Spend a day watching what people place after the two little words “I am…” and you will be horrified by the way that people label and define themselves and their abilities.
I am just not good with numbers.
I am struggling financially.
I am not a people person.
I am sick / weak / fat / lazy / stupid.
I am not good enough.
This is learned behavior that has become habitual, and I bring it up here so that we can become more aware of it and hopefully train our children to think and speak differently.
I am just not good with numbers.
I am struggling financially.
I am not a people person.
I am sick / weak / fat / lazy / stupid.
I am not good enough.
This is learned behavior that has become habitual, and I bring it up here so that we can become more aware of it and hopefully train our children to think and speak differently.
How often do you hear yourself, your loved ones or your colleagues say things like:
I am so loved.
I am magnificent.
I am prosperous.
I am beautiful / inspired / fun / intelligent.
I am perfect just as I am.
In fact, most of us would cringe at such statements or even go further and label the person who says them as arrogant, conceited, vain or revolting!
We need to start challenging why this is and allowing ourselves and our children to define ourselves in ways that will ultimately serve us in the long run.
What you place after those two little words “I am…” defines your reality. When you label yourself, particularly if you do it over and over and it is accompanied by negative emotional feedback, you start to limit the way you see yourself and the world and you program your unconscious mind to filter out anything that serves to prove you wrong. So if you have defined yourself as “I am stupid” you will deny or not notice all the intelligent things that you have done or said. If you define yourself as “I am bad with money” you will continually see how you mess up with money and you will miss opportunities for wealth that are staring you in the face. If you define yourself as ugly you will only see the faults and never all your amazing characteristics.
And as you define yourself, so your children learn to define themselves. We all want our children to grow up confident and self-assured and emotionally well and yet we model for them how to negate ourselves and our magnificence in a myriad of ways.
Here are some ways to remedy this situation:
1. Never, ever follow the words “I am…” with anything that limits or negates your magnificence. Not in your mind, and not out loud.
2. If you do catch yourself doing this, point it out to your kids, tell them how silly it is to label yourself in that way and immediately replace it with something positive.
3. If you catch your kids doing it, help them to find the opposite to how they have labeled themselves. For example, if they say, “I am stupid” point out all the clever things the have said or done in the past week. Show them the other side.
4. Make a rule in your home that the words “I am…” are only to be followed by awesome statements.
5. Write “I am…” on your mirror with a whiteboard marker followed by a new, wonderful adjective that changes each week. Get used to looking in the mirror and saying great things to yourself about yourself.
6. Remember as you make your new statements about who you are to FEEL what it feels like to be that.
“I am” is a very powerful and creative statement. It is a message to your mind about WHO YOU ARE. If you want your life to change, if you want your life to work, if you want yourself and your kids to fulfill your highest potential, then you need to believe in yourselves as the incredible beings that you are. If you’re going to define yourself by anything, let it be using words that support and encourage you to towards your highest goals.
Some ideas to get you started: “I am… magnificent / wonderful / awesome / intelligent / creative / good at solving problems / an amazing parent / wealthy / beautiful / disciplined / energetic / worthy / loved / lovable / important / fun / stupendous / significant / making a difference / confident / free / …” or you can check out my MindByte, “Mind Power”, which is designed to help you change the way that you think about and define yourself in all areas of your life.
I am so loved.
I am magnificent.
I am prosperous.
I am beautiful / inspired / fun / intelligent.
I am perfect just as I am.
In fact, most of us would cringe at such statements or even go further and label the person who says them as arrogant, conceited, vain or revolting!
We need to start challenging why this is and allowing ourselves and our children to define ourselves in ways that will ultimately serve us in the long run.
What you place after those two little words “I am…” defines your reality. When you label yourself, particularly if you do it over and over and it is accompanied by negative emotional feedback, you start to limit the way you see yourself and the world and you program your unconscious mind to filter out anything that serves to prove you wrong. So if you have defined yourself as “I am stupid” you will deny or not notice all the intelligent things that you have done or said. If you define yourself as “I am bad with money” you will continually see how you mess up with money and you will miss opportunities for wealth that are staring you in the face. If you define yourself as ugly you will only see the faults and never all your amazing characteristics.
And as you define yourself, so your children learn to define themselves. We all want our children to grow up confident and self-assured and emotionally well and yet we model for them how to negate ourselves and our magnificence in a myriad of ways.
Here are some ways to remedy this situation:
1. Never, ever follow the words “I am…” with anything that limits or negates your magnificence. Not in your mind, and not out loud.
2. If you do catch yourself doing this, point it out to your kids, tell them how silly it is to label yourself in that way and immediately replace it with something positive.
3. If you catch your kids doing it, help them to find the opposite to how they have labeled themselves. For example, if they say, “I am stupid” point out all the clever things the have said or done in the past week. Show them the other side.
4. Make a rule in your home that the words “I am…” are only to be followed by awesome statements.
5. Write “I am…” on your mirror with a whiteboard marker followed by a new, wonderful adjective that changes each week. Get used to looking in the mirror and saying great things to yourself about yourself.
6. Remember as you make your new statements about who you are to FEEL what it feels like to be that.
“I am” is a very powerful and creative statement. It is a message to your mind about WHO YOU ARE. If you want your life to change, if you want your life to work, if you want yourself and your kids to fulfill your highest potential, then you need to believe in yourselves as the incredible beings that you are. If you’re going to define yourself by anything, let it be using words that support and encourage you to towards your highest goals.
Some ideas to get you started: “I am… magnificent / wonderful / awesome / intelligent / creative / good at solving problems / an amazing parent / wealthy / beautiful / disciplined / energetic / worthy / loved / lovable / important / fun / stupendous / significant / making a difference / confident / free / …” or you can check out my MindByte, “Mind Power”, which is designed to help you change the way that you think about and define yourself in all areas of your life.