Who Do You Think You Are? (And why the answer can change EVERYTHING)

Posted on September 30, 2022 by Matthew Corlett, One of Thousands of Spirituality Coaches on Noomii.

I want you to take a moment and imagine your biggest struggle in life right now. I know inspiring right? Ha ha ha ha! True it can be painful, but play with me a little. After all we can just play for now. You are completely safe and fully in control. So, play a little and just bring it to mind.

As you think of that struggle I want you to see the scenario playing out in your mind, and notice how you are fully associated, I mean feel what it’s like to be right in it. Feel how it feels, notice your breath, your posture, the things you’re focussed on in the moment. Hear your thoughts, the feeling in your stomach, your chest, your knees. Feel your clothing, the air, hear the sounds around you and in your mind. Notice the the sky and the earth, and when it starts to hit that anxiety producing pitch, freeze frame it. Take a picture and freeze it right there.

And as you take that picture, just take it from your mind and hold it out in front of you and put it down for a second.

Now notice, you are actually just sitting in a chair, or lying in bed, reading this. All of that mental activity did, however, have an impact on you physiologically, emotionally, hormonally and mentally. Even though it was all ‘in your mind’, it started to fire and wire neurological webs in your brain, sending signals through your nervous system(s), creating hormone production and protein production (literally DNA production in your cells) as if it were really happening. For some of you the feeling was really familiar, like an old friend.

Do you still have that freeze frame? I want you to pick it back up, that freeze frame, and make it standard photo size, like a 5″ × 6″, and give it a nice white boarder. Maybe give it a matte finish and while in color, you might see it as not quite vivid color. If you like, make it black and white or sepia. Imagine just holding it in your hand, and it’s kinda floppy. Bring it closer and find yourself in that picture. Can you find yourself?

Good.

Now who are you in that picture? How do you see yourself? Notice the look on your face, the cloths you are wearing in your mind, how big are you compared to the others there, how small, how connected or disconnected? What do you read into you when looking at you in that picture? Can you, sitting where you are now, simply examine the image of yourself, that you secretly hold in the depths of your mind, that you have freeze framed at the peak of your struggle?

While you’re looking at some physical qualities perhaps, go one layer deeper and notice the beliefs you have about yourself in that moment. What things is that you in the picture focussed on? What thoughts is that you in the picture believing are true in that moment?

Are you starting to get the picture? That you are ALWAYS holding an internal self image? In that moment, who do you think you are?

Just for fun, again, we’re just playing here we’re not doing any therapy or making any big claims about the meaning of existence, manifesting the life of your dreams etc… we’re just playing.

Take that picture in your hands and again and be bold. I want you to imagine that in that freeze frame, only you can move. Ask that you to turn and look at you. See her or his amazement and delight to see a big you looking at him/her. Now just whisper in her or his ear how you would like to feel, act and behave in that situation. How you would love to speak and express yourself, how you would joyously like to experience being there and managing the same situation in a brand new way that led to wonderful results.

You don’t have to know what exactly you ‘need’ to do or ‘how’ it would be possible. Instead focus on what kinds of thoughts you’d love to be having about yourself, about others and the situation you’re in. Just allow that mini you in the picture to comply. S/he is an excellent cooperator and is happy to do so.

You might notice how bright you become, a change in cloths, in posture, in calmness, in quiet or boisterousness. You might find a deeper sense of kindness, and fuller understanding.

What kind of thoughts might that picture you be entertaining now? Who do you think you are now?

You might say, ‘Well Matt, for F’s sake I am NOT that person I’m the original person suffering and struggling and feeling all this pain. Why am I like this?’

Well what this little game can help you realize is that the situation you find yourself in is not a circumstance that dictates your potential, but who you believe you are, who you feel yourself to be, can actually determine not only the meaning of the circumstances for you, the potential held in them for your advancement and growth, but also for the circumstances themself.

For example if you felt your truth were worthy of presenting, and worth expressing authentically even if it meant being rejected, would you find yourself compromising on what you really want or need, lying about all of it, all in order to please someone, only to have them leave you in the end and you with nothing left to care for yourself? (OK, that’s mine, your’s can be different!) Spoiler alert: No. You wouldn’t be in that situation at all. Your personality does indeed define your personal reality (Joe Dispenza is the ref for that quip)

The degree to which it is difficult to imagine ‘being’ any other way, is the degree to which you are unaware of the fundamental beliefs about yourself and ‘reality’ that you are allowing to run the show. With a little awareness, you can develop the ability to observe without shame, blame, criticism or judgement, thoughts that you are entertaining. With awareness comes understanding, and the ability to bring some loving questioning to those thoughts. But if you’re too busy being miserable and believing the story of it all… it runs the show, not you. Habit, old trauma, and false beliefs masquerading as TRUTH. So who do you THINK you are?

Hold on to that little picture with that altered you starting to think new thoughts and feel new feelings and we’ll come back to it at the end.

I once had a client that was selling high end communications coaching to founders and CEO’s. These were successful people who had taken companies into at least 10’s of millions in revenue with goals for much higher. The ironic thing is that ISN’T what made them tick – it was their mission to improve the world through technological advancement that did. My client had helped many startups, successful businesses, NPO’s and more secure tens of millions in funding and contracts, and yet approaching his new prospects he felt a BIG BLOCK.

He would take action, get no results and say to himself… “I guess I’m just not good enough to work with these people…”

‘Who do you think you are?’ I asked.
’What’s that supposed to mean?’ he responded.
‘WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE when you make a call or touchpoint with one of these prospects?’

The truth is he felt like a failure, like a small, insignificant failure. He had entirely forgotten his mission as a communications specialist, the value of his ethical code of conduct, the change in the world he wanted to help usher in, the value he had brought to hundreds of clients, and his insight and heartfelt ability to help people communicate in ways that really connected with their audiences so that change could be realized.

All of that was gone. In its place was a post corporate try hard who just wasn’t good enough. He had all sorts of reasons to support this including lots of assumptions about the prospects that he believed were absolutely true.

Metaphorically, he had an internal self image of a beggar trying to get the attention of Hollywood A-lister by holding a ‘change please’ sign written in .05 pt pen… on the back of a dirty napkin from 1000km away.

You get the point.

I asked him: ‘Would you do something for me? Tomorrow, wear old ripped up dirty clothing, grab a napkin, go to the outskirts of Phoenix (where he lived) and write on an old napkin that you wished your prospect would take your call, don’t bring any water, or shade, or sunscreen, and hold that up with shame and apologetically while you sit in the desert to wait for her call.’

He looked at me like I was insane. Maybe I was. ‘NO!’ he said, ’that’s insane!’
‘Great!’ I responded… ‘so why are you doing that in your own mind?’

Once he reconnected with his mission, with his capacity, his expertise, his delight and joy, the greater expanse of his purpose in life, and he STEPPED RIGHT INTO IT, then he TOOK ACTION IN ACCORDANCE WITH THAT SELF IMAGE. In this particular situation that resulted in a $24,000 contract that earned his client a $2M contract.

So, as we finish up here, WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? Grab that little picture you created in the brilliance of your mind. Have courage. Be the best version of you. Now STEP RIGHT INTO THAT PERSON and be in that situation again, seeing it from your highest potential and enjoy!

And if you want to really discover some magic, book a session and see how we can help you shift into the flow of your life and help you reconnect with more joy, love, peace, and your divine purpose.