Getting Naked: Would You Become Less to Become More?

You know the saying "Being a big fish in a small pond"? I do hope you are feeling like a big fish in your life, because we all are meant to be big fishes. I'm a HUGE WHALE for my son and hopefully a big fish for my family. I do enjoy a big fish syndrome in some other areas of my life as well.

But here's the thing -- you shouldn't feel like a big fish in all the areas of your life. That just shows that your pond has started to limit you and it's getting critical to raise your standards or wave goodbye to a fulfilled life.

It might be a good time to see if your perception of yourself is really honest or is it just reflecting the limiting expectations that "your pond" is setting to you.

Before leaving to Malaysia I was enjoying a rather comfortable life in Estonia, had a rather strong self-image and even though I was challenging my comfort-zone regularly it never got to a critical point where my self-image would have got seriously challenged.

Happiness Guide for 2010

I want to start by thanking everyone I have connected through this blog! Thanks for showing up in my life and adding your unique part in the story, your positive energy and feedback have been a blessing.

A famous psychologist Mihály Csíkszentmihályi, the author of the bestseller "Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience" (a great book, definitely recommend to read) says that the quality of your life is directly connected with the information we allow to enter into our conscious mind. Simply -- truly happy and fulfilled people have an ability to focus on the empowering information, things that strengthen their self image and build their confidence.

A year is gone and whatever you made happen in 2009, good or bad -- make it part of your strong and beautiful self image. All the events are neutral, what makes it meaningful is your evaluation. Csíkszentmihályi says that in order to become an truly fulfilled person you need to learn how to live in a flow. And a way to get there is to choose your own experience.

Maybe this exercise gives some inspiration. I just went through my personal evaluation of 2009, which I want to share with you. I wrote down all the wins from last year that first came to my mind and added in more details what I gained from these wins. Robin Sharma (thanks Aika for the recommendation!) also recommends to write down the things that you could have improved to get a clear picture on how you showed up last year.

Enjoy:)

My Wins in 2009