I CAN

I need to remove the word "Should" from my vocabulary.  I need to replace it with "I can" or "I am able to"  This is more empowering.

I should get things back in order...versus I can put things back in order.
I should sweep...versus I have five minutes in which I can sweep.

I CAN do this.  I CAN.  This makes me feel stronger every time I say it, and makes tasks less daunting somehow.  It causes me to feel less resentful.  It makes me own my progress, rather than feeling like I am putting in on or making progress for someone else or what I should be doing.  It somehow feels like less of an affront to my being.  I don't dig in my heels quite as deep when I focus on breathing the statement, "I CAN do this."  I am fully able to do this one task, just this one.

I am a strong, capable and intelligent woman.  This pile of laundry will not do me in.

It isn't about "I think I can".  It is not about "I know I can".  It is about "I CAN".  It is a statement of universal truth, a truth that is so much larger than myself.  The more I repeat that I CAN reclaim my strength and I CAN redeem my home and I CAN keep reaching for my goals...the more empowered I feel.  There's even a little bit of optimistic excitement and joy about feeling positive about myself and my abilities and the results that will follow.

Today I was still wallowing in feeling like failure is inevitably going to catch me.  For the last three days I have looked around and thought, this will take half an hour and I really should just do it. I should just get up and resume my efforts.  This wasn't working for me, so this afternoon I looked around and I saw the kids' craft box spilling over.  I said, "I can straighten that up."  The more I said it, the more I believed it and felt  that it wasn't all that bad of a task to be assigning myself.  The whole time I was working on it, I was iterating in my mind, "Markers - I can do that.  Glue - I can take care of that.  Stickers - I can package those..." and in no time it was complete.

It energized me.  I looked in the kitchen and did some of the cards from my Beauty Box.  "Microwave-I can wipe that down".  Suddenly, the card that scares me on Kitchen Day was a no-brainer:  "Mop the floor-I can totally do that."  I even moved all the tables and chairs out of the way and busted out the Shark steamer. I put in some elbow grease, and a miserable job was still a pain...but I did it and the reward is worth it.  I deserve the rewards of I can.

I have been told several times to really watch my wording.  Intellectually I understand it.  Of course self-talk is a powerful tool.  Today, I truly experienced it.  I repeated over and over again that I can regain my momentum, and I can keep going, and I can be successful.  I deserve success, and an I CAN mantra is a powerful tool that will get me one step closer.

I deserve BEAUTY in my life!