Shadow Work— Powerful Mantras That Will Strengthen Your Resilience
Master Your Mind To Master Your Experience
Every quarter I create a new set of goals and intentions and align new habits and behaviors as a way to bring new success. Over recent years, this process has evolved to focus more on character building versus achieving things. The experience has been transformational. The more I focus on my own personal growth, the more good things that happen in my life. Sometimes I win, but no matter what, I always grow. Growth is the real gift, not accomplishment!
The most powerful experience of this process is the resilience that I build along the process. Shadow work is something many people in spiritual circles swear by as a way to your highest self. I concur, but how do you actually do it? I don’t have the answer to that, but I would like to share what has worked for me.
- Every quarter, I reset my character goals. This represents how I want to show up better and more authentic. How can I listen more intentionally, react less and respond more…what are my triggers and how can I work with them so they don’t work against me?
- I write out my goals and then schedule time to review my progress every week. Whenever I come across a great quote or visual reminder of my goals, I save it in my electronic journal. These represent positive affirmations of my progress. They help me reinforce change in behavior.
- I archive all of these messages and at the end of the quarter, I have a cup of coffee with my character. I discern all the messages and sit with the experiences of my growth. The result — always moving closer to my highest self and that means experiencing life to its fullest!
Here are my lessons of resilience from the last quarter:
1. Forgiveness is the Key — Choose Peace, Not Resentment
“If we really want to love, we must learn how to forgive.” -Mother Teresa
I use to think we forgive for others, until I realized that forgiveness has nothing to do with the actions of others. Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. It is the ultimate form of self love. What other people do has nothing to do with you and everything to do with themselves. I use to over analyze how people behave, which is insane when you think about it. The mind is a very complex world and what makes up a person’s beliefs and actions comes from a universe of experiences, stories, and scars. Why do I know this? Because my world is just as complex! Nobody understands me the way I understand me and even I can’t figure myself out most of the time 😉. Hence, forgiveness is the ultimate act of self love. It is extending the same grace and empathy to others that we should be extending to ourselves. I’m not perfect, I’m still figuring things out, my behaviors sometimes come out sideways because I’m still learning, discovering and healing. When I extend this awareness to others, suddenly I lead with understanding and love. This is where I find peace and let go of judgement and resentment. Compassion takes over and suddenly people aren’t living in my head rent free. I unlock a new door and forgiveness is the key. Through the door I find freedom and much healthier relationships.
2. Don’t Chase Applause — Just Walk Forward with Courage & Intent
“Don’t waste your time chasing butterflies. Mend your garden, and the butterflies will come” -Mario Quintana
What’s meant for you always arrives on time. I spent years over extending my mind, body, and soul chasing things I thought I needed. It wasn’t until I learned to let go, that I was able to let a higher power in. The universe is working with me, but only when I slow down enough to hear it. We live in a world dominated by productivity apps and curated social media posts that sell you on the power of systems and hustle. But, here is the real power — realizing that showing up with the courage and intent to be your most authentic self will always lead you to what’s meant for you. Authenticity doesn’t require hustle, it is embodied self trust and intentional action, which is sometimes slow, but always methodical. This is where the universe meets you to co-create. When you let go of the chase, you make room to connect with the universe plan, but also as your highest self.
3. Manifestation Isn’t Getting What You Want, It is Believing You Are Embodied Enough to Hold it:
“Imagination is everything. It is the preview of life’s coming attractions.” — Albert Einstein
You can’t have a new reality with an old mentality. Believing in yourself is a full time job — no sick days! No letting yesterstay’s “almosts” carry forward. Today is where you embody your truth. Don’t force or rush — when you are embodied in your truth, life comes to you. This is the power of manifestation. I use to think it meant visualizing my goals and then powerfully chanting my way into that reality every morning. That doesn’t work and is exhausting. You start manifesting when you heal enough to actually believe you are enough to hold what you want. When you manifest, your heart must be pure, totally at ease, and embodied in a mindset that says, “I already am this.” That’s when the gifts start to flow. I have manifested many outcomes, but also wasted time and energy chasing things that didn’t align for me. The gifts only came when I was ready to receive through universal alignment. The power is in the being, not the doing. Being is the ultimate use of imagination.
