The story of not enough is epidemic in today’s modern world simply because it’s been part of our culture for centuries.
Think about the world culture and the fact ‘cult’ is the first four letters of the word itself. Realize that while we often think cults are reserved for religious and extremist groups with power hungry leaders at the top of the hierarchy, the truth is that every belief system adopted by a group of individuals follow the same process of brainwashing.
Brainwashing is the result of having someone else’s beliefs impressed upon and overlaid onto our own way of thinking because a belief is simply an idea repeated often enough for it to become the most familiar and accepted one of the bunch. For this reason I have come to refer to belief systems as the ‘B.S’ that governs our internal landscape.
Here’s the thing.
The majority of B.S. is inherited from people who were doing the best they could to conform to the expectations of their time, much of which was inherited from others who were doing the same and so forth for many generations back. The difference is that now we have more choice and ability to change the trajectory of our lives, and yet we are still limiting ourselves to the B.S. that we inherited from people who didn’t have access to the same amount of opportunity as we now have.
Some of the most damaging B.S. stems back to the belief around our inability to measure up due to some form of story about ‘not enough’.
It’s endemic and destroys our self-esteem every time we hear someone reinforce it. It’s even worse when we say it to ourselves.
Set yourself up for greater success by interrupting the story and redirecting it to something that will serve you better. I call it a P.P.S which is a Personal Power Statement.
Tips for writing a supportive sign-off in your PPS:
- Set a timer for 20 minutes to write down every desire you can think of no matter how big or small it is. Use this time as a brainstorming session to dump out all the contents of your heart without judgement. You’re not committing to any of them yet so get them all out so you can look at them in the real world.
- “PS, you’re not enough” has been like an ax-man to many of these options and it used ‘how’ as the ax. That isn’t yet your business either, it’s just time for you to acknowledge the fear these ideas bring up for you and question which of them excite you the most. Highlight those desires now.
- Identify what those ideas have in common because chances are they’ll share a root desire that is aligned to the whisper of your Soul.
- Frame this outcome with a ‘set up statement’ that declares you are proudly in the process of achieving it. Your existing B.S. cannot deny this and so it will make the changes easier to implement without getting axed off before you’ve even had a chance to begin (ex. Instead of saying “I am X” say “I am in the process of X” – very similar and yet they feel entirely different).
- Try it and surprise yourself with how much fun it begins to feel to be in process.
- Repeat this PPS everytime you encounter the PS that has kept you playing small. The world needs you to step up and this PPS can be your starting point for taking action toward your desire.
Understanding what fears are keeping you playing small is the step that comes before this one, but sometimes we humans like to put the cart before the horse until we discover there’s an easier way.
Next time I’ll share more about the P.S. that is keeping you in hiding.
Much love,
Laura JEH
