By Julia Black
When you find that ‘thing’ you are born to explore, everything changes. You feel it in your heart and see it in your eyes – like your lights have come on. When you bring your passions and superpowers into your career you will become highly engaged in everyday life and claim your place in the spotlight. You will shine with radiance. Become Lights On!
When things get hard or you face a challenge, you will not give up. You will dig in and find a way to achieve at the most extraordinary level. Not because you have to, but because you want to. This is the game changer. You will want to quit, at times, of course you will, but you won’t. All because you know how to use the power of your inner radiance to be both Lights On and Lights Off.
Being Lights Off and Lights On refers to your mental, emotional, physical and spiritual state of being. It is what you are thinking, feeling and how you act at any given moment. Your thoughts and emotions determine your actions, which affect your outcomes and influence how you experience the world.
Being Lights Off is a reactive state
Your thoughts limit and diminish your power. ‘I can’t do this. It’s too hard. I’ll never be successful, so why bother? I might as well give up now.’ Everything feels hard, pointless, forced and challenging. Like walking through treacle, feeling insecure, anxious and under threat in some way.
Being Lights On is a creative state
When you are Lights On, your energy is warm, welcoming and inspiring. People see it in your eyes and feel it in your presence. Your thought patterns are empowered. ‘I can do this. I have what it takes to keep going, no matter what.’ You feel alive. Like you can do anything. You are more creative and energised when you are Lights On and have a rock-solid belief in yourself and a positive sense of wellbeing.
Awareness of your Lights On Spectrum
Your ability to shine and flourish in life is more nuanced than the binary Lights On and Lights Off. Like having a dial or dimmer switch to calibrate the exact luminosity you want at any given moment. Do you want dark and moody? Is it a warm, contented glow you are after? Or does this moment require your brilliance to light up the room? When you live life in a Lights On way you get to choose, As Sarah, a yoga Teacher within my online community, insightfully reflected:
‘I’ve started to see that Lights On and Lights Off are two ends of a spectrum. Neither is better than the other. Travelling between the two is where the real creativity of our lives is expressed. That’s why we feel stuck if we hang out for too long in one or the other without the surrender and letting go required to move into the opposite state. We must travel with trust between Lights On and Lights Off, guided by our hearts, to feel truly alive.’
Your Lights On spectrum is unique to you. However, as a Master Neurocoach I’ve seen the patterns and commonalities and therefore have attributed six signatures. Three Lights Off signatures; Darkness, Dimness, Glimmer, and three Lights On ones; Glow, Brilliance and Radiance. Each one has different energetic codes determined by your thoughts and emotions and your behavioural habits.
Shine your Radiance
Here’s a powerful insight from Jo, my right-hand woman in my business, what Radiance means to her. ‘Radiance is not a state to be reached, it is a place to be found. It is in your inner core. Your true essence where you are being, not doing. It allows our unique identity to shine. When creating in Radiance, it is done with ease; from creating a masterpiece, solving a problem or preparing the family meal. The energy you bring to the situation makes the task feel like you are freewheeling down a hill with gravity doing all the work.’
Becoming self aware
Awareness of your inner state of being helps you crack your personal code of Radiance. Learning to fine-tune your inner mental and emotional state gives stability, balance and increased capacity. It also provides greater flexibility and ownership over what you can achieve and enables you to play the biggest game of your life. You become expansive in your thinking and find the courage to step beyond the edges of your comfort zone. ‘If I can do that, then maybe I could do this?’ As you head into the unknown and face a new level of uncertainty, you will inevitably find yourself being Lights Off again as a result. It is important to note, however, that you have not landed back at square one, but are in fact on a new growth spiral. You are experiencing Lights Off, but from a new vantage point.
Radiance is a lifeline
When you attune to Radiance you will feel a profound sense of peace, joy, love, gratitude and freedom. Energy flows effortlessly and harmoniously, and you feel serene and balanced. You feel abundant, free from the constraints of your mental, emotional and physical boundaries. This is where you feel limitless and have a deep appreciation for life, as well as a feeling of being connected to something bigger than yourself. It’s the entry point to spiritual growth, where actions are guided by love and clarity, and you have an enduring sense of being fulfilled.
When you become aware of the subtle nuances and shifts in your mental and emotional state, and where you feel them within your body, you will have your very own Lights On and Lights Off blueprint to calibrate to. Take a moment to think about your own dynamic movement through your Lights On spectrum. Pay attention over the next couple of days how often you shift from Lights On to Lights Off. What is it that seems to switch your lights off and what flicks them back on?
Maintaining a connection with Radiance gifts you choice, freedom and sovereignty. It enables you to flourish — by choice, not circumstance. This is when you discover you can be the person you were born to be.
About the author
Julia is a mother to two young adults and creator of Lights On Learning, a global community for parents who want to bring the latest thinking from neuroscience, positive psychology and passion-led learning into their homes. Her vision is of a world where all children love learning, and parents are the key to that future. In addition to this, Julia is also a BAFTA and Grierson nominated documentary director, educationalist, Master Neurocoach and author of Lights On Learning.
