3 Steps to Embrace Self-Empowerment (and Overcome Self-Sabotage)

"3 Steps to Embrace Self-Empowerment (and Overcome Self-Sabotage)" by Jamie Allen Bishop


Do you have big goals? Are they taking too long? Do you want balance and success? If you answered "yes," perhaps you are ready to overcome self-sabotage and embrace self-empowerment.




We all know what self-sabotage is, right? Self-sabotage is a behavior that keeps us from achieving our goals. Many of us know how to recognize self-sabotage behaviors, but do we know how to overcome them?


The only way to overcome self-sabotage is to change.


Three steps to release self-sabotage and embrace self-empowerment are: (1) Acknowledge Your Success(es); (2) Recognize Self-Sabotage Behavior(s); and (3) Repeat Self-Empowerment Behavior(s).


Step 1: Acknowledge Your Success(es)


"Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." ~Napoleon Hill (Think and Grow Rich)


Our focus in life is what we attract. If you are unhappy with your life, it is because you focus on what you do not want.


This is the Law of Attraction. This concept is not new, nor is it difficult to prove. Not sure you buy this idea? No problem. It is true whether you believe it or not.


Let's pretend you believe in the Law of Attraction. Using this law to create a life of success, you must focus on what you want.


For example, if you want a new car, there are three steps you  must take to achieve this goal (or any goal): gratitude, ask, know.


(1) Gratitude: You must focus on being grateful for the method of transportation you currently have. Be grateful in every way, knowing that this transportation serves you to the best of its ability. Take a significant amount of time every day to give your current method of transportation your love and gratitude... even to the degree of acknowledging, "I am grateful to know you are being replaced soon with something better, more reliable, and easier for my lifestyle, my current mode of transportation."


(2) Ask: Then, after your utter devotions of love and gratitude toward your current mode of transportation, ask your angel guides/God/Universe to bring you a specific new form of transportation by a certain (achievable) date. Here's where you get to be creative, and let your imagination run free. Imagine yourself driving this new vehicle. Imagine how it feels to be in the driver's seat. Imagine the smells associated with it. Imagine the music or silence you will hear when you are driving it. Imagine what color it is, what body it has, what the engine looks and sounds like. Get really specific about all those images. Allow them to wash over your body with excitement and anticipation.


When you feel yourself slipping back to worrying about how you'll make it happen or hearing your ego say, "You don't deserve it. You could never afford it." etc., go back to that place of gratitude for what you currently have to get you where you want/need to go.


(3) Know: Believe you already own the vehicle. When you are in a state of knowing, you do not need to know how it happens. You set your goal, you work toward that goal, and you achieve your goal. There's no question about achievement. It is going to happen. Period. Once you set your goal, take inspired action to achieve it. That means, if you know your vehicle will take $25,000 to drive off the car lot, start saving - even if it is just a quarter a day. Expect to find a quarter every day, set that quarter into a piggy bank for your new vehicle, and expect your piggy bank to be full on or before your goal date. Staying focused on achieving your goal, your angels/God/Universe are likely to help you reach your goal a lot faster than you would have ever thought possible.


Quite certain you are already practicing this law to the best of your ability? You can tell if you are through looking at your life. Do you have what you want? Do you take action to achieve your goals? Are you surrounded with love and gratitude? If you answered "no" to any of those questions, I welcome you to keep track of how you are using the Law of Attraction in your life. You can do this by recording yourself (every smart phone has a recording device) or by writing down your thoughts (keep a journal so it all stays together).


The power you have to bring what you want to you is incredible. You'll know what you are focusing on by looking at what your life is giving you. The best way to flip anything around is to start tracking your thoughts, feelings, and emotions to find out where the disconnect is showing itself.


Step 2: Recognize Self-Sabotaging Behavior(s)


“Those who say life is knocking them down and giving them a tough time are usually the first to beat themselves up. Be on your own side.” ~Rasheed Ogunlaru


Tracking yourself verbally or through writing is the best way I know how to recognize self-sabotaging behaviors and deep-rooted belief systems. If you know you are falling short in reaching your goals, I guarantee you there are self-sabotage behavior(s) and/or belief systems involved.


For example, people who are focused on weight management have a tendency to self-sabotage by eating that item or items not in alignment with achieving their weight or health goals.


How do they get back on track to achieving their weight and/or health goals?


Mentally yelling at yourself for failing only contributes to your feelings of failure. Try this instead: (a) acknowledge that your behavior was not in alignment with your goals; (b) forgive yourself for falling off track; and (c) allow yourself permission to succeed with your goals.


Do this every single time you fail. Remember, the only difference between someone who succeeded and someone who did not succeed is perseverance. Knowing the things that keep you from reaching your goals will help you acknowledge when you are off-track. If your goals are valuable enough to you, you will take the steps necessary to get yourself back on track.


Step 3: Repeat Self-Empowerment Behavior


"Failure is success in progress." ~Einstein


Change is not easy. Change takes effort. Change takes focus. Sometimes, change takes outside help. If the goal is valuable enough to reach, change is almost always required.


My business mentor - Vanessa Shaw - said something that helped me accept change, "How you do one thing is how you do everything."


