RISMEDIA, February 12, 2009-The other night I happened upon one of those shows where they chronicle the life of a Hollywood star. This episode was about Renée Zellweger. As I tuned in, she was recounting how she came to Hollywood at twenty-five years old, after graduating University of Texas, and worked as a waitress in a bar. She had left an acting career in Texas behind her and had come looking for her “big break,” which was taking its time in coming. She recalls a phone conversation with a good friend during which she was saying how much she wanted to act, that she felt somewhere deep inside of herself that this is what she was meant to do, while at the same time she was questioning her move to Hollywood, questioning the belief that she wasting her degree, working in a bar…
Her friend said to her with heartfelt sincerity, “Renée you are an actress.”
As Renée repeated the words, it became clear to her. “I am an actress,” she declared.
In that moment she went from the “I want to be” to the “I am” and her life did indeed change.
She won the role of Dorothy Boyd in the movie Jerry McGuire, and not only did she melt Jerry’s heart, but she captured the heart of American movie land. The rest, as they say, is history.
That switch in thinking to “I am an actress” struck me hard. How many times do we wish and hope and imagine how wonderful it would be if we were this, or that; how we just know that we are meant to be doing something, how our lives would be perfect if we were following our dreams and our hearts.
Well, why are we not doing this or that? If we honestly believe that we were born to do something else, why are we not pursuing it? What will it take for us to make the turn? How many excuses can we give ourselves; how many reasons can we come up with, to blanket our dreams and hopes and eventually just sweep them out the door and under the mat where we step on them each time we leave the house?
What will be our ‘aha’ moment, when we go from the wanting to the being?
One thing I have learned from working at Frame of Mind Coaching is that we are absolutely capable of making significant changes in our lives.
The reason so many of us are stuck in the shadows is that we are afraid to come out and be the person that is housed in our core. It’s so much easier to stay in the shadow, to follow along the path that we stumbled upon, even though we know it’s not right for us.
It takes a lot of guts to make changes, a great deal of inner strength, but when we do, wow, we are unchained from our bondage. Sometimes we don’t even realize how unhappy we were until we’ve broken out of our ruts, and then we are overwhelmed with the delight of feeling happiness and true joy returning to our lives.
Going from “I really want to be” to “I am” signifies a very powerful shift in our mindset. It’s actually an incredible thing. Try it. Try saying the words out loud. “I am ____.” See how it sounds, feel how it reverberates throughout your body. Enjoy the sensations and allow yourself to dream. It is when we dream and we allow ourselves the opportunity to step into that dream that they really do come true. It’s a very powerful tool in changing our thinking. Try it. Let me know!
Jacqui Markowitz is the Director of Communications for Frame of Mind Coaching. You can reach Jacqui at Jacqui@frameofmindcoaching.com.
