The Daily Affirmation: Creating A Vision For Who You Want To Be
I was fortunate enough to meditate with Deepak Chopra about a month ago in Boston [life goal = study under him!]. The questions that he had us meditate on were simple, yet extremely hard to answer >>
Who am I?
What do I want?
What’s my purpose?
What am I grateful for?
The purpose of the meditation wasn’t to have an answer to these questions, it was to discover what words//sensations//images//feelings popped up when you allowed yourself to be still + repeat the question in your mind. It was interesting because “What’s my purpose?” + “What am I grateful for?” were so clear in my mind — yet, “Who am I?” + “What do I want?” were foggy.
He then lead us into a meditation where we repeated “I am [first + last name]” for 10 breath cycles, then moved to “I am [first name]” for 10 breath cycles. ++ then dropped everything ++ repeated, “I am” for 10 breath cycles.
Try it.
I am Elisabeth Tavierne.
I am Elisabeth.
I am.
Detach from the labels of the outside world, ++ instead, look inside + become aware of your inner most being. That’s the purpose of meditation — becoming aware of being aware. ++ that’s where the magic happens : )
I shared this story with you a few weeks ago, but I want to dive a little further. I recently did an exercise with my life coach >> essentially, you close your eyes ++ imagine that you are sitting at a table. ++ you welcome all the parts of who are to the table. There are parts of who you are that have been banished from the table for one reason or another. Maybe there are also parts of you that you want to let go…
++ I just started breaking down crying. I realized that the “full of life//carefree” Elisabeth ++ the “adventurous” Elisabeth ++ the Elisabeth that feels beautiful + loved was lost. I was relying on someone else to give me that validation — but the thing is… which we all know:
We cannot rely on other people to give us validation. I need to validate myself + know that I am worthy.
I preach self-love day + day out [that’s our mission at CHAARG — helping girls become their healthiest + happiest selves], yet I wasn’t fully loving myself. You know when someone is in love, they almost magically look better? I needed to be in love with myself to feel better… to fill that empty hole inside of me. ++ so, I started repeating to myself: I am adventurous. I am full of life. I am beautiful.
You define who you want to be. Every time you say an affirmation [I am confident] you lead your brain to start building this belief in your mind. ++ with consistency, you will begin to create that change from within.
Another exercise that I did with Chris [which yes, is bit morbid] — imagine a co-worker, a family member, + a friend at your funeral. Each of them see themselves with a picture that captured a memory of you. Each one has a different *word* — a different vision of who they remember you as in your being + doing. Write this out as clear as possible.
This doesn’t need to be a memory that actually happened [yet ; ]. For example, maybe you want to be known as *adventurous* to your friends, yet you haven’t traveled a day in your life. But, you want your memory to capture the adventurous side of you — so you envision yourself backpacking Europe with your best friend, meeting fellow travelers, + inviting them to picnic with you on top of Piazzale Michelangelo, watching the beautiful sunset + listening to a Italian artist playing 90s pop. [Okay — I might have to book a trip to Italy…]
Similar to affirmations, these three “visions//memories” should serve as a reminder to you on who you want to be. Every day, a page in our life is turning. It is always possible for us to write a new ending. Start now.
