Charm
“to be fascinating”
Yikes, could a definition be any more vague? What does it mean to be fascinating? For me, it would mean to be genuinely interesting…in what you say, what you do, how you interact with others, how you treat others. Yet what may be interesting to me may not be interesting to other people. That’s why, if we’re wanting to be charming, we need to be honest with and about ourselves.
The key here is the “genuinely” part…if it’s just an act with no sincerity behind it, then that’s hardly genuine…which then makes it fascinating for all the wrong reasons.
But let’s turn the tables for a bit. What if each of us is struggling wanting to become fascinating, charming, interesting? What then? The word confidence comes to mind. When we’re confident it’s almost automatic that we become more interesting, fascinating, and/or charming.
But how do you be confident? Plenty of articles exist about how to be confident. Instead it might be helpful to look at it from a different angle: what are the behaviors and attitudes of confident people? I put that question to ChatGPT and here’s what it shared:
- Self-Acceptance: They accept themselves as they are, acknowledging both strengths and weaknesses.
- Positive Self-Talk: They maintain a positive inner dialogue and avoid self-deprecating thoughts.
- Taking Initiative: They are proactive and willing to take on challenges without waiting for external validation.
- Resilience: They handle setbacks and criticism well, seeing them as opportunities for growth rather than personal failures.
- Body Language: They often have open, relaxed, and assertive body language, such as maintaining eye contact and having good posture.
- Assertiveness: They express their thoughts and needs clearly and respectfully without being aggressive.
- Continuous Learning: They are open to learning and improving themselves, recognizing that growth is a continuous process.
- Empathy and Listening: They listen actively and show empathy, valuing others’ opinions and experiences.
- Boundaries: They set healthy boundaries and respect the boundaries of others, understanding their own limits.
- Gratitude and Positivity: They practice gratitude and focus on the positive aspects of life, which helps maintain a balanced perspective.
Each one of these attributes would make for perfect self-exploration prompts. For instance, that first one: self-acceptance. A helpful exercise might be to list everything we accept about ourselves and, more importantly, what we don’t accept. The “don’t” list could then become the list of limiting beliefs we have about ourselves…that awareness is huge because from there we can take positive action to transform that belief.
Well…that took a fascinating turn. I don’t know about you but I found this to be most insightful.
How about you? Is charm a core value for you?
BTW…here’s what it looked like to begin with …
joyfully,
Maureen
The Mandala Lady
bringing sanity to an insane world through the art of mandalas
About the 2024 Mandalas of the Day
Each day I will create and post a mandala inspired by one of 366 “value” words chosen randomly. The objective being to discover for myself which ones would best represent my core values…and by doing so, I hope it inspires you to determine your own.
Mandala of the Day 