4. Happiness is an Inside Job
“You are going to be happy, said life. but first I’ll will make you strong.” -Paulo Coelho
I use to think happiness would come with the next accomplishment. The promotion, the trophy, the “stuff”. After I came out of a long Dark Night of the Soul over 2.5 years — I was a different person. I lost my attachment to accomplishment, and grew an appreciation for experience as itself. That’s why you are here — to experience life, not conquer it. I still have goals and like nice things, but I am not defined by them. I have learned that sometimes not getting what you want is the most beautiful of gifts. You learn to be whole without the validation of the world’s confirmation. It is to gain humility and acceptance through all experiences. It makes failure more about growing and success more about gratitude. Happiness is not defined by outcomes, as much as it is about the person you become through your life’s experiences. No accomplishment or material thing can fill up your soul like the realization that being present with all life’s experience is the real joy of living.
5. Hope Isn’t a Strategy, But It’s the Foundation You Build Your Dreams Upon.
“When You Want Something, All the Universe Conspires In Your Favor.” -Paulo Coelho
I use to think that if I believed enough in my goals and worked hard they would happen. It wasn’t until I spent years chasing the wrong things that I realized that hoping for something isn’t a strategy. belief isn’t the same thing as alignment. It wasn’t until I had several things fall through that I realized I was hoping for something that wasn’t really meant for me. Desiring something isn’t enough. It must authentically align with why you want it. Purpose must be at the heart of your intentions. This is where your True North vision will take its shape. I find that hope can only support my goals when my intentions are pure. Hope isn’t the strategy, it’s the belief that soemthing is meant for you and aligned with the universal plan. This means when shit goes sideways — you still trust that it is happening for you and not not to you. You use the adversity to adjust your sails and stay the course. You build your dreams on your purpose, not your purpose on the dreams.
6. Everything That Leaves is Making Room for What’s to Come:
“You can’t reach for anything new if your hands are still full of yesterday’s junk” -anonymous
Let it all fall away, let it burn! Release it and rise from the ashes. Not everything that comes into your life is meant to stay. It arrives through chaos and lessons that clear a new path forward. Sometimes the greatest lessons in your life come to prepare you for something that hasn’t happen yet. The challenge, the loss, the unknown are all beautiful experiences that help you unbecome to become. This is one of the reasons why I journal through challenging transitions in life. When I go back and re-read my entries after I get to a new horizon, I can finally see how it all made sense, how it happened for a purpose. You can only connect the dots backwards. The future only happens through the present. This is why everything you let go of today is inviting something new to fill the space. Trust the pause, hold the emptiness. Something new is emerging. More will be revealed…
7. Living in 5D is Connection to All Things. It is the Gateway to Purifying & Integrating Your Own Mind, Body, & Soul:
“When you rise into 5D, you remember — separation was only an illusion. You are the ocean pretending to be a drop, and now you return to your vastness.” -anonymous
I learned a very difficult lesson the past few years that transformed my life. It was a real deflater to the ego when I realized that I am not my thoughts. The mind is a tool, it’s not the pure self. You are the observer, not the thinker. But there is a process to uncovering this awareness and learning how to use the mind, not be used by it. Master your mind and you will master your life! These 10 simple practices brought me to 5D land — and helped me develop a mindset that sees everything about life as a connected and gamified experience!
- Meditate to Calm Your Mind:
- Exercise to Release Your Mind
- Stretch to Expand Your Mind
- Journal to download With Your Mind
- Pray to Trust With Your Mind
- Reflect to Discern With Your Mind
- Study to Engage Your Mind
- Manifest to Create With Your Mind
- Express to Share With Your Mind
- Breathe to BE Free From Your Mind — -This is to BE With the Present Moment.
Signing Off,
Truth of the Jay
