“Angels make their home in the Self, while resistance has its seat in the Ego. The fight is between the two. The Self wishes to create, to evolve. While the Ego likes things just the way they are”.

~ Steven Pressfield

This January, I am a cliché. I am the New Year’s resolution. Like a freight train, nothing can stop me and I push forward past the self doubt, weak inner voice, and resistance to the work I know I need to do.

I am becoming.

I no longer fear success.

The judgement that occurs as I lean into propulsion to positivity fades away. The practice of giving into the shoulds and woulds is silenced. The voice that is Ego is much quieter and has a mintuae of influence over my soul. I dig deeper into who I am and what I am meant to be and I feel it viscerally as I cut through the inner conflict and create. Write. Meet. Inspire. Learn.

Evolve.

I can feel the engines ticking inside me—slowly revving up as the heat of passion builds. I am the coal shoveler and with each bend and toss, I feel my inner inspiration grow larger and more fluent. The fire burns brighter and the pistons ignite. Like learning a second language—after several months of practice, it starts to flow.

I now dream with creativity at hand.

I can conjugate visions and translate them to the page, to my clients, to my love, to my kids, to myself.

I know my purpose.

The following is how I got here. How I caught the train. How I (simply) connected.

5 Ways to Cut Through Past the Ego and Make Friends with the Self:

1. Meditate. Open up space and sit awhile. What bubbles up in the subconscious will come out in the every day. With even only 15 minutes of focusing on the breath or practicing mindfulness—inspiration will arrive and it won’t leave.

2. Receive. Allow in all things that give back to the sense of Self. This can include but is not limited to: getting healthy, getting a massage, trying Reiki, reading a good book, journaling, and acupuncture.

3. Collaborate. Phone a friend who inspires, who understands, who listens and brainstorms. Find this person. Connect once a week. Relish in their ideas bouncing off of yours and hear the vibrations and ideas as they come in.

4. Get Professional. Think of inspiration as a job not a hobby. This is a nine to five of awesome. Dive in and clock in and read The War of Art by Steven Pressfield.

5. Learn. Take a class. Be taught by other. Take time to hear from someone else lessons of life, love, creativity, and inspiration. Get a different perspective from a person you admire well versed. Never stop learning.

These five friends of Self have become my mantra. They are my port in the storm. They wake me up in the morning and get me excited. Not everything that occurs will be grand, this much I know to be true, but by the production of simply setting up the actions to funnel in the higher self—everything gets better.

More potent.

Bigger.

Divine.

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Editor: Catherine Monkman

Photo: stuartpilbrow/Flickr