In the last 2 years or so I’ve been on a rampage of self-expression.. online and offline. Most of the four decades before that I’ve mostly been a very shy and timid person, so in that context this is a huge breakthrough.

Here are 5 TIPS that I’ve put down to help anyone express themselves better.

1) It is in people’s nature to judge others. Not expressing yourself IN THE FEAR that people will judge you is absurd. Your job is to express yourself and their job is to judge and that’s that! Their judgement is just their judgement.. you are perfect in your self-expression despite their judgement.

2) Focus on expressing, not on impressing. Trying to impress others puts pressure on ourselves. Express like there’s no audience. Be free. Like when a bird sings, it just sings. It doesn’t sing to impress anybody. It sings because it has a song.

3) Do not worry about what you are saying is right or wrong. There is NO such thing as right and wrong. That’s merely a matter of perspective. What you are expressing is merely a view.. not the truth. As long as you are clear about that, you can say whatever you want to say.

4) Be clear, focussed and intentional in your communication. Don’t beat around the bush. Life is short, my friend. Say it point blank. Shoot between the eyes. Come to the point and just say what it is.

5) There is a beautiful old saying, “When ALL the good things have been said and ALL the bad things have been said and ALL the ugly things have been said, all that will be left to say is I LOVE YOU.” Express your love fully, authentically and unapologetically. Love is created in the moment of speaking. When you love people, for God’s sake, TELL THEM, don’t keep them guessing. Expressing love is the highest form of self-expression. If you can freely express LOVE, you can freely express ANYTHING.

In a nutshell.. I live my life like a child. I know the gift of self-expression is the most beautiful gift I have as a human being. And I’m going to use this gift fully, so that when I die, I DIE EMPTY.