Am I Speaking My Truth or Am I Speaking My Fears?
Speaking To Prisoners
My mother does self-empowerment workshops in prisons.
Once per session she has me come in as a guest speaker.
I talk to the guys about my life and some of the
lessons I have learned along the way.
Today I was chatting with one of the residents and
he was telling me that he will be getting out in a couple weeks.
He looked a little nervous about it because
after a short time on the outside
many of these guys just end up right back in prison again.
In my mother’s course she tries to help them
believe in themselves and believe that there is another way.
I Think – I Know – I Am
He looked at me and said:
“I think I’m ready.”
He was not very confident when he said that
and both of us could hear the doubt in his voice.
So he straightened his shoulders a little and said:
“I know I’m ready.”
It still seemed a little forced and
neither of us were quite satisfied yet.
There was a moment of silence as we
looked into each others eyes
and then with quiet confidence
he said one more time:
“I AM ready.”
This one felt right.
It felt like he went deeper into his own spirit
and connected with his inner strength.
At that moment I said to him:
“I believe you and
I believe in you.”
We both smiled, shook hands and walked away.
Increasing Belief
The process of increasing belief that he went through
was very fascinating to me.
He went from not believing in himself
to making a firm affirmation
in the space of 20 seconds.
What an amazing evolution!
Recognition and Action
It was a good indication of how self-aware he is
that he was able to hear the lack of belief in his own voice
and take immediate action to
change his attitude and his thoughts.
This process of recognizing our belief level and making changes
can take place quickly and also over many years.
It seems like an important aspect of self-development,
to be able to recognize and increase our belief level.
My Mother is a Powerful Womyn
I could see the effect of working with my mother for 6 weeks
in this man’s eyes as he went through that process.
I could almost hear her voice ringing in his head saying:
“You are love, you are spirit,
you are perfect within and
you have wisdom beyond measure.
There are layers of muck clouding the light that you are.
If you will only believe that you are light
and align yourself with that light
nothing can stop you from achieving your dreams.”
She tells them over and over again
that they have infinite potential.
Rule #1: Don’t Put Yourself Down
She also will tell them off
if they ever put themselves down.
In fact I believe that is the number one rule in her class,
No one is to put themselves down.
My mother is a small sweet and loving womyn,
but trust me you do not want her telling you off!
If you are in her presence I advise you to remember
to only speak good of yourself
and not put yourself down
because you will definitely hear about it.
She desperately wants all of us
to love ourselves and believe in ourselves.
They Can Feel How Much She Wants Them To Be Free
The men that she teaches in her course
feel her sincere desire for their healing and happiness
and it touches something deep inside of them.
I think that is partly why this man was able to
catch himself thinking negatively and changed
it to a positive and powerful
proclamation of self-belief.
This Man Taught Me A Lesson
I think I will take a lesson from him
and pay more attention to my own self-proclamations.
Am I speaking the truth of my dreams and desires?
Or am I speaking my fears?
Do I believe in my infinite potential?
Or am I limiting myself?
We Are All Made of the Same Stuff
The power that I have to achieve my potential,
is the same power that you have
and the same power that those prisoners have.
We are all made of the same stuff.
I don’t really know what that stuff is,
but I know it is quite awesome.
