We live in a world of duality, and within this duality, our minds can create an opposition between concepts. Duality allows us to create a spectrum to measure, compare, and contrast all life against. Understanding and disciplining our minds to accept that we are all things allows us to see the value of all sides of the spectrum. We are both superior and inferior, good and bad, right and wrong, the judge and the judged, the critic and the criticized, positive and negative. At times, we are the teacher; other times, we are the student.

When we become aware of our own values, we create a measurement of how well we are showing up in alignment with what is important to us.

When weighing your values, you start asking the deeper questions:

What is important to you? What is right for you? What is wrong for you? What is good for you? What is bad for you? What do you want? What do you not want?

Once you find clarity in what is important to you, you can create a vision of your best self. Living as our best self is never about anyone else but ourselves. It is about measuring ourselves up to our own values, beliefs, and ideologies because those are right for us. Accept that you are your only competition! Measure yourself against the person you once were, the person you are now, and the person you want to be. 

When we do find ourselves drawing comparisons to others, try focusing on being inspired by those who come in above you and see it as an opportunity to learn and grow from their success. Let their strengths motivate and inspire you to level up your game. When you feel yourself starting to win at the game of life, take that as an opportunity to inspire and teach.

We all have areas of strength and areas of weakness. Focusing on our strengths and disciplining ourselves to create consistent action through the process of learning, applying, and improving can be an amazing motivator to ourselves and others. 

It is only through falling and getting back up that we gain the confidence to live fearlessly.