significant thing! Today, or at the very least by the end of the week, make some kind of joyful, exciting investment in yourself. You\u2019ll be blown away at the energetic shift you\u2019ll create by just doing some unprecedented kindness to YOU.<\/p>\n

What would make you smile? What would give you some sort of ongoing gift? What would be kind of indulgent, and might even take a bit of your time or energy away from others? Doing this thing will be in their best interest, too, because a joyful, self-honoring, blissed-out YOU is your best gift to your loved ones, your community, and the world.<\/p>\n

When the Universe sees that you\u2019re serious about shaking things up a bit by demonstrating self-love to your own higher consciousness in some kind of concrete way, it opens the gateway for more good to start flooding into your life. Synchronicities will abound! Situations you thought were stuck will smoothly move in fortuitous directions! It\u2019ll knock your socks off. Go love YOU in some juicy, measurable way . . . and watch for your miracles.
\n***************
\nJoin The <\/strong>Self-Love Movement\u2122<\/strong><\/a>! Take the 31 Days of Self-Love Commitment<\/strong><\/a> and get my book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways<\/a><\/strong> for free at http:\/\/howdoiloveme.com<\/a><\/strong>. Read my 2012 31 Days of Self-Love Posts HERE<\/a><\/strong><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Please leave comments under my posts so we can stay connected.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is Day 6 of my 31 Days of Self-Love posts to celebrate Self-Love Month with suggestions for jump-starting your own self-love and joining The Self-Love Movement\u2122. Since it\u2019s Self-Love Month, it\u2019s very fitting to have Self-Love ambassador, my fabulicious friend, Lisa McCourt, as my guest today. Lisa coaches writers, creatives, and other joy-seekers who…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":83,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[245,244,27],"class_list":["post-3839","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-self-love-acceptance","tag-juicy-joy","tag-lisa-mccourt","tag-self-love"],"yoast_head":"\nWhat If the World is Better Because of YOU? - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/2013\/01\/what-if-the-world-is-better-because-of-you.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What If the World is Better Because of YOU? - Lessons from a Recovering Doormat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is Day 6 of my 31 Days of Self-Love posts to celebrate Self-Love Month with suggestions for jump-starting your own self-love and joining The Self-Love Movement\u2122. 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Let Me Count the Ways, a She's appeared on hundreds of TV and radio shows, including Oprah, Howard Stern, and Good Morning America and has been quoted in dozens of publications, including the New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, Cosmopolitan, Redbook, Marie Claire, and Men\u00b9s Health. After being a consummate People Pleaser who felt unworthy of getting her own needs met for many years, Daylle found a path of self-love that enabled her to build her self-esteem and reinvent herself into a dual career. She learned to get taken seriously without being overtly assertive when she became one of the first women to start an independent record label (on a dare!) and learned to play ball nicely and successfully in an industry dominated by men. To help independent musicians empower themselves, Daylle writes music business books for Billboard\/Random House, including the very popular Start & Run Your Own Record Labe and I Don't Need a Record Deal! Daylle's books have been translated into over 10 languages and are popular around the world. She speaks for colleges, organizations and corporations. Through her company, Project Self-Empowerment, Daylle creates programs and materials to help people empower themselves. One goal is to raise the money to self-publish her book, How Do I Love Me? Let Me Count the Ways and give it away for free in colleges and through organizations, to give thanks for all her blessings. Daylle uses her writing and speaking to help others find the kind of contentment and empowerment that she has.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/author\/dschwartz"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/83"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3839"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3840,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3839\/revisions\/3840"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3839"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3839"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/lessonsfromarecoveringdoormat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3839"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}