When I was in Yoga Teacher Training, we were taught the power of a Sankalpa, or an “I am” statement.
You “step into” your “I am” statement and affirm yourself into it. You become it through affirmation.
I’ve been finding that types of affirmations are a recurring theme in self-improvement books (one of my favorites is Miracle Morning by Hal Elrod) and a lot of noble figures swear by a similar practice including Jim Carrey, Oprah Winfrey, and Tony Robbins.
There’s even a fantastic SNL Skit on positive affirmations where Stuart Smalley’s character comically looks in the mirror and repeats, “I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough, and Doggone It, People Like Me!”
The hilarity of it makes it appear like non-sense, but in all seriousness he is affirming and stepping into the character that he wants to be. You’d be surprised how powerful words can be.
“When you want something, the universe conspires in helping you achieve it”
- The Alchemist by Paul Coelho. (another one of my favorite books)
You might be familiar with the phrase, “Fake it until you make it.”
I feel affirmations may be similar, but I’m not a huge fan of that phrase because “faking it” alludes towards ingenuity or not being real.
I prefer, “Fail forward until you make it.” Trying and failing isn’t failure, it’s a learning experience. Your perception of that failure is the only thing that matters.
For me, after looking internally during my meditations from Yoga Teacher Training, I found that I had a fear of judgement. (Fear of what others think of me, or even fear of what I think that others think of me). I wasn’t putting myself out there out of the fear of MY perception of what their perception COULD be. It may not even be their real perception!
I was getting in my own way. (Isn’t that half the battle? Not getting in your own way?)
The first step is to let go of that fear. I let go of judgement.
I was afraid to put my artistic and creative self out there. I learned I need to step into what I need to do. I am Proud.
My strategy was to hide and no tell anyone. I learned in order to counter that, I will Share.
So here I am. Letting go of the judgement, writing and creatively putting myself out there, and I am sharing for the world (or at least just Substack) to see.
What is your fear?
What do you need to “step into” in order to overcome your self-defined goals?
What would you be like if you were who you were and if you spoke your being forward?
What Sankalpa do you need to cultivate in order to strive towards your best self?
Good read.