Power of "I AM" in a Recovery Journey for Alcoholic and Other Drug Issues

Power of  "I am" - when you say "I am", followed by any statement, and you add certainty to it, it becomes your reality.. in many cases, your identity. When you combine these two powerful words with emotion, everything around you moves to support that statement.

I drank from the time I was 13 to the time I was 24 and I drank heavily. I avoided any responsibility for years, and I had a very strong Identity that defined me.For years I thought, "I am being punished". Because of that Identity, I took all the terrible things that were happening to me and placed the blame on God. And there finally came a point, based on many experiences that opened me to new possibilities, that I created a new Identity.
A point came where I had to say with certainty, "I am an alcoholic". And when I said those words, things shifted, and on an unconscious level, I no longer was able to make excuses for why I was drinking. I now had the identity of being and "alcoholic".

By acknowledging these things, it gave me a starting point, to begin correcting my life. By making the statement that I was an alcoholic, everything I knew on an unconscious level came up to support me in that statement:"OK, if you'are an alcoholic, you need to act, think and be like this." So when I reached a certain point, and Identity that used to serve me, no longer did and began to limit me.

Let me explain conscious and unconscious for the moment. Your conscious mind acts as a filter. It filters things through your beliefs, rules and values. Your unconscious just absorbs everything like a sponge. Your unconscious is called to action by your conscious mind based on how you direct your focus.

I started taking actions that supported me in becoming a recovering alcoholic. The identity changed from ,"I am an alcoholic" to "I'm recovering. I am no longer drinking." With this shift of "I am" and adding the certainty to the new statement, my unconscious started pulling different references and resources to support this new Identity.

Every time you put something after the two most powerful words "I am" and you say it with certainty, your unconscious will accept that as your Identity and do things, millions of things, within nanoseconds to support you in that moment.

Understand that we can change our identity at any point. Most people don't even realize how they create identities for themselves and change them. People walk around all day long, making excused and complaining saying, "I am lazy." Or,"I'm a procrastinator." But, when we say things with certainty, our unconscious mind does everything it needs to do to support us in that statement. The things that get us into trouble and that we take for granted are the simple statements. We make a mistake and say,"I am a failure." And we say it with completely certainty based on the mistake we made without even thinking about it. The more times you tell yourself something using powerful words like these, the more certain you become in it being true. When it you gain that certainty, it becomes your truth, it becomes your Identity.

Keep track, how many times do you say, "I am____", something that empowers you and how many times are you saying "I am______", something that is dis-empowering or tearing you down. Become aware. Then start changing how you address yourself.  A small change in your Identity can make a major shift in your reality. 

by Willard Barth

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Peer managed, self help group to help with recovery and relapse from alcohol and drug use
Smart Recovery Group
www.enoughisenough.org.au

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