Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself…(but what if I think I am kinda okay?)

I am currently reading Breaking The Habit of Being Yourself: How to Lose Your Mind and Create a New One by Dr. .Joe Dispenza, and as a dedicated meditator and someone who is pretty committed to working on my mindset (as well as an unabashed self-help book junkie), I have to say that I am finding that it is giving me a deepened perspective and understanding of how our thoughts create our reality and how by changing our thoughts and limiting beliefs (through meditation) we can change our reality. I have been employing similar principles in my life for several years now and have experienced profound results. However, what keeps rubbing me the wrong way is the title and what I see as the hook that he uses throughout the book: “If you want a new outcome, you will have to break the habit of being yourself and reinvent a new self.” Perhaps it is important for me to note that I am currently listening to the book on Audible (I have just ordered a hard copy)–so maybe in my early morning dog-walking haze, I am missing something, but this message that we need to change who we are in order to better ourselves is the message I am getting at present). Trust me, I am fully on board with the notion that we can get stuck in our limiting beliefs and thoughts which lead us to weave these thoughts into our identity. For example, I have experienced the cycle of “I will never be able to do “XWZ” because I am so  ______(fill in the blank) rabbit-hole of mindset. However, how I started to turn things around for myself was by taking the position that we all already possess the potential to be the highest version of ourselves – it’s all there- it’s our birthright–it’s just a matter of figuring out what is holding us back and inhibiting us from stepping into our higher selves.  In fact, it’s how I approach my voice pedagogy – especially working with beginners (or really, those with LOTS of very structured voice training similarly respond well to this approach)—You must start with the notion that everything you require to be the highest version of yourself is already there—therefore the “work” is to mine it, uncover it, reveal it. To me, there is less shame involved—I am not “bad”; I don’t need to erase who I am and become someone else. By starting with “I am enough” and “this is me” I can summon the required courage to allow myself to discover and ultimately lean into the highest version of myself. I am ALL for reinventing yourself but as far I am concerned the key is in the re-invention – we are not starting from scratch, but rather searching for a new version. Me 2.0.

I am still a work in progress by the way so I’ll report back when I’ve got it all figured out. It’ll be me, hopefully. Just better.

Note: This photo was taken in one of my early morning dog-walking hazes, it is a state that I quite enjoy.