Name yourself!

Hello High Heelers

My very elegant boss, Natalie Maroun, has taken to calling me Jonah. I have many many nicknames – JoJo, Josie, Joseph, Josephine, Lady J – but Natalie is the only person in the whole world who calls me Jonah. Now I must admit that in some weird unconscious way this could be linked to the fact that I keep publically calling myself a whale (since my last white dress fitting). And many of us know the story of how Jonah was swallowed by a whale. I’m inclined to go down a path of metaphoric significance, but I’ll spare you all the emotional damage – this time!

The fact that my boss has given me my own special name makes me feel valued. It reiterates that I am visible enough in her world to be named and claimed. There’s something very enduring about naming things that you value. We name our pets, our children, our parents, our friends and most specially, our partner. We name everything that is uniquely ‘ours’ in some way or other.

Naming is not just a way of claiming what’s ours, it is also a way of taking accountability. We’ve all seen the parents who name and shame their spouse for their children’s bad habits and claim their own superior gene pool for the good habits. My mother always claims my nose as hers – despite being very whale-like at the moment, I can honestly admit that I have a nice nose (whether it’s my mom’s or not, is debatable.) My father always claims my intellect, which though very flattering, is completely unlikely as I am very creative and my dad is more of a scientist/mathematician type.

It’s important to name and claim things. Naming allows us to stamp our own unique identity and personality onto that which we value. But it’s also important that we name the things that we are not proud of. We should name the error that we made – we should claim it, learn from it and keep it in the memory bank of non-repeatable names. Name the bad relationship you had and ensure you don’t repeat it. Name the job that left you unfulfilled. Name the mistake you make repeatedly at work despite trying your best to get it right. Take accountability for everything – name it, claim it and move on.

This week may I challenge you to take accountability on a new level? Claim what is justifiably yours, name it and keep it close. Give names to your faults and inefficiencies. Though they do not make you who you are, they are yours. Get to know them intimately and learn how to defeat and overcome them through understanding, admitting and claiming them on the deepest level.

Whatever your name – rename yourself this week. Call yourself: special, unique, gifted, intelligent, beautiful, caring, spiritual and successful. Name yourself anything you want to, just make it great because there is significant power in words. Call yourself ‘high heeler’ put on your best heels, paint those red lips, stand tall and claim the world.

Have a wonderful week.

Cheers,
Jo