SPIRITUALITY

IT’S NOT OKAY TO NOT BE OKAY

SUPRIYA SHARMA

CX Alchemist| Organizational Transformation Coach| Management Consultant - Strategy| Keynote Speaker| Investor| Author| Podcast Host| Materialistic Spiritualist| Air pistol shooter Email Address: sss.mach7@gmail.com

Wait, wait, wait! Did you just glance at the title and declare me nutty or out of date or thought it to be a misprint? The good (or not so good may be) news is that you read it right actually - ‘It’s not okay to not be okay’. Nah, the idea here isn’t to dishearten Netflix fans or modern-day positivity analysts but to make us all simply yet strongly realize that in case we fall, we can’t mistake it for our permanent home, fluffing it with ‘it’s okay to not be okay’. That isn’t the place we were carved for, and it’s not at all okay to be in a space that isn’t okay for you. It makes sense to remember that whenever we land in troughs during the lifetime, the power to lift ourselves up lies solely within us and the futility of relying on friends, family or colleagues needs to be acknowledged. Your connections and near ones won’t carry the load for you, they can only share the load, it’s you who must do the lifting.

Much in circulation these days is a pleasant sounding word called ‘Pleasanteeism’. Heard of it? Well, a beguiling bite for semantics and etymology enthusiasts, but what’s in it for us in addition to being vowel heavy?

Let’s get the meaning first. It refers to feeling the pressure to always appear pleasant, positive, and untroubled, be at work or home. The trouble is that this can lead to people feeling reluctant to voice concerns, ask for help or take breaks when needed. Even though the pandemic has moved mental health to the center of our conversation, many still are guided by the pull to be pleasant above all else. What’s missing is the spiritual piece. Pleasanteeism, as pleasant as it may sound has consequences that aren’t pleasant for employees, companies, families or community on the whole. You don’t push things under the rug when they aren’t okay. Do you? It calls for mending or repair work.

But where does it start? Within you.

Where exactly? At the level of the spirit. Here, my reference to spirit is not in the religious sense. By spirit, I mean the very essence of your being, the source from where you derive remarkable strength.

How to unleash it? By having a spiritual practice. It can be a transformational lever to your success and living your life purpose. It is worth recognizing that your spiritual practice coincides to a great extent with the self-love practice.

Spirituality is the reality of our spirit. Being spiritual helps us to connect with who we truly are, and that’s what brings authenticity to our leadership. If you want to make an impact in the world, then you have to begin with yourself. To be able to love others unconditionally and illuminate the world with your potential, you must first love yourself unconditionally. This is where most people struggle, especially women, because we are garnered to dedicate our lives to others.

You struggle, suffer, and doubt when you are out of harmony. It is hard to emanate unequivocal love when you are viewing yourself from a materialistic lens or what is known as the primary 3-D lens, i.e., finding your worth in money, looks, or outcomes. But love isn’t material, it is energy. So to spread love and receive love, we must be love, and the best way to do it is by tapping into the divinity within you. . It is the deepest form of self-love, characterized by owning and accepting yourself, in a fashion that isn’t demagogical; gets you to be intimate with the inner you and go deep into your

When you view yourself through the lens of the Divine, you see the whole you. You embellish yourself with the grace, forgiveness, and magic you need to be confident, courageous, and free. It empowers you with compassionate directness, to speak up, voice out what isn’t working, give feedback, disagree and surface problems, pain points and share constructive criticism; basically, to take steps to come out of ‘it’s okay not to be okay’ zone, because when you are operating in the spiritual realm, you know your true worth. You realize that you are a blessed creation of the Almighty and you weren’t meant to not be okay. Research has proven that combining psycho-neurobiology, neuroscience, quantum physics, and parapsychology with the time-honored wisdom from spiritual traditions helps you reach a point where you get into the flow, and this natural state allows creative solutions to emerge and wellbeing to reign.

Let’s stop forcing pleasanteeism, and cultivate the chivalry to be unstoppable, banking on your spiritual resource. The next time you accept a calendar request, coffee invite or an appointment, make yourself the priority in the benefit of the universe, rest can wait. It’s okay to choose yourself over others and shower all the time, attention and love you deserve, because now you comprehend ‘it’s not okay to not be okay’.