This question should permeate the mind of all those who seek enlightenment and elevation because it propels us to ask the “why” behind our attitudes, perspectives, and actions within every interaction and moment with things and people. Life is merely a game of choices and consequences, but many of us fail to acknowledge and to understand the consequence behind every choice. Our consequences can be positive or negative, they tend to correlate with the energy projected from our choices. This brings me to the notion that we are responsible for our individual responses to stimuli, and we must be committed providing our best energy and effort to every situation on a daily basis. When pursuing excellence there is no room for error, it is only space for our best versions of self.

For example, we all have engage in random conversations on a daily basis. These conversations occur with friends, family members, and even random individuals. The problem lies in the fact that many of us choose to bring our less to those encounters by disregarding them as another casual conversation, instead of witnessing every conversation as an opportunity to bring our best and to enlighten and to spread love to everyone we stumble across. I urge you all to refrain from engaging in anything that will stymie you from bringing the best version of yourself to a condition. We are presented with chances to show our greatness in every second, minute, and hour of every day. I will caution you all that bringing your best is far from easy; on the contrary, it is extremely challenging and frustrating at times. Prompting me to answer the proverbial question, how do we learn to bring their best rather than their less?

I will challenge you all to practice these tactics. First, you should take three deep breaths and disengage from our current thought by saying, “I am free, I am great, and I owe it to the world to deliver my best to everyone and every condition.” Second, we must find a way to connect with the given situation or person with empathy and love. For example, I believe everyone I encounter deserves love and respect, so I focus on speaking from that perspective. Lastly, we must bring every ounce of our spirit to the present…be in the moment and nowhere else is the mantra to live by. When we are truly tied to the present moment, we cannot choose to wonder about what our spouse, kids, family members, or friends are doing outside of our current occupied space; or we will cheat ourselves, things, and people within our immediate environment. We must pledge to give our best and never settle for giving less.