I Am Empowered!



In his book “I Am,” Howard Falco does a masterful job of pointing out how powerful internalized “I Am” statements are. Negative “I Am” statements filter through our conscious minds and embed themselves in the subconscious mind. As a result, they become tapes that play repeatedly through our heads. No wonder we often feel so bad about ourselves.

This process is made even worse for addictive persons who also have Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD). OCD makes intrusive, negative thoughts almost impossible to control. The thoughts rob victims of their personal power over not only the snowballing thoughts but the emotions that accompany them. Life becomes a nightmare of horrible “I Am” thoughts and desperate feelings. When my OCD kicks in uncontrollably, I get knots in my stomach, shooting pains in my chest and my indigestion goes off the scale. If panic sets in, I get nauseous and start hyperventilating.

I’ve had a bad bout with the OCD over the last week, but I think I made it over the hump yesterday. I went to the mall to walk, still feeling bad. Exercise helps and while I was walking, I started repeating positive I Am statements in my mind. “I am empowered” became my mantra and the more I repeated it to myself, the more I felt myself regaining power over my negative thoughts and feelings. By the time I finished, and headed to an open AA meeting, I felt empowered. I felt like I had a healthy balance back.

I went into the AA meeting, introduced myself to others (who were very welcoming) and continued to feel empowered as I acted empowered. Today I woke up feeling better overall, although I’m still obsessing some about my digestive track because all of my anxiety manifests in that area. It’s also the one area of the body which produces serotonin, which is the chemical we need to prevent OCD. I certainly don’t need my brain working against my gut.

So I turn it over to my Higher Power and ask my Higher Power to do for me what I cannot do: to calm down my thoughts and thus lower my anxiety and calm down my gut. Together we need to get that serotonin flowing to my brain.

“I am empowered” turned out to be a wonderful mantra for taking my power back from my negative, hopeless thoughts and feelings. Give it a try. See what other mantras develop from there. No one has more power over us than we do; even though we often feel powerless, we aren’t. We can shape our own reality— with a little help from our Higher Power and others.

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