The other day I came across this picture on Facebook and it immediately reminded me of a book I read called I AM: Discovering The Power of Who You Really Are. It’s still today one of my favorite books because it helped me realize how powerful those two words truly are.
The reason those two words, I AM, are so powerful is because those are the words that help us create our world, our realities. We are always saying to ourselves, largely subconsciously, I AM. It can be as simple as, “I AM bored” or as self-destructive as, “I AM nothing”.
What happens is that whatever we say we are, we will subconsciously start creating experiences for ourselves to confirm what we think we are. It’s the way we stay somewhat sane and try to keep our world in balance.
If we subconsciously or consciously say and believe, “I AM a loser”, we will continuously put ourselves in situations to lose. We will not try hard to win even if we are lying to ourselves that we are. We are expecting to lose and so it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. Even if we somehow win, that will not be enough to change our thoughts of I AM a loser, we will just chalk it up to luck or even say, “I should have loss” or “It doesn’t matter that I won, I AM still a loser”.
When we say those words, I AM, we are defining ourselves, how we view the universe, how we experience our experiences and our state of mind. We control all of that. No outside forces, no other person. Even someone in prison has power in choosing how he defines his I AM, his experience.
Our internal dialogue is very powerful, that’s why it is important for us to take control of it and redirect it, especially when it’s being self-destructive or not pushing us in a positive direction.
Those words, I AM are with us every second of the day. They are so powerful and help us create so much of our emotions, our reality and our experiences that they help us create matter! They help us create matter because they help us decide what matters in our lives.
Sometimes when I am working with people that are extremely emotionally charged about something, I’ll stop and ask them, why does it matter? Often times they will stop crying or yelling and look at me with a puzzled look on their face. Then I’ll tell them that it only matters because they are making it matter and if they decide that it no longer matters, it won’t. I could almost see the burden being lifted from them as they realize that they have the power to let go of whatever emotions they had been holding on to (sometimes for years) because they decided to no longer make it matter.
Of course it’s not always that simple, but a surprisingly amount of the time it is.
So many people are in various degrees of emotional pain right now because they have no real control over their I AM. Who they are, their emotions and who they tell themselves they are on a subconscious level, is heavily influenced by other people and the ups and downs of daily life. If they only knew how powerful they truly were they could bring an end to much of the angst, depression and anger.
The Basics
- We create our reality.
- Fear tends to bring about the very thing that is feared.
- Faith (not necessarily religion) tends to bring about powerful outcomes.
- People tend to be products of their environments (but this doesn’t mean we can’t or shouldn’t change).
- You cannot go back in the past and change anything you did (so don’t keep beating yourself up over it).
- Failure does not define who you are. You do.
- You create and experience your life. No one can live your life for you or is responsible for how your life turns out.
- You are the exclusive author of your story. You are the creator of this experience called life.
- You and only you can choose your interpretation of and reactions to your life experiences. You control your emotions.
- You are making it all what it is.
Licensed Mental Health Counselor 