I've spent the better part of the last year really thinking about the unique gift I can contribute to the world and it has been a journey filled with doubt. The biggest question that kept surfacing for me was 'Is it enough?' I don't know if I will ever feel like that question can be satisfied, but I decided to move forward in spite of that lingering question, and do what I can to bring my gifts to the world.
What I decided was I want to help people get crystal clear on who they are -- their essential-self (see this blog for more on this topic). Everything I've done until this point has been to build that muscle first in me, but then be trained in how to do this and create a program that allows others to see themselves fully. Here's a bit of my philosophy about how to do this work.
I believe we all come into this world with a rare gift; something special that only you can bring forth into the world. What prevents us from accessing the gifts are messages that we’ve accumulated over the course of our lives. Some of these messages are contracts that we put in place with ourselves and become limiting beliefs. It’s almost as if we live inside a bubble, where these limiting beliefs are like transparent sheets of plastic all around us. These beliefs live in our subconscious so we can’t see them (just like clear plastic sheets), but they are there forming a limiting barrier to living out our true gifts.
We must first dismantle our limiting beliefs – or tear through the thin plastic sheets that block us from accessing our gifts. There can be many layers and it is a difficult process to peel them back. It takes a lot of inward focus, or insight, to be able to grasp the limits we've put in place. Once we can see it, we can begin to replace the limiting beliefs with new stories that better support putting our gifts into the world. As you saw in the opening sentence of this post, I bump up against my limiting beliefs regularly. It's on me to create a new story....hence, The Living Art Journal was born. But, enough about me, let's dig in a bit more.
Here's how these beliefs show up in us. Sometimes, we want to make a change, but find that something gets in the way -- it can be and act of self-sabbotage, or an external force that becomes a story of 'I never seem to make any progress <insert desired change>'. We have set a limit on our success and no matter how hard we try to will-power our way through it, unless we change the foundational belief, the change will be nearly impossible. That's why we tend to abandon things like yearly resolutions and fancy planners with lots of goals and priorities. We mean to do well, but something interferes with our success.
A good example of this can be seen when we learn about someone who's won the lottery and, within a few years, is right back to where they were (or even worse off) prior to the windfall of money. It’s likely that they had a limiting belief inside them about money that sabotaged their fortunes. Ultimately, they did not believe they were worthy of the money and their subconscious mind worked hard to bring them back down to where they started, which, to their brain’s way of thinking, is a more comfortable place. I know this doesn’t make logical sense, but our brains work to serve our beliefs, so if we believe we aren’t worthy, our brains will continue to operate until we’re within that comfort zone of self-determined worthiness.
So, my work is centered around helping people see through their limiting beliefs and solidify a new story in place of those beliefs so they can bring their gifts into the world. I want to believe that it's enough but is still feel that on the fringe of everything I'm doing right now. I hope that by continuing this work, I will soon come to the realization that it is, and if I find that there is something more to be done, I'll tackle that when it surfaces.
Thanks for coming along on this journey. As always, if you have questions or want to share your insights, feel free to leave a comment or email me directly at ann@annhumesart.com. I love hearing from you! Honestly, it makes my day.
Until next time, see if you can access areas where you've been wanting to make a change and haven't had the success you would like to see. Really dig into what might be happening in your subconscious that's getting in the way. I'll leave you with three powerful questions to consider:
If you were to FULLY live your life, what is the first change you would start to make?
What areas of your life could be upgraded/tweaked?
What could you work on now that would make the biggest difference to your life?
Until next time!
XOXO
Ann