This article originally appeared in The Simplifier #43.

Getting Together with Your Essential Self

By Shawn Tuttle

Completing the series on the 5 Core Concepts, we’ve arrived at the last one. To recap, the Concepts radiate out from your heartfelt goals:

Visualizing begins to make it real,
Clearing makes the necessary space,
Planning lays out what to do to get there,
Doing is how you are getting there,
YES! is about nurturing Your Essential Self 

YES! is an acronym for Your Essential Self. By this I mean your self in times of strength, compassion, and wisdom. That’s your best self, your essential self. The place inside yourself where you know, without shadow of a doubt, just what you stand for and what is worth fighting for.

The trouble is that in our analytical, information-overload world, we forget about this deep part of ourselves. So we forge on like a steamship, blindly plowing through anything in our way. But the cost of approaching life in this way is high. People we love get hurt or neglected, we give up our dreams, we lose years of our life with little of meaning to show for it. We then must begin again. 

The very fact that you are reading this newsletter indicates that your basic survival needs are met. You have obtained a certain level of security that allows you to turn from merely surviving to gracefully thriving. You have the option of exploring heart-based possibilities and fulfilling your obligations. Unfortunately, most of us weren’t taught the tools to navigate these (often contradictory) currents. 

As a unique person, you get to figure out what your wants are and how important they are to you. How much time and creativity are you willing to invest in pursuing them? How many of your wants and needs will you weave together? 

In any situation you have countless options; some will serve you better than others. How do you choose? You can take the path of least resistance, or you can try to fill expectations of others, or…you can present the question to your essential self to see which harmonizes the best. 

In order to do this, you need to be able to communicate with your essential self. This doesn’t necessarily mean taking off on month long retreats (though it can), or making major lifestyle changes (though it may). What it does mean is simply being able to get in touch with your essential self as a resource for making decisions. 

I believe that each of us have ways to get in touch with our best self as frequently as we want. For example, my ways include: 

• journal writing, connecting with my intuition to identify solutions
• being in nature, letting birds, trees, breeze and bodies of water wash away frantic energy
• yoga, clearing energy blocks and tightness in my body
• meditation, taking time for stillness and silence
• cultivating gratitude, acknowledging all people and experiences that have contributed to where I am in this moment

You may have noticed these don’t involve interacting with other people. I’m a bit of an introvert and replenish myself in solitude. Your centering activities may involve social situations or more external stimulation.

Take some quiet time to identify the types of situations or activities that help you reconnect with your essential self. Write them down and keep this list visible until they are well integrated into your life. If you’ve been entering info on the 5 Core Concept worksheet, you can record them in the section labeled “YES!”

The more you act from your essential self… the easier it is to make big decisions… the richer and simpler your life feels… the more clear the right course of action becomes. Being more in tune with your essential self makes the rest of the 5 Core Concepts easier. Visualizing becomes more frequent and detailed; the obstacles ready for clearing are more obvious; planning is more streamlined; doing is more effective. Inevitably, the distance between setting and achieving your goals diminishes.

We’ve now touched on the basics of each of the 5 Core Concepts. Together, they form a model to refer to when chaos reigns. For quick reference, here’s the image of the 5 Concepts radiating out from the goal that you can download. Several people have told me that they put this in view from their desk and whenever they feel like they are getting caught up in confusion, they figure out where they need to be in the model, and proceed from there.

You are in control of your life; you set the goals and employ the model to achieve them. Whether you choose to persist with the force of a steamship, the steadiness of an atomic clock, or the grace of a dolphin, you have the tools to create the life you desire. Visualize big! Clear out the cobwebs! Plan for success! Do it with ease! Celebrate YES! Just be persistent, and most of all, have fun! 

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Shawn Tuttle is founder of Project Simplify.