EXPANSIVE TALK

The greatest battle we will ever face is ourselves. That is true for each one of us. In other words, the greatest battle you will ever face is you. How do we win this battle? Whenever we emerge, we escape from ourselves. This ability requires great diligence. Aging is so automatic. Emerging, on the other hand, requires conscious attention. When we are being true to ourselves, for example, we are sacrificing our greaterness. When we are being true to ourselves regarding following our unique recipes for success in liberating ourselves from ourselves, we are no longer sacrificing our greatnerness. Instead, we become advocates for our greaterness.

What a crazy concept, right? When we advocate for our current self, we neglect our greater self. When we advocate for our greater self, we grow, mature, develop, become greater, function better, become wiser, and meet the newness of our emergence. How can we actively advocate for our greater selves? Refrain from referencing your current self. Expansive talk is the awkward practice of refraining from using the terms, "I, Me, Mine, Myself." By not making yourself the reference point in your converstaions, you allow something greater than you to be the reference point. What makes this practice awkward? Try it. Here are some tricks to help you succeed. Use the words "it" and "there" more often. That will have you speak in more general terms. Instead of, "I find this practice awkward," consider, "It is awkward." Instead of, "I'm working on my greaterness," consider, "Working on greaterness is a good point of focus." Instead of, "I'm really looking forward to getting good at this," consider, "Getting good at this is something to look forward to."

Beyond the practice of expansive talk, an additional practice to use in referencing yourself is to use "a version of me." When you say, "A version of me gets frustrated under this circumstance," that extra wording reminds you that you can recruit a different version of you who will not get frustrated under the same circumstance. Anytime you use words that organically encourage your expansive self to emerge, you become an advocate for your greaterness. The family of words surrounding your emergence include: developmental self, greater self, emerging self, evolving self, expansive self, and more. Advocating for any of those words advocates for your greater you.