Welcome to another edition of my Weekly Journal! I use this space to share a bit about jewelry, and a lot about my journey from lawyer to jewelry business owner. In this week's journal entry, I am sharing more about my daily mantra practice. If you've been following me on Instagram you already know that I've been sharing the daily mantras I've been using to get through this challenging period. The coronavirus has wreaked havoc on all of our lives and one way I've been trying to cope is by changing the negative story lines in my head into positive ones. For example, my mantra today is "Some of the most negative experiences of my life have paved the way for some of the most beautiful experiences of my life, and I know this time will be no different." Every time I feel negative thoughts coming on strong, I'll say this mantra silently to myself. Our thoughts shape our reality! And everything is a matter of perspective. Last week, I wrote in detail about this daily practice (you can read that here) and this week I wanted to share how I actually used mantras as a helpful tool in quitting my lawyer job and starting my own business.

First up, I told you last week why mantras work. I think they work because they reframe the story you've got running through your head. You can repeat negative thoughts all day long, or you can repeat positive thoughts all day long. Those thoughts create stories about what you believe is going to happen and they can be very powerful. Thoughts shape your reality. What you think about persists! So it's important that you control your thoughts and make sure they're more positive than they are negative. For all those control freaks out there, this is good news! You can't control much, but you can control the thoughts running through your head. I don't think it's possible to think positive thoughts 100% of the time but, on average, as long as you think more positive thoughts than you do negative thoughts I think you'll be just fine.

So, when I wanted to make a big career change from lawyer to jewelry business owner, I became very aware of the powerful negative stories that were holding me back. And I started to change them by using mantras. This didn't happen overnight because, let me tell you, I had some pretty powerful negative stories about career and money running through my head. But slowly and surely, my beliefs and my stories changed. For example, one of the thoughts I had running through my mind was that I will never be able to make as much money selling jewelry as I did as a lawyer. When I became aware of that belief, I realized how much it was creating my reality. If you believe you can't make a living selling jewelry, you won't and you'll march right on back to being a lawyer. If you believe on the other hand that you can make even more money selling jewelry than you ever did as a lawyer, you will. It really is that simple. I want you to read that again. It really is that simple. I have concrete evidence of this. I had a jewelry business ten years ago, in 2010, and it failed after about 12 months and I had to go back to being a lawyer. Why? I didn't believe I deserved to earn a living doing something I love. I didn't believe that a job could be fun. I didn't believe I could earn enough money to support myself making jewelry. But this time around, with grace + hudson, I DO believe I deserve to earn a living doing something I love. I do believe that work can (and should!) be fun and enjoyable. I do believe I can earn enough money to support myself. And you know what, that's exactly what's shown up for me this time around. What changed, you ask? Well, I did a lot of self-development work on myself. I mean, a TON of work on myself. And it was hard. And it brought up a lot of tears and caused me to examine a lot of things about myself, some of which I didn't particularly like. But I am standing here today a changed person, a happier person, and a person who feels at peace with life. So please believe me when I tell you that the only person holding you back is YOU. I've been there and I see it so clearly now. I was holding myself back the whole time with these negatives ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and stories about how the world works and what was possible for me and my career.

If this resonates with you, what comes next? I think the first step is becoming aware of the stories, beliefs, thoughts, and ideas that are ruling your life and shaping your career. Some will be positive, but many will likely be negative. This is the hardest part. It's hard to be honest with ourselves about the storylines running in our head, and we also have a lot of blindspots. Let me give you an analogy: I was born in May so I'm a Taurus and we are notoriously stubborn, but it's hard for me to admit that I'm stubborn sometimes. A person will call me stubborn and I'll basically gasp and say, "Who? Me?" This is what happens when we start to honestly look at our stories and beliefs around our career (or any area of our life). You might think you're a positive person, but upon further examination you might realize that you actually have quite negative storylines surrounding your career. But you won't want to see it. You won't want to believe it. This is where the personal, self-development works comes into play. It takes a lot of courage to admit where we are weak, and where we can do better. And then it takes a lot of strength to change our ways. Like me, you might find you need the help of a therapist depending on the strength of your negative storylines and that is nothing to be ashamed about. Once you've identified your negative storylines, the rest is (comparatively speaking) easy. Decide upon a positive storyline and start repeating it to yourself - in time, you'll begin to believe it. It'll drown out the negative storyline. And then that'll have a causal effect on what you see start to show up for you!

xoxo,

Stacy