Such statements have the power to keep you stuck in limiting patterns and most of the time you don’t even know how it started.
I had a profound breakthrough during a singing workshop I attended with an amazing professional singer and healer along with 15 amazing souls. I love to kick myself out of my comfort zone on a regular basis and yesterday I had an interesting revelation.
To jump right in, we were given a mic to introduce ourselves. It felt like jumping in ice-cold water to me! The reasoning part of my mind was saying things like: ”relax woman, you are all in the same boat, no one knows you, who cares, you choose this, it is a safe space…”
So I thought I was ok. Until the mic was in the hands of the person next to me, meaning the countdown for my turn was like 5-4-3-2-1… When I was about to introduce myself I felt my mouth drying, and my heart beating wildly as if I had a big dragon in front of me. At this point, I didn’t understand why my mind was saying encouraging relaxing words, and my body was not buying it.
Something interesting happened right when I grabbed the mic to speak. I was instantly taken to a terrifying situation I had totally deleted from my memory. This flashback was about the last time I had a mic in my hand. It was about five years ago, on a stage in front of about a thousand people and I was about to perform a short sketch with a colleague in a corporate convention… something I didn’t feel like doing but I couldn’t escape. I hated it! But until yesterday it was buried deep into my unconscious garbage bin. And I didn’t imagine it was still holding me back because I had completely forgotten about this awful experience.
So bringing it on the surface was essential to transform this negative emotion associated with public speaking. This is the very first step we all need to take when we are looking for transformation. Personally, I do this journaling, receiving coaching sessions or putting myself in a situation out of my comfort zone.
Yesterday as I was holding the mic and facing my fears, I decided to use my voice to share my intention and the uncomfortable emotions I was experiencing at this very moment. I allowed myself to show my vulnerability and I felt incredibly good about it because it was honest and aligned with my emotions. Five years ago, I would have ignored my emotion and buried it in my unconscious just like I did that day when I was on stage.
The power of words and emotions is stronger than you can imagine.
I don’t know anything as powerful as shining light on our shadows to let our fears guide us about what we need to transform.
Back to you… what are the things you are terrified about?
If you are not sure, start asking when you hear yourself saying: I am not good at_. And then journal (handwrite) about this topic and see where it takes you.
I would love to hear your thoughts!