Strive to be your best!

We can continue to grow towards our best selves throughout our lives

An acorn will strive throughout its existence to become the oak tree – its final, fully expressed form, its “best self”.  It will do this despite a less than ideal environment – poor nutrients, scarce water, other trees taking the sunlight, strong winds.  Whilst it is a living organism the acorn will strive to become the oak tree.

And the acorn goes through multiple transformations.  First it germinates and sprouts, then it grows into a sapling, then a small tree and finally into its fully-grown form.

Humans are no different from the lowly acorn in that we have an internal drive too.We are born with an inbuilt striving to grow and develop towards our best selves.When we are children our stage of growth is self-evident and those around us accommodate our limitations and strivings, celebrating our first word, our first step. Gradually, we develop towards adulthood and our full physical maturity.Yet, things don’t stop there.

Jack Coggins - Launching_the_dory - 1979

Our internal drive towards our best selves continues yet can be distracted or waylaid.  Our societies are not set up to accommodate further growth in adulthood or, worse, they direct the striving away from its true aim – encouraging the pursuit of fame or self-esteem or power – the material over the spiritual.

To solve the world’s existential problems, we need many more people becoming better versions of themselves – free of anxiety, judgement and comparison – and full of confidence, collaboration and celebration.

Education will play a major role in forming young people to continue to strive towards being their best selves throughout their adult lives.

Not least by believing in and modelling the same striving ourselves.

John Corrigan is an expert in helping individuals to bring their whole of mind to their daily life and increase their effectiveness and the effectiveness of those around them. This expertise scales from the individual to the team to the organisation. At the core of this work is the practice of encounter.  Earlier blogs can be found here.

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