Does your vision for 2020 involve you being absolutely magnificent?
You may have plotted out a new eating plan or work-out situation, or maybe you’re gathering your strategy for finally getting that raise, that promotion. All of which is good! But what is the energy that is driving your efforts?
I want to suggest a very specific type of energy for the coming year: magnificence.
THE ENERGY OF MAGNIFICENCE
The energy of magnificence allows us to blow through self-imposed limits, it’s the energy that allows you to pull off the kind of shit you didn’t even know you were capable of. It sometimes shows up and surprises us, usually when life forces us to access it. It’s something that wakes us up and says, “More is required. More is demanded.”
I see magnificence in the people I work with and meet along my path … in fact, I see it so clearly, it makes me slightly crazy. Why? Because often the person I’m working with is blind to their own magnificence. Or maybe the know the energy is there, but they just don’t have the strength to call it up to bat.
If you’re struggling to call up magnificence, try using what I call borrowing energy.
When I first started doing keynotes for larger audiences, my insane thought generator (“the ITG” as Ben Kiker calls it) would stop me, and whisper:
Who do you think you are? You can’t entertain or teach these people!
Only big fancy speakers get to speak to this many people in one room!
And then I would be paralyzed by panic and by fear.
BORROWING ENERGY
I quickly realized I needed a metaphor, something that would short circuit my ISG, and allow me to stand in my own power. So I asked myself, where do I see examples of people, places, or things that are just being unapologetically magnificent?
Specifically, I went looking for examples of people, places and things that don’t make a big deal about their magnificence, but just get busy blowing minds and melting faces.
For whatever reason, I thought about eagles. An eagle doesn’t apologize for or question her own majesty, she just jumps off the edge of a cliff and glides, leaving us amazed and breathless as we watch her. And when she’s done, she has a snack, cleans her feathers and takes a little rest.
I decided that the eagle would be my go-to symbol of magnificence.
I took out a piece of paper, and wrote,
“Note to Self: Be magnificent, ride the current, have a snack, clean your feathers, rest, repeat”.
This was game-changing for me because “Bronwyn” can’t pull off addressing a room full of 800 people, but Bronwyn using the energy of the eagle? Fuck yeah, she can. And she did. And she does. And she will keep on doing so.
CHOOSE YOUR ENERGY
Your turn.
Think about a person, place, or thing that feels magnificent to you, that resonates with you. Maybe it’s the Grand Canyon. Maybe it’s Zendaya. Maybe it’s a great white shark. It’s totally up to you and your imagination.
Lastly, I want you to take out a piece of paper and write down a few keywords, or draw a picture of this energy, and place it somewhere where you can see it every day.
MY ENERGIES FOR 2020
I’m going to try and work with three different energy types in 2020 (because I’m extra like that).
I will always have that eagle in my pocket, but there are some other big guns I wanna call in as well.
First, I want to channel Gwyneth Paltrow when it comes to growing my business this year. No, I’m not going to sell crystals for your vagina. What I mean is this: Gwyneth’s ISG plagued her with thoughts of “you can’t run a business!?” But she went out and learned what she needed to learn, hired who she needed to hire, and is now running a $250 million empire. That’s the kind of courage I’d love to take into this next year … the total self-belief and pursuit of magnificence.
The other energy I want to channel is the energy of The Empress, who represents abundance, creativity, and not taking any shit. I am compelled by the idea that everyone should get their needs met, including me, and tapping into Empress vibes will help me remember this.
And lastly, I want channel the energy of Elijah, specifically in this incredible passage from the Book of Kings:
“The Lord said, ‘Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by’, then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind, there was an earthquake. But the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire, and after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave”.
Elijah energy reminds me that divine guidance is not in the noise. It’s not in the hurricane or the fire or the worrying about what’s going on in the outside world. Elijah energy is all about a willingness to stand witness to the wildness of life, and be present to it, but to wait for the whisper of divine guidance.
CALL UP YOUR MAGNIFICENCE
So, friends, I invite you to think big. I want you to consciously call up your magnificence. The time is now.
Be magnificent.
Ride the current.
Clean your feathers.
Repeat.
Shine on, you crazy diamonds.
