Psychology 101 for Change Agents: Optimizing Your Psychological Wiring for Joy and Impact

We all have certain feelings that are fundamental to our joy and our impact as change agents.  And we also have certain feelings that are like kryptonite when it comes to undermining our joy and our impact...  

In Session 12 of this Understanding and Evolving Your Psychology curriculum, we are going to work on distilling everything you've been learning over these past 11 sessions into a single page, personalized map for showing up more consistently as your best self. 

This video and the accompanying worksheet will guide you through a process for summarizing your insights about the feelings you value most and least in your pursuit of joy and impact across all the areas of your life.  This is the heart of understanding and evolving your own psychology as a change agent with a calling to make the world a better place. 

What we’re going for in this last exercise in this series is a one-page list with two sections.

The Feelings that Form the Foundation for Your Joy and Your Impact

What are the feelings that are most fundamental to your joy as a human being and your impact as a change agent, and what are  your “rules” for the thoughts and actions that allow you to generate these feelings whenever you want to call on them? 

For example:

1. The Love of My Family:  When I cherish my family members and treat them with love and respect I am experiencing feelings of love and support myself, and am part of a joyful home
2. Kindness and Compassion: When I seek to empathize and connect warmly with others and truly appreciate their needs and values, I am experiencing feelings of kindness and compassion and showing up as my  best self.
3. Clarity of Vision: When I take the time to discern where my calling leads and prepare for each day by envisioning the future I am striving for and planning the actions that will best advance this future I am experiencing what it feels like to have clarity of vision.

Your Kryptonite Cures

What are the feelings that are most corrosive to your joy as a human being and your impact as a change agent, and what are  your “rules” for the thoughts and actions that allow you to counteract and heal these feelings whenever you  sense yourself caught in their grip?

For example:

1. Enervating Fear: I am feeling fear in a negative way when I  am allowing my focus to dwell on the potential for experiencing pain in a way that saps my energy and forward movement.  To rob this feeling of its power I simply need to remember that experiencing failure and pain is inevitable on my journey in life, and that the true path forward as a vessel of joy and an instrument of impact is to persist and remain committed to taking action despite my  fear.  Fear is my cue to engage and act!
2. Scarcity and Selfishness: When I am feeling that there won’t be enough of whatever I need and I therefore fail to share generously and seek the best for others, I am operating from feelings of scarcity and selfishness.  All I need to do to break free from these feelings is to lean into my  values of positivity, abundance and trust in God.  Selfishness is my cue to have faith and share!

Download the worksheet to get a blank, one page template for you to fill in and carry with to remind and inspire yourself both in the moment and over the whole course of your joyful impact journey.