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Ever have one of those days weeks months when the Worry List is dominating your every waking moment?
YUP…me too 🙁
It’s like my brain is on auto-replay and is determined to keep every worry or embarrassment alive and blooming in my brain. I want to just flip a switch and Shut.It.Off.
I know me-and-only-me has the power to break this cycle of self-doubt and crazy-thinking, but DANG its hard.
Then an email popped into my Inbox asking if I would be interested in reading Tae Yun Kim’s book SEVEN STEPS TO INNER POWER: How To Break Through To Awesome, Life Secrets From a Martial Arts Master. I almost said “no,” then I read her story.
Dr. Kim’s life story is one of triumph against the odds. A first-born girl in a culture that viewed her birth as an omen of bad luck. Her life was harsh and miserable and her alcoholic took his disappointment of having a girl-child by beating her and her mom on a regular basis. Other parents in her village forbid their children to play with Tae Yun because her “bad luck” might “rub off on them.”
But Tae Yun was no ordinary girl and she defied not only her family but 5000 years of Korean tradition to begin martial arts training at the age of seven. Ultimately, she became one of the highest-ranking martial artists in the world and one of the first women to reach Grandmaster status.
Needless to say, I said YES! to reading her book.
Reading While Adulting | Seven Steps to Inner Power
In this wisdom-packed book, Dr. Kim shares her secrets – based on her own experiences and rooted in ancient martial arts tradition – which will allow anyone to break through the barriers blocking their dreams.
This book is an answer to prayer. For realz.
Tae Yun Kim believes everyone can be successful in any area of life. In SEVEN STEPS TO INNER POWER, she explains that the key to taking charge of your life lies in taking charge of your thinking. “How often are our minds somewhere else, thinking, ‘I’ve got to do this or that’ instead of focusing on the task at hand? How often do we dwell on a past event or worry about the future instead of celebrating the beauty of the moment?” she asks. “When our minds are distracted, our energy becomes fragmented in many different directions. When that happens over and over again, we become weak, ineffective, and even paralyzed.”
The Seven Steps Principles
Body and Mind as One – “If your mind and body are not acting together as one in pursuit of your goals, you will sabotage your efforts,” explains Dr. Kim. If you set a goal to run a marathon, but you eat improperly and skip workouts, you won’t attain your aim. If you continually divide body and mind, one or the other will eventually let you know
Truth – Truth is the process of self-discovery. “When you want to create change, you must be brave in facing the truth—the truth of your current weaknesses and the truth of your innate strengths—and you must be adventurous in taking charge of your life and implementing that change,” writes Dr. Kim. She urges people to think about what stories they tell themselves about why they are “stuck” – and envision how they would look and act if they were free from whatever is limiting them.
Purity – “When we affirm the truth of our original nature and reject foreign, limited concepts about ourselves, we are expressing purity,” Dr. Kim contends. This means not holding onto poisonous states of mind like anger, jealousy, frustration, and hurt. Dr. Kim emphasizes the importance of daily “cleansing” and explains how to make your daily shower a time for valuable inner work.
Love – Before you can love another, you must first love yourself. When you really love yourself, you do the things that help you maintain and build your energy and life force, not tear them down, says Dr. Kim. She suggests greeting every day as if you’re preparing for a date with yourself. Bring your best self to every day of your life.
Loyalty – Loyalty, as one of the seven steps, means commitment and dedication to one’s own life. That is, putting your real self forward with confidence, conviction, determination, purpose, power, and love. Loyalty also means sticking with your goals and plans in the long-term. One tool the author suggests to remind you to stay loyal to your goals is to “clock” where you are on your personal life journey. “See your life as a twenty-four-hour cycle and imagine what time it is right now for you,” she writes.
Sacrifice – “When you are trying to create a lasting change in your life, old habits and new habits cannot exist side by side,” writes Dr. Kim. Sacrifice means giving up those things that are getting in the way of your goals – whether they are habits like drinking too much or negative thoughts that are undermining your sense of self. She advises that when you are facing a sacrifice, you shouldn’t think of it as something you are being forced to give up. Instead, focus on why you want to give it up.
Patience – Patience is the final step in the creative process, Dr. Kim argues. It is here that impatient people may backslide and lose the benefits of all their hard work. “Your life is always a work in progress. It takes time for you to grow and mature,” the author writes. She points to the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into a butterfly as one of the most beautiful symbols of patience.
Throughout, Dr. Kim provides practical exercises to guide people through their journey to inner power. She also details the mental habits that will boost confidence by ending self-defeating ways of thinking, and she shares success stories from among the many people she has counseled and trained.
“Amazing things can happen if you are willing to step outside the lines you draw in your own mind,” Dr. Kim proclaims. SEVEN STEPS TO INNER POWER is a compelling guide to fearless living that will enable anyone to rethink what is possible—and to reach for it with gusto.
I am still reading this book…with purposeful slowness (opposite of my “book skimming” habit) and I can’t wait to finish working for the day so I can go nose-first into this book for a few more hours 🙂
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Tae Yun Kim is a martial arts great grandmaster, author, motivational speaker, and entrepreneur. As head coach, she led the first-ever U.S. women’s Tae Kwon Do team to a gold medal at the Pre-World Games in Seoul, helping pave the way for women to compete in martial arts in the Olympics. Dr. Kim went on to found her own school of martial arts, aimed at overcoming limitations in every area of life. She is also the founder and CEO of Lighthouse Worldwide Solutions, a leading high-tech Silicon Valley company, and has won many awards for her achievements and humanitarian service.
She received an honorary Ph.D. in Business Administration from Korea’s Sook Myung Women’s University and was named “Hope of the Country of Korea” by Korea’s former President Kim Dae Jung for her work encouraging people to overcome their losses and build new hope and success. In 2017, she won two Stevie Awards for Women in Business: one for lifetime achievement and the other for best new product. To learn more, visit: www.taeyunkim.com