(Yikes!)


Think about it and really take in that statement: How you do one thing is how you do everything.


If there is even one thing you do in your life that you do not want to be doing, it is affecting your whole life. That's powerful news.


(I am being very authentic and vulnerable here to tell you straight up - there are many things I do that I would like to do differently. That said, I am taking actions to change what does not serve my highest purpose path. When I question an action, I allow that statement - How I do one thing is how I do everything - to guide me in my decision-making process. So far, it has proven a powerful motivational tool for me. Feel free to use it for yourself.)


Point being, change is as simple as a shift in perception. Releasing behaviors that are self-sabotaging happens with repetition of the self-supportive behaviors. Though continued reinforcement of that shift in perception and continued use of the new, self-supportive behaviors, change can happen quickly and easily.


To form a new habit, and help release habits that no longer serve you, repeat your new habit at least 12 times. It takes at least 12 times of doing something new to create a new habit... and 12 times of not falling into an old habit to change it.


Also, keep in mind that a positive thought is experienced 10x more powerfully than a negative one. So, when you feel yourself slipping back into a self-sabotage behavior, acknowledge it, forgive yourself, and shift back to achieving your goal.




To achieve big goals and live a lifestyle of balance and success, most of us must change several self-sabotage behaviors. It takes effort, determination and perseverance. I guarantee you will be a happier, healthier, and balanced individual as you work on embracing a life of self-empowerment. You'll be glad you did.






If you would like help and support on your way to achieving your dreams/goals, there are many ways to do so. Through one of my Soul Counseling Programs, I can make a difference in how quickly you can overcome the self-sabotage that stop you from succeeding. Call/email me to set up a free consultation 480-203-8911 / Jamie@SoulHeartEntertainment.com.

Do You Have a Book in You?

"Do You Have a Book in You?" by Jamie Allen Bishop


My mom and I recently took an extended drive together. I have always enjoyed those kind of drives. They seem to give us a chance to talk more deeply than other time spent together.


She asked me, "Do you have a book in you?"


I was certain she was kidding. "Of course," I blurted out. "Don't you?"


"No. I can honestly say I do not have anything to write about," she responded.


"Bullshit!" I replied in my mind. Out loud, I said, "Really? Do you really believe that?"


To my astonishment, she truly believes that she does not have a book in her.


"Freaky," I said.


I wonder how long my mom will tell herself that story?


My mother has been telling "her story" to anyone who would listen - her family first and foremost - for as many years as I can remember her speaking to me, to my friends, to her friends. It truly baffles me that she doesn't think she has a story to tell. Or rather, it puzzles me that she thinks her story isn't worth telling.


(By the way, she has a FANTASTIC story that so many people who grew up in the 50s & 60s could relate to brilliantly. I'd tell you her story, but alas, it's not my story to tell. Ay! There's the rub.)


Perhaps she's not ready to let her story "go" - so to speak. She's been telling her story for so many decades now. Perhaps she is afraid to release it into the world where she might have to respond to other people's reactions? Perhaps there's a certain amount of comfort that her private story gives her? Perhaps it's as simple as she doesn't enjoy writing?


Regardless of the reason for not feeling she has a book in her, it is my belief she certainly does. Whether she wants to tell her tale or not, that's another story altogether.


Keeping in mind my belief in multiple dimensions / lifetimes, to me our stories are made within us to heal the fractures of experiences we agreed to have. In allowing ourselves to share our stories, we are truly vulnerable - exposed for the world to see, to dissect, to embrace or to discount. In being vulnerable, we release our hold on the story (or the hold our story has on us), and we gift the world (or, at least those who read our story) with the truth - we all have our story.


Being vulnerable isn't for the fain of heart.


For me, tales of my perception manifest themselves in the written word. I cherish my stories. I learn. I honor. I release. I stand in the face of judgment, and I am free.




What about you? What's your story? If I were to ask your best friend to describe your life story, what would s/he share? Would that story be an accurate testament of your experience?




Homework: Especially if you think you do NOT have a story to tell, I ask you to conduct an experiment. Ask the person who knows you best to tell "your life story" as they see it... then ask the next closest person to you... then the next... until you have at least THREE accounts of your life story through the eyes of another individual.


Are all three stories accurate? Are they the same? In what ways do they differ? Would you tell the story (your story) another way?


Perhaps you will find they tell your story beautifully. Maybe you will find they tell it wrong. Regardless of your results, you will learn a lot about yourself. More importantly, you will learn what legacy you leave behind.


With that information, you have the opportunity to change your story, or, perhaps more importantly, to delve deeper into it with more confidence and grace.


If you're afraid to find out the answer to this experiment, it's even more important for you to do it - now. If you've ever seen the movie "My Life" (1993), you'll understand the importance of this assignment.


My experiment results: I was amazingly touched to the core of my heart to hear my story from the perspective of those who know me best, and I am still absorbing their reality. It was life altering in a phenomenal way. I highly recommend this assignment, which is why I ask it of you.


I'd love to hear your results. Share here or private message me.


Happy researching. I hope you find that you, too, have a book in you (and, I hope it's a story you are willing to share with the world).