shadow affirmations

may 7 | weekly warm-up

Reflect on the shadow work exercises we’ve done over the past few weeks. What themes have come up for you? Write affirmative statements to help you address any sensitive areas.

To get you started, your affirmation statements may start with:

I am…
I choose to be…
I’m open to…
I’m grateful for…
I deserve/am worthy of…
I accept…
I will work on…

Here’s some quick links to all of the shadow work exercises:

two sides of a coin
shadow and sabotage
making ugly art
after pain a feeling comes

I hope that the time we’ve spent on shadow work has been helpful in uncovering themes for your writing, as well as addressing some of the emotional challenges that may come up in your writing practice.

For example, The Shadow and Sabotage week brought up my struggle with self-worth and why the words, “I deserve…” are so triggering to me. Those words always seem to bring to mind all of my flaws, mistakes, and reasons why I’m not deserving. As I continue to release limiting beliefs and hidden feelings of unworthiness so I can expand in my work, writing affirmations is one of the ways I am teaching myself to say these words and mean them. Here are a few examples:

I deserve to set boundaries to protect my writing practice.

I deserve to have my own style, pace, and point-of-view as a writer.

I deserve to be valued even in my mistakes and imperfections.

I deserve to give myself space to learn and evolve.

I deserve to ask for help.

I deserve to take up space and use my voice even when it seems no one is listening.

I deserve to acknowledge, process, and express negative emotions like anger and disappointment without punishing myself.

I deserve to be well-compensated for my creative efforts.

I deserve to value my gifts and share them confidently.

I deserve to do things my own way and color outside of the lines.

I deserve to make an abundant living doing work that I love.

Even as I share them with you now, I’m not where I want to be because I feel resistance and discomfort. But of course, this is the work! Your exercise this week is to write your own set of affirmations that address hidden resistance that you may be experiencing in your creative journey.