"I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free."

-Michelangelo-

Each of us has some Michelangelo in us.  We are forever striving to bring that confident, beautiful self into full form.   We spend our lives knowingly or unknowingly trying to "become that which we are intended to be."

If you happened to be one of the attendees at the recent showing of The GLOW Project movie, (or if you've viewed the trailer at www.glowproject.com, you understand.   Each of us has a powerful being inside of us; each of us has a "glow" to radiate.  We each have to find that "glow"-to release that "angel in the marble."  All the while, we are living our lives, with all the ups and downs.

Being released from our marble constraints involves discovering one's passion and living according to what matters most.  Psychologists tell us that our "constant striving" focuses on five different, inter-related life strategies, each of which includes an emotional barometer.  Each is actively present every day, in every moment; always tugging. And each beckons one's next action.

They are:

            Competency                       Feeling Successful (or not)

            Usefulness                         Feeling Needed (or not)

            Belonging                           Feeling Valued (or not)

            Potency                               Feeling Empowered (or not)

            Optimism                             Feeling Hopeful (or not)

When you awoke this morning, how were you feeling in each of these arenas?

Think for a moment about your lowest lows, and your highest highs.  Which of the above strategies was most impacted?  Think about who in your life most helps you or hinders you in these five arenas.   Sometimes, one arena can be hugely impacted (example, being demoted) and your sense of competency, your sense of feeling successful, will take a nose-dive.  Conversely, you may learn that you are being promoted, and provided a bonus-so your sense of competency surges upward!  Or, you might be experiencing the "empty nest syndrome" and you are feeling pangs of not being very needed nor valued.  Or, you may be experiencing great loss and your sense of optimism is tarnished. 

What happens when you experience a negative in any of the above arenas?   Immediately you begin to strive to find a positive in that arena and/or to find balance via one or more of the other arenas.  While you might sulk for awhile over being demoted, you'll ultimately be beckoned forward to look to increase your competence-to find something different wherein you again can feel successful.  (Example...when I retired from the Corporate world I had to reinvent myself; to become competent, useful and potent in another realm. In my case, that was in consulting and coaching). 

Whenever you experience the negative in any of these arenas, you are internally beckoned to seek another positive, to achieve balance at the minimum, and to ultimately move towards emotional joy.  But wouldn't it be great if you could stack your deck with more positives than negatives to begin with?  That's where releasing your angel from the marble by living your passion and capitalizing on your gifts enriches your treasure-trove and provides a leg-up on emotional joy.

The psychological riddle to releasing your "Angel in the Marble" is that the more you understand your gifts and live your passion, the more you'll find yourself feeling positive in all five of these life-strategy arenas; and the more positive-feeling you become, the more you knowingly and purposely continue to act in ways that increase your positivity in these five life strategy arenas even more; all the while your angel continues to come forth, radiating in "glow". 

Michelangelo saw the glow in his masterpieces and had to carve.  We see the glow in ourselves and have to act!