How I created muscle memory through accepting acknowledgement

If you’re anything like me some days are just a debrief of the day before. Just like the replay of a goal shot, a constant replay of the events of the day before.

Why? Because something happened that was pivotal. Something happened that touched, moved, inspired you. Something happened that touched, moved, inspired others. You got acknowledgement for something you actually want to be acknowledged for.

What I’m describing is a moment where I shared something that was important to me. I shared the truth of what makes me tick with some of the people I work with. Essentially strangers at work because some I’d never actually worked with before.

I was vulnerable, open and connected. I was bringing my whole and true self, all of me, to the coaching program I’m a part of and my workplace.

It’s almost as if I have stepped in to a new realm. It has shaped my conversations with others already. I am seeing people differently. I am seeing ways I can communicate differently.

I knew that in that moment of sharing who I am, what my life is for and what I’m about would make a difference. I just didn’t know to what extent. It’s taken me forty years to voice out loud, the pure voice from within.

The facilitator had a chat with me yesterday and acknowledged me and I allowed myself to receive her acknowledgment. The words that landed on me is you don’t know how much that helped others and impacted them and what they individually are going through, you touched them.

That’s all I have ever wanted in my life is to make one difference to one person.

This is just the beginning for me. I see every single interaction with another human being is an opportunity to really get to know them, find out what inspires them, what makes them tick, who they really are, and what they’re really about. That’s why curiosity and empathy go hand in hand.

You don’t know what you don’t know. Ask questions, be curious. On the other side of discovery is connection and growth waiting for you both. You the mother, the father, them the kids. Or you the coach or mentor them the coachee or mentee.

If I can do it once, I can do it again. I can remember to be more of me in every situation and circumstance. I can remember to ask open questions of others that will likely yield the kinds of conversations that will bring them to be more of their true self to the surface.

I know I can recreate this moment for myself if I need to remind myself that what I do or say has a positive impact on others.