In my private Facebook group, Powerhouse Women Rising, we did a book club discussion of Oprah Winfrey’s new book, The Path Made Clear. It’s been really good. At first I thought I was going to be a little dismissive and not really like it, but once I knew the book was small and that it wasn’t all Oprah’s writing (she actually invited a lot of people to contribute)—it was rich, it was so good.
This is a really good tool that I feel like everybody can use in their everyday. It can absolutely turn your energy, your vibration and how things are happening in your life on a daily basis.
In this book, she is inviting a bunch of people to step in. We went through all of the quotes, we discussed some of the philosophies, some of the things about, well, how does this happen. It’s been about the flow and about how once you get into the flow, you know what happens then.
Oprah brought Joel Osteen in for this small part. I’m going to quote this piece really quick and then give you my views on it, which is a quick little takeaway that you can use in your daily life.
Osteen says, “What follows ‘I am’ is what we’re inviting into our life.” When you say, ‘I am tired, I am frustrated, I am lonely’, well now you’ve invited in more of that. So the principle is to turn it around and invite what you want into your life, there’s a balance to it. I don’t think you’re denying the facts, you’re just not magnifying the negative.” Let me say that again, “You are not magnifying the negative. Rather start saying, ‘I am a masterpiece, I am fearfully and wonderfully made, I am strong, I am talented. I think that is speaking to the core of what God’s put in each one of us. God has equipped us, God has empowered us, we have what we need to fulfill our destiny but we have to bring it out and you can’t bring it out by being against yourself.
Now I think he says this plainly and clearly, and it’s like, what are you talking about? These are just words. So the truth is, the two words, “I am” hold a lot of power. They hold a lot of power in an energy sense and they hold a lot of power in a very spiritual sense. They hold a lot of power within a lot of different cultures and in ancient texts.
And so, without getting too deep into it, the truth is that even if we’re just speaking on a plain level of everyday speaking, we have a strong mind body connection that we aren’t really tuned into anymore. You are not just saying this stuff. We say “I am” all the time, right? And usually we say “I’m”. Just because you’re making it a contraction don’t change the energy. What you’re saying is “I am” and when you say “I am”, you are putting an invitation out into the universe.
So we do that all the time, like, “Oh god, I’m so stupid! Why did I do that?” Or you know, “Oh! I’m such a loser! I can’t believe I just did this!” And I’m guilty of this too! My thing is sleep. This is a practice of mine, so I’m usually very very good about this, but I might say, “Oh I’m so exhausted”, or “Oh, I’m a insomniac.”
It’s the mind/body thing. It’s what you’re saying to yourself. Your body listens to you, your spirit listens to you. Your subconscious is taking everything from your conscious and using it to create programs for your life.
The other piece is, when you say “I am”, you are also speaking it out into the world, and people hear that and take it in. Doesn’t matter if you’re just playing, doesn’t matter if “all your energy is light”, “I was just saying a little something”. You are saying, “I am.” You are making an invitation and you are also showing people what you believe about yourself; you are showing people what you believe about yourself whether you want to or not. Especially children and especially people that look up to you without you even knowing it. When you say, “I am”, people might say, “Oh, you crazy.” But you know what? The energy in the words, “I am stupid”, goes into their mind and is connected to you. There is a very personal reason to pay close attention to these two words in your life; there’s an inner reason and an external reason as well as a very spiritual reason.
And so I have four simple questions for you to ask yourself, because I want you to know how powerful this is.
It’s super simple. Number one is just really easy: simply becoming aware of when you’re saying “I am”. So it’s nothing more to do except to say to yourself, “Oh, I just said I’m _____.” For example, I just said, “I’m old”, or “Oh I’m getting slow.” Or, “Ohh, I’m fat!” Number one is just to become really aware of when you’re saying, “I am.”
Number two: ask yourself, is it true? If somebody could write a book on all of the things that comes out of our mouths, you would be amazed to read that text. Did I say that? I said that? So number two is to ask yourself, is it true? “I’m so stupid!” Is that true? Only you know. Ask yourself, is what I’m saying out loud to myself and to other people actually true?
Number three: is this something I want to invite into my life? Remember, “I am.” I want you to think of that as an evite on evite.com. Every time you say, “I am”, you are pushing “send” on an evite in the universe. You are inviting people, you are inviting energy, really—you are inviting the universe to give you opportunities, you are inviting your body to interpret what you said, you are making an invitation into your life. And so, I want you to ask yourself: is what I just said something that I want to invite more of into my life?
Number one, become aware, number two, ask yourself is it true what I just said? Number three, ask yourself is this something that I actually want to invite into my life?
Number four is where we get to the good part. What can you invite instead? Remember Joel Osteen. I think you can say instead, “I’m a masterpiece; I am fearfully and wonderfully made. I am strong, I am talented.” If you can bring yourself to say that, if you can put those affirmations somewhere—that is awesome. Do it.
As a coach and as a scholar of physical and spiritual transformation, I would encourage you to invite something into your life that you already have the doors open to. And sometimes we don’t quite have the doors open to, “I am wonderfully made. I am a millionaire. I am the attractor of the greatest love life.” Honestly, that stuff sounds good, but the doors in your heart and your mind and in your spirit aren’t quite open yet to that. So I would encourage you to invite in something that you have actually turned the knob and opened the door to a little bit.
For example: I would say, “Oh, I’m a night owl.” But truth be told, I don’t want to invite that into my life! So, number one: I’m becoming aware of it. I do say that. Number two is, ask yourself: is it true? I have been a night owl for most of my life. My father worked nights and I would stay up waiting for him; it’s a habit that has been in my life since I was a kid. So, is it true? Yes, it has been true. But I’ve been pulling my way out of it, so I can’t say that it’s true for me and my being.
Number three: is this something you want to invite in your life? No! I know where spirit is taking me and the impact that I’m having in my communities, and where I can continue to have it. I need sleep! I need way more sleep than I’ve been getting all these years. No, I don’t want to invite being more of a night owl into my life.
Number four: what can I invite instead? I mentioned earlier not to affirm something that you aren’t quite open to. That would be me saying, “I am a morning person.” I ain’t a morning person, I don’t even want to be a morning person. I ain’t interested. I like sleeping in the morning. I don’t have those doors open in my physical, spiritual, or mental body.
What I can say instead is, “I am such a good, sound, deep sleeper.” Do y’all see the difference in that? One is saying like I’m something that I ain’t about to be. The other is accepting and allowing. I’ve already opened the door to these things that I do want to invite in and expand into, and it fits with who I am and where I want to go. Again it’s all about the now, just like my company name: Elevate Your Now. We are always thinking about elevation and what we want in our goals. How do we bring those things, that expansion, that vibration, that incredible energy and feeling and goals into our lives now? Right now is the only moment we have.
Another thing I’m not going to say is, “I am late”, because I’m not. I ain’t early, but what am I going to say? You’ve got to think about this stuff. Because you want it to be real. You want it to be something that really fits and aligns with what it is that you want and are capable of doing. So, what I’m going to say is, “I am the type of person that gets to a place as soon as I need to be there and at the right time.”
How do you want to show up in the world? Your words and what you believe about yourself is who you are. What do I want to invite into my life?
I’m hoping this helps. Let me get out of here, because I am on time whenever I get there! Love y’all.