Hold-your-image

Hold Your Image

Your image is important!  I mean, right now, at your kids’ tender young age, it is essential.  We have seen people who earn a golden opportunity later in life only to have something from their childhood or early adulthood show up and dismiss that opportunity.  My mentor, Paul Martinelli, is known for saying, “Hold Your Image.”  For a while, I’m not sure that I understood what he was saying until the past few months, as I have been actively working on that very thought process.

As we move toward who we want to be, there are many distractions.  They can include self-talk, doubts, criticism from others, our family, and those surrounding us who try to tear down what we’re trying to accomplish.

I say, “Hold on to it anyway!”  Don’t let anyone take away your energy, enthusiasm, vision for the good that you can do, your ideal life plan, your vision for helping others, all of it.  Be so solid in your image that you are unstoppable.  Look at them and say, “I don’t think that way.”  or “That’s not how I want to be; I am going to be this.”  Have a phrase that you use when others try to tear down your very self-esteem and then walk away from them.

Cut yourself loose from people who do not support who you want to be, regardless of who they are, what they represent, or how much it may cost you initially.  You cannot afford to lose your vision of your life and then not reach your destiny.

As I work with youth, I help them find that same vision for themselves and help them reach their destiny by asking them questions that help clarify and identify that same image that they are seeking.  To make this change in your life, you have to focus on precisely what you want, down to the detail of what clothes you will wear, how you stand before others, and what you will be saying to them.  The very words that you will be using.  If you choose to listen to the criticism, you allow the negative to come into your life.

Often, people want to do this to you because they want you to be as miserable as they are in life.  No, don’t allow this to happen to you.  Move away from them, or better yet, stop them in their track and tell them you don’t want to hear it.  Hold up your hand and say, talk to the hand, I’m not listening.

If you choose your image and add to it every day, with passion and persistence, you will achieve it, delivering it every day as you move forward; it will come to be suitable for y little by little.  There is a lot of negative holdbacks in the world that will always try to destroy your plan. The passion and determination keep it alive for you and help you move to victory with what you’re trying to do.  Interestingly, this plagues everyone, even successful people.

Often we think of successful people as if they don’t have any problems.  They have plenty of them, just like you and I, but they see them as opportunities to move forward or as a signpost of better things to come.  It is a choice and one that successful people frequently make as they move about their day.  You must find the image of what you want, where you’re headed, and bite into it with determination and passion that says, ‘I must accomplish this, and I will.’  It takes practice, so start small at first and choose something attainable.

I like to start with simple health improvements, like working out, choosing healthy foods, and walking outdoors.  By creating an image of health and practicing it for two or three months, you will begin to see how Holding Your Image works to help you accomplish bigger goals in your life.

Part of Holding Your Image involves this post Be Patient and Wait – Dr. Rich Patterson (pattersonphd.com)

Here is a scientific approach to Holding Your Image Neuroscience for Kids – Vision Exp. (washington.edu)

Yours for Better Living,

Rich