I’m not spending a lot of time as my bright and shiny self at the moment.

Do you know what I mean when I say that? When I talk about my bright and shiny self?

I’m curious. Genuinely, I want to know: do you have a bright and shiny self? A dull and dreary self? Do you know when you’re spending more time as one than the other?

I’m curious because I don’t know if this is a me thing, an Enneagram 5 wing 4 thing, a manifesting generator thing, a human thing, a…

Is this just me? Some of us? All of us?

I always want to know those things. What’s part of THE human experience and what’s part of MY human experience?

If you’ve read along for a while, you’ll know that I believe that, “The more personal you get, the more universal it becomes.” That’s why I moan on and on about my inner world, navel-gazing on a daily basis, exposing myself to the scorn of people who think it’s self-centered drivel (that basically never happens, it was just a fear I had inside of me).

It’s not so that I can use the Internet as a journal. It’s because I love this kind of writing. I love when Glennon Doyle tells me what her insides are like. I love it when Liz Gilbert does it, when Martha Beck does it, when anyone and everyone does it.

I’m not inside your head. I don’t have a window into your soul. Unless you freely tell me what it’s like to go through the world as you, I’m clueless. Just taking stabs in the dark. Or assuming that everything that’s true for me is also true for you, which feels like a particularly unhelpful way to go through the world.

But back to the bright and shiny self. When I’m my bright and shiny self, I’m the person Sam’s talking about when he says, “Keely is the most charming person on the planet…when she wants to be.”

When she wants to be?! When she WANTS to be?

Bruv. If it were a choice, I’d choose all the time. 100% opt-in rate. Every day, all day. I’d be oozing charm with every breath.

But that’s not how it works for me. I don’t choose when I’m magnetic and charismatic. It’s not like, “Yeah, today I feel like being this way, but I’ll pass tomorrow.”

It (like all things mental, spiritual, emotional and physical health) is about cause and effect.

Do you know when I’m my bright and shiny self? When I’m lit up.

When I’m doing things that fill my soul with glee. When I’m fully in my strengths. When I’m living in alignment. (And when my cup is full—that’s an important caveat. I could be doing the most strengths-based activity in the world, but if I haven’t slept for a week, ain’t no bright and shiny self showing up).

The reason I’m musing about it is because today—January 10, 2023—34-year-old Keely knows it’s about cause and effect. I know that I’m not feeling bright and shiny because I’m not filling my days with the things that make me feel bright and shiny. I’m not connecting with my soul tribe, enthusiastically building each other up while we share our passions. I’m not spending hours each day in flow. I’m not sweating as much as I want to. I’m recovering from jetlag after months of travel. I’m getting back to the things that make me feel bright and shiny, but it doesn’t happen in 24 hours.

But I didn’t use to know that. I used to be baffled by the switch: why did dull and dreary Keely show up to the dinner party when I really wanted to be bright and shiny Keely?!

So, in case this happens to be an all of us thing (or even a some of us thing) and you too wonder why your dull and dreary self is popping up more regularly than your bright and shiny self…maybe there’s a good reason.

Or maybe there’s not and how you fill your days doesn’t matter in the slightest.

Shrug.

Wishing you oodles of time as your brightest, shiniest self,

Keely

P.S. Once I had the “ohhh, I’m in a ‘not feeling bright & shiny’ slump” aha moment, I booked a shamanic session to help me shift as quickly as possible. If you want some support in shifting and/or connecting with your bright and shiny self, I just added a package that starts with a “let’s find what helps you feel bright and shiny”-focused Human Design reading ($90) followed by two shamanic sessions ($185 each, 50% goes to shamanic causes in South America). I have availability after January 30th and you can book on my website.

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