I Am!

     My son frequently amazes me in how much self assuredness he displays. He is well aware of his strengths and easily acknowledges them without arrogance. Just ask him about his cooking, and he will, without any wavering tell you, "I am a good cook." 

     I am. Two of the most powerful words in the English language. Those words define us. I am beautiful. I am strong. I am intelligent. All words that say who we are.

     To often, we use those two words to tear ourselves down. The I'm fat's and the I'm so stupid's fall too easily from our lips. Or reverberate in our minds. And while we may not be at our ideal weight or body shape. And we may not always make the best decisions. Those statements are incomplete statements of who we are. We are more than the measurement of our waist, the number on a scale. We are greater than our last less than perfect decision. 

     Whether said out loud or whispered in the darkest corner of our mind, how we define ourselves sets the tone for what we believe is possible. So, how do we take charge of our self talk?

Affirmations

Affirmations are a powerful tool to help change our perception of ourself. They are positive statements stated in the present tense that describe who you are. They are short and pack a lot of punch and are repeated out loud and silently to yourself through out the day. While it may feel awkward to talk about ourselves like this, over time, we will feel less self conscious about it. And, just like all the negative self talk we repeat to ourselves throughout each day, our minds will start believing the new messages. How we carry ourselves and how we act will begin to change.

Here are some of the ones I am currently using to help me shift my mindset from that of employee to entrepreneur. "I am the author of my own success!" "I am a capable and profitable entrepreneur!" "I am a successful life coach!"

Look at Your Successes

Our past successes have a lot of wisdom to offer us. Unfortunately, we tend to not give them as much attention in our lives as we do our failures. Using tools such as Building Triumphs from Triumphs will help us celebrate and glean the wisdom we truly have within ourselves.

When we start to doubt ourselves, and the negative self talk starts to flow, being able to look back at those successes and understanding how we pulled it off, shifts our focus from what we don't want in our lives to what we want more of in our lives. It puts us in the right frame of mind to create the positive.

When You Mess Up

So what do we do when we mess up? We are human after all. Mistakes are bound to happen. In those moments when we are most likely to beat ourselves up, we have a chance to grow our roots down more deeply. 

Don Miguel Ruiz, in his book The Four Agreements: A Toltec Book of Wisdom, states that humans are the only animals who punish themselves for their errors more than once. So start by acknowledging the mistake for what it was - a mistake. Rather than continuing to focus on the should-have's and the could-have's, start looking for lessons learned and what was done well in the situation even though it wasn't the prefered choice. No situation is ever a complete waste of time. There are always treasures and nuggets of jewels tucked in as well.

So, who are you? I know the answer to that, you are an incredible individual with limitless potential! Use your power wisely!