The 7-Self Framework: From Inputs to Outputs
The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.
Joseph Campbell
I often wondered how great people became great. Abraham Lincoln, despite his difficult youth and many political failures, demonstrated wisdom during the Great Civil War. I read biographies, books on how to be great, and how to be successful. Rockefeller, Disney, Jobs, Frankl, Campbell, Covey, and my favourite, the Bible, which depicts so many great men and women.
I believe 7 to be a very significant number. Our lives are depicted in stages of 7 years. A person of 70 years has typically gone through 10 stages of life. Some merely physical, others journey through the soul and some rarely journey these stages through the spirit.
But in general, there are the seven stages of self, the soul, that we go through, and I have thought and pondered a lot on what these seven stages might be, as I have now lived almost 55 years, nearly eight stages. There are more as we seek to live a wholly transformational life. We see this in nature with seeds becoming plants and trees. Eggs become caterpillars and then transform into butterflies. Humans, too, must transform into the depths of their soul and spirit.
Last time, we looked at the three core inputs that shape your self: self-perception, self-talk, and self-environment. We also looked at the three outputs everyone seeks: Self-confidence, self-actualization and self-transcendence.
But how do we get from these three inputs to these three outputs? How do we transform influence into identity and identity into impact?
We move through the 7-Self Framework- a tapestry of threads that weave your inner transformation.
Your 7 Selves: A Transformational Journey
Each self-journey is a thread in your being that weaves a multi-dimensional you.
1 Self-Awareness
You must know where you are before you can choose where to go.
Joseph Campbell
Self-Awareness: To see yourself so clearly that you no longer live by default but by intention and design. This is your inner mirror. Awareness is the light and self-reflection that breaks the cycle of unconscious living.
Practice: Track your patterns, habits. Journal your triggers. Build consciousness and awareness.
2 Self-Honesty
What is to give light must endure burning.
Viktor Frankl
Self-Honesty: Speak to yourself the candid truth so you can stop pretending and start transforming. It’s having the courage to speak the truth to yourself. Growth begins with unfiltered truth.
Practice: Name one truth you are avoiding and write why it matters now.
3 Self-Acceptance
When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.
Viktor Frankl
Self-Acceptance: Accept yourself as you fully are with grace and compassion instead of criticism and insults. Let go of your past and start anew where you are right now.
Practice: Starting anew and whisper to your heart, “This is where I begin.” And commit to you.
4 Self-Discipline
The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Stephen Covey
Self-Discipline: Build a structure for yourself so that your vision has a vehicle to drive in. Discipline is how you build trust with your future self by committing to yourself and keeping your promise.
Practice: Choose and commit to one non-negotiable keystone habit- and honour it daily. This allows you to respect yourself as you do the thing you promised yourself.
5 Self-Compassion
We must let go of the life we have planned, so as to accept the one that is waiting for us.
Joseph Campbell
Self-Compassion: Embrace all your imperfections and love yourself with each of these. Forgive yourself and do not disqualify yourself because of them. Compassion softens the sharp edges of transformation..
Practice: Forgive yourself for one regret- and reframe it as a teacher going forward. Embrace it. It’s your judo move, turning weakness into strength.
6 Self-Giving
The more one forgets himself- by giving himself to a cause to serve or another person to love- the more human he is.
Viktor Frankl
Self-Giving: Shift your focus from self to others. You begin to live from abundance, not scarcity.
Practice: Serve someone today without seeking credit or recognition.
7 Self-Renewal
Sharpen the saw.
Stephen Covey
Self-Renewal: Return to your core so you don’t lose yourself in your service. You protect the well so the water never runs dry.
Practice: Schedule in your calendar a weekly reset-renewal ritual for body, mind and spirit. A time for solitude, review and rejuvenation. The deeper into yourself you go, the better. Fasting helps you in this journey. This is the reason many spiritual faiths have days or times of fasting, so you can go beyond your physical self into your soul and spiritual self.
Life-Changing Question
In the final analysis, the question is not what we expect from life, but what life expects from us.
Viktor Frankl
What am I becoming through how I live today?
What will I be like in 3 months, 6 months, 1 year, 3 years, 5 years if I live like this?
Final Thought
A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself.
Abraham Maslow
The 7-Self Framework is not about achievement or performance. It’s about full alignment between your spirit, soul, body and life.
When your inner self is strong, your outer impact becomes effortless.
Start with your core roots.
Live through each of your Selves above.
And you’ll grow and transform into the person who doesn’t just rise, but lifts others up with you.
Next week—
Stillness Within: Practicing Serenity in a World of Noise
How Practicing Serenity helped me go from Anger to Peace
See you next Thursday!
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