Navigating Change: Unleash Your Inner Strengths.

Are you currently in the midst of a profound journey through change within your professional life? As you grapple with the complexities of transformation, it's essential to reflect upon your relationship with change and the depth of your desire for it. The process of transitioning in your career, whether it involves bidding farewell to your current job or charting a course for professional development, can often be a daunting and overwhelming endeavour.

Change is often described as akin to riding an emotional roller coaster, a sentiment you might have encountered in my previous articles. It's a journey that can take you through a spectrum of feelings, sometimes even within the same day. In particular, when you are at a crossroads in your career while multiple transitions are converging, this process becomes even more challenging. The duality of emotions and the ever-evolving landscape of change make it crucial to explore your personal connection to this transformation. When you find yourself at a crossroads within the intricate tapestry of your professional journey, the very essence of direction seems obscured by uncertainty. This leaves you grappling with an enigmatic labyrinth of possibilities.

At times, it's here that you are presented with a compelling challenge - to recognise the kaleidoscope of strengths that have silently propelled you towards your past successes. In these moments of profound self-reflection, sometimes guided by a professional coach, you might discover that your achievements are not isolated islands of happenstance, but rather the fruits of abilities that have allowed you to weather storms and navigate unchartered territories. These strengths are what you carry within you, often obscured by the hustle and bustle of the daily grind and forgotten when fear and uncertainty take over.

Reawakening your strengths and bringing them to the forefront of your consciousness empowers you to harness their potential as a great ally in navigating the turbulent seas of change. Your strengths become unwavering pillars of support guiding you through your journey.

When you use your strengths, you will positively influence your brain.

You increase your release of dopamine. Whilst too much dopamine is detrimental to your wellbeing, a healthy amount of dopamine acts like a positive reinforcement in the context of your strengths. When you use your strengths, you are more likely to experience success and satisfaction, which triggers the release of dopamine. This positive reinforcement motivates you to continue using your strengths, which further strengthens the neural pathways associated with those strengths.

Using your strengths can help to reduce stress levels in a number of ways. First, you are more likely to feel confident and capable. These feelings can have a tremendous impact on your overall stress levels. Second, using your strengths can help you focus your attention on the positive aspects of change - and your life. Third, your strengths can help you to build strong relationships with others, which can provide you with the social support you need with any form of transition.

Research has also shown that people who focus on their strengths tend to have better memory, attention, and processing speed. This is likely because the neural pathways associated with those strengths become stronger, which makes it easier for you to perform tasks that require those strengths.

Using your strengths can help you tune into your inner creativity and innovation. You feel more motivated and engaged when you leverage your strengths, which can help you see challenges from a different perspective. This allows you to broaden the quality of your attention and come up with new ideas and possibilities.

Here's some tips on how to let those strengths you carry within you come to the surface.

- What moments on your career journey had a positive impact on you? I would invite you to choose a moment in which you took action in some way. Reflect on any moment that? has had a meaningful impact on you. You know this. You might just not remember right now because you might feel scared or overwhelmed. Take your time to reflect.

- Make a list of those actions you took in those moments. Allow yourself to be an observer in your mind's eye watching the person - yourself - engaging in those actions. I would invite you to suspend any form of judgment and stay open about what you are watching. This is not the time to label your actions. Give yourself the permission to curiously observe what is unfolding before you as you recall those moments. Not doing this can prevent you from recognising your strengths and feeling them in your body.

- Now that you have your list of strengths, I would invite you to ask yourself how your body feels. Where in your body might you feel them? Which part of the body might be associated with a certain strength? Is the body sensation strong? If it's weak or neutral, how could you intensify it? If you struggle, replay the movie of your memory in your mind and make the image of those actions brighter and closer to you. You might even want to imagine to turn the volume up. How does it feel now in your body?

- How have you expressed your strengths in those moments?

- How have they shaped your identity and affected the way you view yourself today?

- Which of these strengths could you apply to the specific change you are going through today? In these moments of contemplation and self-discovery, you can harness the wisdom of your past to make informed decisions and forge a path that truly aligns with your aspirations and values. My invitation for you is to go through these moments of introspection with your mind and your body by paying attention to whatever arises in your body - these are messages for you that can help you unlock the door to a wide range of possibilities and guide you to what most matters to you right now.

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