Writing Down Your Soul: How to Activate and Listen to the Extraordinary Voice Within

So my inner critics aren't some evil spirits to fend off; they are shadow pieces of me that sprang to life in response to early wounds.

“Think of it,” Brian said, “as you are sitting around with all the parts of yourself. One part might be a chairman of the board, another part a small scared child, another part a huge yelling parent. There's a different level of empowerment when one sees that all the parts are integral to the whole.”

grace before you eat. (If you don't have it, get a copy of A Grateful Heart: Daily Blessings for the Evening Meal from Buddha to the Beatles, edited by M. J. Ryan, and choose a grace from it every night.)

Other writers express gratitude with a quick flourish of the Möbius strip that illustrates writing down your soul. It's their way of saying, “I spoke to you, and you spoke to me.”

There's a huge side benefit to saying these words. “You are precious and important” is the most loving thing anyone can say. It takes the breath away. It packs more wallop than the often misused, “I love you.” But we can't have the unconditional love we want until we first love ourselves unconditionally. Each

Your critic might put on a creepy “Eyes” mask. This mask appears as fear that someone will read your journals, or worse, learn all your secrets after you keel over. If you fall for this one, you'll never really pour your soul onto the page. For starters, tell your critic to cool it with the fear factor. If it'll make you feel better, make a securit

The truth is, we create ourselves by what we choose to notice, feel, think, say, and do. The operative word is choose. Everything, as the masters and teachers of the Akashic Record remind us, is a free will choice.

Read this list of permissions. Check the ones that make you want to pump your fist and shout, “Yes, I do!” Skip the ones that make your eyes go wide or your stomach jump. As you read, you may think of some new ones. Add them at the end.

Give yourself permission to ask for and receive miracles. Giving yourself permission is really quite straightforward: Either you believe you deserve, or you don't. You feel either worthy or unworthy, loved or unloved, guided and protected or judged and punished.