#Seeing2020

How to Level Up

5 things to get you there when you’re ready for it.

There are 5 things that all seem to come together when you are ready to level up.

There are skills for being human we have all learned, and unlearned, and relearned over and over again — they are not complex. Some skills work better than others.

The skill level we use in our day to day existence shapes our experience as humans, and it shapes the relationships we are able to form with others.

We relate to our selves, first and foremost — but then also to our spouses and our lovers, our children and our friends, our parents and our ancestors. We relate to everybody who breathes the air of Mother Earth.

We can relate skillfully or not. It’s up to us.

Each skill for being human forms something like a single note coming from a particular instrument.

Each skill exists as a vibration within our personal frequency.

We learn and practice these skills in turn. We teach our progeny. We share our learning process with each other through our art.

For many of us here on Medium, our art is expressed through our words.

I want to level up on this skill, don’t you?

As we start to move closer towards personal mastery, we can start practicing multiple notes at one time. It is the rhythmic and tonal harmony of these individual notes that creates the music of our lives.

When we can play all of these notes in a beautiful chord, it can feel like we’ve really hit the next level of being. It’s the difference between a solo artist and the Pentatonix.

There really is something about the whole being more than merely the sum of its individual parts. I think this is what the ancients meant when they talked about Eros. It is the animating life force energy that constantly moves everything along the spiral.

And all it really takes to tap into this powerful stream of life is consciousness, choice, and practice. Simple, right?

1. Making the choice to be present.

As writers, we are at our most powerful when we are in touch with not only our thoughts, but our feelings, and our bodies as well. The art of being present comes from the practice of paying attention to what is going on around us.

It’s what the ninja masters of old films used to grab the wing of a fly with a pair of chopsticks.

It’s what children know how to do instinctively especially if you do your best to let them develop in the wild.

Take a tip from Tim Denning and practice this awesome life hack to tap directly into your presence via your emotions. Just cry before you write.

2. Living in full integrity with yourself and others. Or doing your best to.

As writers, we know the power of our words. We know that with the same 26 characters and a smattering of punctuation, images, and white space, we can translate what is inside of us to others, instantaneously. It’s pretty magical to wield the brush of writing, but you know this.

When we reach for being in full integrity with ourselves and with others, we are using our words and our intentions wisely.

When we tell half-truths, and when we speak ill of ourselves or others, and especially when we let our fears steer us away from being completely transparent and vulnerable without shame — this is when we get into trouble.

It’s a lot of trouble to remember all the nuances of a lie or half-truth. Quit that shit cold turkey if you must.

And always remember the pain of being truthful in the moment typically hurts far less than the clean up that results when the truth either hides from sight or else comes out after the fact.

Manage your addictions. Try your best not to skip down into the lower vibration version of yourself.

You will make mistakes here. We all do. Be kind to yourself.

It’s about playing this note as consistently and well as you can today. That’s all.

3. Doing the work that needs to be done. And also finding work that lights up your soul.

There are a certain number of things that simply need to be handled if we are to find the funky groove of success and fulfillment in our lives.

Handling money, resources, time, communication, expectations, and intentions. If you want to be a writer as a vocation, there’s a LOT of work to be done to actually make this gig function and support you.

This all takes WORK.

Do the WORK.

Just DO it. My first tattoo ever was a small Nike swoosh. It’s located just above my right ankle bone. It is a constant reminder to get out of my head and DO the things I love to THINK about so much.

DOING the work is tedious at times. Other times it’s painful. Sometimes you’re just feeling so tired you can hardly even think.

Still — do the work.

It’s worth it.

The second part of this step is to find the work that makes your soul sing. Find the stuff that YOU WANT to do, and make sure at least some of that gets in there every day. Eve Rodsky calls this unicorn time.

I define Unicorn Space as creative, magical space necessary to develop and pursue your passions but like the mythical equine it doesn’t f*cking exist — until you discover or reclaim it. And at its core, it’s about the magic and joy of being you and sharing it with the world. — Eve Rodsky

As writers, there’s a good chance our unicorn time is involved with our writing. Take comfort from knowing the time you make to write — whether you are a professional or not — is all part of the reason you are here. Keep at it.

4. Establishing consistency and discipline.

We’ve all read the advice to free-write for 10 minutes every morning. No. Matter. What.

The person that created that advice was NOT in the phase of their lives where they were woken up every single morning with small children crawling into bed to snuggle. They probably have not known the pleasure of sharing a beautiful pink sunrise with their daughter in the early hours of the morning recently either.

We’re told to post daily or to write at least 2 posts a week.

WHATEVER the rhythm of creating and taking care of yourself needs to be, find it, then do it. You have to figure out the specifics. Just practice your consistency and discipline at the rate and intensity that works for you.

5. Practicing self-care exercises around sleep, food, and movement.

Plan the workouts. Then go to most of them.

Shop and cook food in your home — if you can. Figure out what makes this efficient and possible for you. I’m a food nerd, so I like to go deep.

If you want to get deep on the science and technique of amazing cooking — you must read Samin Nosrat’s fine book Salt Fat Acid Heat,

If you’re enthralled like I was, then you go to Netflix and watch her show of the same name. You can follow that up with Michael Pollan’s 4 part series Cooked. They intersect in a lovely way.

But however, you handle this skill — just work to be better at it than you were the week and the year beforehand.

Are you ready to level up in 2020?

I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to bring my parts into better alignment as we head into the year 2020.

All the parts of my mind, my body, my soul, my family, my land, my money, my work — I want them all playing like a beautiful background track I can listen to as I work to create the life I was sent here to make.

For many of us here on Medium, our art is expressed through our words. I want to level up on this skill, don’t you?

I’m ready to evolve and revolve and sweat and laugh and love with purpose and emotion.

I’m ready to play some music baby. I’m ready to see what’s up here on this next level?

Are you?

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Kaia Tingley is a writer, artist, podcaster, digital strategy nerd, and sometimes hot-tempered supernova with a wild, free soul. You can find her on Instagram here or on LinkedIn here.