I’ll never forget the first time I heard The 12 Laws of Transformation for Living Fully by Baron Baptiste. It was while holding the world’s longest pigeon pose in Yin Yoga as the instructor graciously helped us pass the time by reading all 12. He only read the laws, repeating number 9 twice, but didn’t give us any context…we had plenty of time in that pose to define them for ourselves!
These laws, or best practices as I see them, are all an integral part of our journey to deeper self-love. I shared some examples and ideas below to expand on each law.
Notice the ones that give you pause and spend a little extra time reflecting on how they relate to your life and how they could help you live fully.
1. Seek the truth
What is your truth? Knowing it is a sure way to live boldly in a world that is always trying to change you. When you know your truth, you use your voice to show up fully for yourself and for others – no holding back.
2. Be willing to come apart
Seek out opportunities and experiences that challenge your long-held beliefs and be open to new perspectives. These can be spiritual revelations or new ways of challenging your physical strength. Come face to face with who you think you are and what you think you know to be true about yourself – rediscover yourself a million times. Allow yourself to feel what you feel without always having to be “the strong one.”
Falling apart is part of the process to becoming whole again.
3. Step out of your comfort zone
Although we can be productive in a space we feel most comfortable, the things we’re avoiding outside our comfort zone are often the biggest secrets to our success.
4. Commit to growth
Read on topics that interest you and ones you think you know well – learn something new. Take a class, discover a new skill, challenge your long-held beliefs. We are all creative beings. Tap into your creativity and be a student of life.
Travel to see how the rest of the world lives.
5. Shift your vision
Shift your vision toward a life that makes you want to spring out of bed every morning and take on the day. You are not too old and it is not too late.
6. Drop what you know
Let go of all the stories you’ve told yourself, especially the ones that have been holding you back – limiting beliefs. Make a way for yourself through action and speech for new and more empowering beliefs and values.
7. Relax with what is
If you can’t be happy with how far you’ve come, what’s the point of it all? If you can’t enjoy the fruits of your labor, no matter how small, why keep going? Nothing is ever good or bad, it’s all just information…so don’t panic, and relax with how things are as you continue moving forward.
8. Remove the rocks
Remove anything that is standing in your way of living a full life. These can be thoughts, people and places that make you feel like you’re taking steps backward. You can try to work around the rocks, but you’ll break even, taking a step forward and then ending up right back where you started. Once you remove those rocks, you can step forward and live fully.
9. Don’t rush the process
Sometimes you have to slow down to speed up. There are no shortcuts or quick fixes; skipping steps will only set you back over time. Show up for every moment on your journey and know that it is all part of the information you need to live fully.
10. Be true to yourself
This starts with knowing yourself. Your likes, desires, dislikes, values and beliefs and how you define self-care. Being true to yourself is easier when you know who you are at your core. You can make decisions and feel aligned when you’re checking things against your truth.
11. Be still and know
Be still and know that whatever is meant to be yours won’t pass you by. And that you are exactly where you need to be at this moment in your life. Know that the universe is always ready to meet you where you are and conspire with you to succeed at whatever your heart desires.
12. Understand that the whole is the goal
Mastery over metrics. It’s easy to get so caught up on fixing the individual parts of ourselves that you feel are broken that you forget to take a step back and look at the whole of your life and of who you are. There will always be something you want to change (that’s your human nature!) but that should not take away from you being inspired by who you are as a whole.
We live life in a cycle – my favorite memory of being my grandpa’s caregiver was watching my mom spoon feed him at the dinner table. They sat at the same table where they used to eat when my mom was a little girl and, in that moment, I thought, “Wow, life really does come full circle.” Getting to witness that moment in my grandpa’s final days made the fragments of caring for him seem so small.
Everything we do keeps the cycle going so we must live truthfully and graciously in all areas of our lives.
The whole is the goal.
Clarity of my mind to see my thoughts but not to let them trip me up in the moment, movement with ease and flexibility, giving myself permission to make mistakes and learn from them, surrounding myself with people and things that inspire me, check me and challenge me to be my best, getting rest and eating foods that fuel me for tasks I enjoy and allow me to fulfill my priorities…these are just a few of ways I define being whole.
Each of these things is a work in progress, so I will have to keep working, and knowing that everything I do is getting me closer to being whole.
An affirmation for wholeness: I move my body because I deserve to feel good. Every posture and every breath is making a deposit in my self-care bank. Nothing subtracts, it only adds to my feelings of connection, contentment, joy and safety.
Take care of your whole self. Download my free guide of 75 little ways to practice self-care.