What’s in the Glass?

What is it like to step into your authenticity? Immensely rewarding.  Everyone says that, right?

We see the super-coaches, the Oprah Winfreys, Brene Browns and all the Tony Robbins people – we see them out there being wicked abundant and telling us to just go for it.

I love those people.  They inspire me every day to look forward at the impact I want to have.

But . . . sometimes . . . that seems really far away.

Lately, more than one person has told me that they struggle with affirmations.  An 11-year old girl I am mentoring said to me today,

“Did you know that sometimes positive thinking actually does more harm than good? Like, everyone always says, ‘think positive thoughts!’ But not everyone can do that.  Sometimes it hurts to try.

“It’s like the whole ‘glass is half full’ thing.  There are three ways to look at it,” she said,

“First, even if the glass is half water, the other half is full of air particles – so not empty at all.  Then, lets say the glass was full of water and you drank half of it; in that case, sure, it might be half empty.  But lets say the glass was empty and you filled it halfway up with water.  Now, it’s half full.”

Indeed.

So I told her a story.  I said, “I have had trouble with mantras and affirmations, too; especially around abundance.  I just couldn’t see myself going from wondering how I was going to pay my bills or buy food to affirming, ‘I am so abundant.’

“It sounded like a lie.  And I think that happens to people all the time in different ways.  We come up against our own edges and suddenly it seems like a huge stretch to ‘affirm’ something we cannot imagine being true in our own lives.

“So, instead of ‘lying to myself,’ I did something else.  I decided to move into acknowledgement, into appreciation.  I drove around nice neighborhoods and I would say, ‘Whoa! Look at that abundant house! Look at that abundant view!'”

At this point, my mentee pointed out, “You know, probably a lot of those people in fancy houses or whatever probably are in debt or don’t even have stuff inside their huge house, right?” (she’s very astute)

So I continued, “and then, later, I would notice it everywhere.  ‘Look at how abundant the trees are today; the grass is abundantly green!

“Eventually, I was able to identify abundance in areas of my own life.  ‘I have an abundance of friends,’ I might say, and I would FEEL abundant in certain ways that I just knew were special – were, rather, more important to me than the fancy house or whatever.”

And, just like when my young friend recognized there was an alternate way of looking at that very-divisive glass of water analogy, I found a new way to see around the Manifest-What-You-Desire Rule.

I leveled-up from thoughts to emotions – from hope to recognition.  Imagination is a powerful tool; emotion-driven thoughts are exponentially more potent.

Oh, and yes – I do realize this is just what Oprah, Brene, and Tony would say.  But I’m over here, like, just a regular small business owner/ budding Intuitive Facilitator, still living in my bright & humble home and saving for vacations like the rest of us.  My glass was an empty cracked and dirty thing I found on the street and I’m filling it up my goddessdamned self drop by drop – and half of it is still full of air!

So, if you haven’t made your first million yet, either, you can take it from me.  Cleaning off the cup is so worth it.  Step into your authenticity.  Find a way to change the narrative, to recognize that which you want to attract – and then get reeeeeeeally appreciative about it.