Essence

On Today’s Monday Motivation, Corry discusses prevail with Laurie Cozart.

Watch their conversation on YouTube or listen on Apple Podcast and Spotify.

Laurie Cozart is the founder and CEO of Brain Squared Solutions, a company dedicated to using neuroscience to help create thriving organizational cultures. She is also an owner and instructor of Science2Wellbeing, an award-winning, evidence-based, advanced coaching program developed by high-profile scientists and coaches to increase life satisfaction through life-values alignment.

In addition, Laurie is the founder of the Mind2Lead Institute of Professional Coaching, an organization that supports the development of coaches through coach training, mentoring, and supervision.

Laurie is an International Coaching Federation, Master Certified Coach (MCC), a certified ICF Mentor Coach, and a certified Coach Supervisor. She has been featured in CEO Today, Smart Money and More magazines and the best-selling book series Cracking the Rich Code. Find her newest book, Coaching Conversations, on Amazon.

Too often, we look at what is on the outside as a determiner of what is on the inside. You have heard the saying, “Don’t judge a book by its cover.” Yet we do it all the time. Not only do we do this with others, but we also do it with ourselves. We focus on our need to lose more weight (external), earn more income (external), or break bad habits (external). I spent most of my life judging myself and focusing on the external things, what I was doing and what I had accomplished. It wasn’t until my external world collapsed that I was able to see what was true, which is who I am, my heart, and my essence. Who we are does not change. It is our external shells that change. When we find and maintain our essence, we are unshakable.

At the beginning of 2008, my world began unraveling and it unraveled quickly. I lost just about everything I thought I had. I was very scared because I had exhausted my mental, emotional and spiritual abilities trying to hold onto my marriage, finances, and my “picture perfect” life that I had worked so hard to build. The more I tried to fix my situation, the worse it got. It was like I was drowning and trying to save myself from drowning, which only ensured my death. I finally got smart and just STOPPED, stopped trying. I just got still. I surrendered.

In my stillness, I found a great loss heavy on my heart. My effort to fix my situation had been covering the grief, and now that I was no longer trying to fix my situation, the grief was surfacing. I made new attempts to find comfort, but every attempt proved unsuccessful, so again, all I could do was be still. And when I was still for long enough, I was finally able to see what was left: my essence, who I am. Who I am can never be taken or broken, and it is beautiful.

In finding my essence, I knew I had everything I needed all along. My external world had to be broken down and shed for me to see who I was. For the first time in my life, I was in a position to enjoy my riches. It was from this place that I was able to pick myself up, crawl out of my deep, dark, hole and take one step at a time to rebuild my life. I now look back at that painful time with great appreciation. It has given me the priceless gift of shedding my life of all that was not real. I am now able to live in a state of knowing who I am. 

The weaker we feel, the greater the work. In my weak state, my strength was tested and revealed and I like what has surfaced in the shedding away. Whatever area you experience weakness, just know that it is there to reveal your strength. Who you are is greater than any external circumstance. Allow your essence to be revealed, and accept your unchangeable beauty.