January 4, 2019
Prompted by the wonderful Mel Robbins’ – who is offering a Free Mindset/Reset training for the month of January — https://melrobbins.com/mindsetreset/ which you can join at any time. Nothing to sell, videos are also all over U-tube, IG & FB — if you want the video/training emails to come into your inbox each day, you would want to sign up with your name/email so you don’t have to search the web everyday to get the content.
In any case, I decided to create a ritual for myself to see if my self-esteem/financial mindset can be impacted and reset. I am shifting my thinking to empower and acknowledge myself for the things I like about myself, the little wins I have throughout the day, the way I think about decisions and how much joy/spontaneity I bring to my life on any given day.
Here are the questions I’ve created for myself to journal about. Feel free to modify them to suit your particular situation. In your journal, (or wherever you like to write), write down (3) answers to the following questions each day (can be done at night or in the morning).
1) What are (3) things you are grateful for in your life? The other day I wrote: My face, my humor and my bed.
2) What are (3) Kind/Loving truths you can acknowledge and say about yourself? The other day I wrote: I am a creative powerhouse, I make people laugh, I am thoughtful.
3) What are (3) things you did for someone else today without being asked to do? (that could be making a phone call to connect to just touch base and say ‘Hi’, problem solving, taking someone to lunch, picking up someone’s mail/doing an errand to make someone’s life easier (i.e. bringing the garbage cans back to the garage from the street), picking up beach trash on a beach walk, picking up towels or tidying up the bathroom at a coffee house you are visiting). In my case, the other day I put down that I helped my elderly mom take a shower and made her lunch, visited with a friend who had a tough year, sent an inspiring quote I found about Love to a friend, Star Ladin, who has launched a card deck line called, “What Would LOVE Do?”
4) What are (3) things you plan to do to move an important project forward? This is big as I have a number of projects I’m working on. (if, applicable) Clean out computer files, deal with a new Quickbooks changeover, follow-up on larger opportunities and ideas about where next to move my business, learn an animation program so I can animate my characters and put them into a cartoon show.
5) What are (3) things you have been wanting to take care of today that have been hanging on to your to-do list? (i.e. sending a thank you note, clean out a drawer, make a doctor’s appt., etc.)
6) What are (3) ways you can empower myself around money today? (organize receipts, reconcile a bank account, pay a bill, ask someone for money they owe you, etc., make a bus. call about a job, organize your wallet — put all of your bills facing the same way, etc.
7) What are (3) ways I provide value through my Art (or whatever business you are involved with?) In my case it might be I inspire others to laugh, shift their mindset about a problem, provide connection for people who buy one of my cards and send it on to a friend, etc.
8) What are three ways I was spontaneous today that gave me joy? The other day it was visiting the parrot store and hanging out with the parrots, taking a yoga class at a different yoga studio, got tix to “Come from Away” for New Year’s Eve.
9) What are (3) repetitive thoughts that swirl around your head all the time that are either not true or no longer serve you? For me, sometimes it can be that I feel like a failure when my business doesn’t produce steady income, that I am incompetent ‘technically,’ or that I’m doing something wrong (as sometimes I feel that I’m not good at handling money and dealing with debt and creating more income every day). These are the beliefs that go back and forth on any given day. Sometimes, they are true and sometimes, they are NOT.
I hope this will help you feel more powerful and value yourselves instead of staying, “Well my life sucks and that’s just the way it is.” As Mel says, You may not feel like doing something like getting out of bed, taking care of your health, picking up a phone and calling someone about a job. But choosing not to do anything about something that is not serving you is a choice.
Most of us are struggling with some issue of self-love, likability, competence, vulnerability, being your authentic self vs. what we show people via outward appearances (via the mask/façade), self-worth, overwhelm, stress, self- appreciation and recognition of our gifts.
I recently re-listened to a podcast with Angela Manuel-Davis who was on The Sheri & Nancy Show. http://thisisfiftywithsheriandnancy.libsyn.com/ep-035-angela-manuel-davis-honor-your-body. Angela is a force-of-nature, fitness expert/runner/Nike and an amazing motivational speaker who channels her spiritual effervescence into saying that your body houses your divine gifts and that to honor your body (whether it is to take care of yourself, to lose weight, to be kind to the parts of you that you are beating up) — you can shift your thinking so that your purpose, your gifts for you to share with others during your life can only be manifested through your body and mind. When you re-focus on the gifts you are here in this lifetime to share, you realize that you need to take care and love the body who is helping manifest your talents. It changes your need to lose weight. You can stop beating yourself up about that. It changes the way we can see we are not kind to ourselves because the bigger picture is what we are giving and sharing with the world while we are here.
That message was eye-opening and expansive. That was one of the reasons I created the above exercise. We must appreciate ourselves every day for who we are, what we do, how we create, how we inspire. For me, it is through my writing, my ability to see things with humor and the lessons I explore through my quirky illustrations.
Be Kind to Yourself. You are Worth it!
Elisa