Practice Your I-Am-s

“I-Am-s” are statements of our deepest truths and longings. Recently I was reminded  of my own I-Am-s when a client who had been emotionally stuck for a while came in with a list of her own.

How I Got Started

Many years ago, perhaps around 2001, I invested in meditation tapes from a company called Centerpointe. (www.centerpointe.com) Perhaps better known as Holosync technology, the tapes are based on brain-wave training and train one to reach a meditative state fairly quickly and to stay in that state for a length of time. I found the program useful at a time in my life that was otherwise overloaded with giant stressors out of my control. As part of the extended “package”, I was given the opportunity to write messages that I wanted to give myself and then to have those messages subliminally embedded into a meditation tape. I did this, and used that tape to meditate periodically. Because the messages were subliminal, when I meditated with the tape I could not hear the messages but I knew they were there. All but one of my statements were “I am” messages. Here are most of them.

A Few Of My Personal I-Am-s

I am who I am. When I surrender to who I am, God can do amazing things with that reality. God created me and is always with me. 

I am competent, resourceful, unique, and valuable. I have a deep inner sense of who I am and I am committed to living that out in my life. I can create and produce. I am willing to work hard, seek guidance, and put in whatever time and effort is necessary to better myself. 

I am worthy of respect. I do not have to prove myself. I can set healthy limits when it is in my best interest. 

I am creative and have all the abilities I need to succeed. I start each day with enthusiasm, eager to act. I love challenges and learn from every situation in my life. I live everyday with the power and passion given to me by God. I feel strong and excited and have tremendous confidence that God will use whatever I am and have to offer in the unfolding of the Kingdom. 

I am a person who bases all of her relationships on respect and integrity. I give and receive joyfully. I can be intimate with myself and others. I can be totally close and totally separate. I can love myself and I can love others. 

I am someone who knows how to open my heart to others and keep myself safe. I hold this paradox. 

I am someone who expects to be healthy. I think healthy thoughts. I feel healthy and strong. I awaken each day feeling alive with energy, and I have all the energy I need to live my life to the fullest. I feel young and think young. Every cell in my body works together in perfect harmony to create health. 

I am someone who eats what my body needs for maximum strength and energy. I maintain a healthy and appropriate weight. 

All of those who have ever loved me or love me now are a part of me. I get strength from remembering this. 

I am fully embodied. God is in me and I am in God. I use my body with joy to dance, sing, cook, eat, play, work, and make love. 

It is all about LOVE. Beginning, middle, and end.

The Truth Can Be Scary—And Empowering

I feel vulnerable sharing this with you. It’s pretty personal. But here’s what happened with my client. She had a break-through of sorts… a realization that she was not living the way she wanted to and that she alone was responsible for that. She had been deluding herself into thinking that everything was ok when indeed it was not. She had also allowed herself to be a victim of circumstances. The power of a few I-am-s changed her way of living in the world.

She started practicing “I-am” statements. They began as very practical and simple statements that were important to her.

“I am someone who walks her dog every day.”

“I am someone who hangs up her clothes and lives in a clutter-free environment.”

“I am someone who does not eat bread.”

As these few “I am-s” took hold, she felt confident about adding a few more.

“I am someone who is comfortable as a single person.”

“I am someone who uses time wisely and feels productive at the end of a day.”

You Become That Person

What has happened as she has claimed some of her own I-am statements is similar to what has happened over the years as I lived into my own. You become that person. And you practice being that person. Because you are committed to the ideals in your I-am statement, you take responsibility for creating that reality in your life. When you sabatoge your I-am statements, you have to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself what is going on. You begin to dig deep into your own psyche and to heal what needs to be healed. Am I a person who bases relationships on respect and integrity? If so, then what was that hurtful comment to my husband about yesterday? If I am someone who is willing to work persistently toward a wanted goal, why did I just sabatoge all of that?  You get the idea.

When you sabatoge your I-am statements, you have to look yourself in the mirror and ask yourself what is going on.

When my client and I were talking about her I-am statements, I found myself remembering the story of the burning bush in Exodus. When Moses, anxious as heck about the task God just assigned to him, asked what he should tell the people in Egypt about who sent him, God said, “Tell them “I-Am” sent you.” What a perfect reminder God gives us. Using an I-Am statement, God declares who God is. We can do the same.

On A Larger Scale

This can apply as well to your family. We are a family who________

What are the “we-are” statements for your family? Here are a few examples: 

We are a family who treats each other with respect and dignity.

We are a family where no one person’s needs matter more than another’s. We work together to meet needs.

We are a family who values the uniqueness and gifts of each person in our family.

We are a family who welcomes others into our home.

We are a family who prays together, who worships together.

You get the idea. And of course this task can continue to our communities and the world. What are the “We-are-s” of your schools, churches, doctor’s offices? What are the “We are-s” of our nation? (They are outlined in our Declaration of Independence and our Constitution if you want to read them.)

I-Am-s will, slowly, worm their way into your heart and you will become those very things that you know exist at the core of you.

Today I am inviting you to start close in with your own, personal, carefully crafted “I am-s”. Meditate on them. Read them out loud. Share them with a trusted person. I-Am-s will, slowly, worm their way into your heart and you will become those very things that you know exist at the core of you. And then, my Friends, life becomes more and more marvelous.

Amy

Amy Sander Montanez, D. Min., LPC, LMFT has a private practice of individual psychotherapy and marriage counseling in Columbia, SC. Her book, Moment to Moment: The Transformative Power of Everyday Life, won Spirituality and Health’s top 100 books of the year.  Amy is passionate about many things in life, but especially about psychology, spirituality, dancing, cooking, marriage, family, friends, traveling, and learning. www.amysandermontanez.com