In today’s episode, we explore worthiness and how to boost your self-love and sense of self-worth so you can create a life you love. I share a daily practice that I developed called The Possibility Pages (inspired by Julia Cameron’s Morning Pages) and how this practice can propel you into being the person you want to be and living the life you want to live. 

Highlights from the show:

Every thought we think is creating our future

A thought can be changed

Everyone suffers from the belief “I’m not good enough.” 

The Possibility Pages explained

Stepping into the person you want to be and the life you want to live

Book referenced: You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay,

Thanks for listening!

If you want to learn more about what I teach around finding clarity and creating a life you love full of purpose, passion, and joy, I encourage you to join our community at Joyful Inspired Living. Here’s the link: http://www.joyfuljourney.ca/

About your host:

I’m your host, Anita Adams, an award-winning leader and the founder of Joyful Inspired Living, an organization dedicated to teaching people how to access their highest most authentic selves so they can find clarity and create a life of purpose, passion, and joy. In addition to hosting the Joyful Journey Podcast, I offer retreats, both live and online, and private coaching programs to further guide my clients on their journey to their highest selves.

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Leave us a review

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Anita Adams: 00:00:05

Welcome to the joyful journey podcast. If

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you're uncertain about what you really want or unsure how to be

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a force or good, you know this world craves, then this is the

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show for you. I'm Anita Adams, your host and guide to finding

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clarity and creating a life you love. Let's tap into our inner

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wisdom, access our highest self and unleash joy. As we raise our

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vibration, we heighten the collective consciousness and

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that, my friends, is the joyful journey. Let's dive in a joyful

Anita Adams: 00:00:44

journey. Here's Anita Adams here, your host of the joyful

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journey podcast and today, I want to talk about worthiness

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and how to amp up your self love and sense of self worth. So you

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can create a life you absolutely love. I decided this would be a

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great topic for the show after binging on the popular TV

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series, Ted lasso. Are you familiar with this TV show? It's

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about an American coach who goes to London to manage a British

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soccer team. What he lacks in knowledge he makes up for an

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optimism, determination and biscuits. It's an absolutely

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delightful show, full of beautiful life lessons. And it's

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a breath of fresh air from all the crime dramas and violence

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that seemed to dominate the airways. There is one character,

Anita Adams: 00:01:33

however, whose behavior in season two I find disturbing.

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The character I'm referring to is Coach Nate, without giving

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anything away for those who haven't watched the show yet. In

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season two, we see that coach Nate's sense of self worth

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borders on self loathing. Coach Nate is consumed by his need for

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recognition and constantly scrolls social media to read

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what people are saying about him. He is easily elated when he

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receives praise, and quickly turns to self loathing when he

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reads anything less kind. And one seem after scrolling through

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a series of tweets that praise His work. One unknown tweeter

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calls him a loser. Nate tosses his mobile and spits at his

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reflection in the mirror. This happens twice in the season. And

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each time It unsettles me, and I feel a sharp pain in my heart.

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As I'm reminded of the person I once was. Other people's

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opinions mattered way more than they should have. And most of my

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decisions were based on what I thought I should do to get the

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approval or recognition I so desperately wanted. I'd revel in

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the praise and crumble at anything less kind. I didn't

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spit at my own reflection, but I'd often look in the mirror and

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cry, or say unkind things to myself. I didn't love the woman

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looking back at me, and had a very low sense of my own

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worthiness. The one thing I did possess though, was a belief

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that I could change and grow into someone I could love. I

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didn't know how to do that exactly, but I threw myself at

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the problem anyway. I went to counseling, enrolled in personal

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growth workshops, and consumed one self help book after

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another. My favorite hangout in my 20s and early 30s was Banyan

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books in Vancouver. This bookstore is devoted exclusively

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to personal and spiritual growth. I would spend hours in

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this cozy shop where hints of lavender or peppermint or some

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other musty scent hung in the air. I discovered some amazing

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books here, books that became my closest companions, the prophet

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by Kahlil Gibran, The Alchemist by Paulo coho. And the artists

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way by Julia Cameron was Julia Cameron's morning pages in the

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artists way that helped me through some of my most

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challenging and darkest days. If you're unfamiliar, the mourning

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pages is a simple practice of writing three pages longhand

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upon waking up or soon thereafter. The writing is meant

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to be stream of consciousness, no thinking, planning or

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editing. In fact, it's recommended that you don't even

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read what you've written. This exercise is simply meant to

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clear the gunk out of your head so you can approach the rest of

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the day with more clarity. This daily ritual helped flush out

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and better understand my feelings. It also lighten the

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load some by simply creating the space for self expression and

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letting out some of the things I didn't know how to share with

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others. There is definitely great value in doing that.

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My Love and Respect for self, however, was growing at a

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snail's pace. The problem was, what I mostly wrote about were

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feelings of inadequacy. I focused on the things I didn't

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love about me and my life, the things that were bringing me

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down the things I didn't have and wanted. I suspect in some

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ways, I was reinforcing my not enoughness by constantly writing

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about it. I would write things like, I feel empty. I wish I was

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more talented. I wish I was more like Gina. Gina was this

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powerhouse woman I knew from my acting class. That was the dream

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back then to be an actress. Gina would walk into a room and all

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heads would turn, she would do a scene and have everyone riveted.

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All eyes were on her all the time. It's not that she was the

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most beautiful person in the room. She just knew who she was

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and oozed this radiant confidence. It was a confidence

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I desperately wanted. I thought Gina was the cat's meow. And in

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comparison, I felt like I was the dog's breakfast. As I wanted

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to be like Gina, I started writing about all the

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characteristics and qualities about her that I admired my

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writing but then inevitably, take a turn towards self pity

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because I was clearly nothing like her. Then one day while

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hanging out at Banyan books, I discovered a new author, Louise

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Hay and her book, you can heal your life. This sounded like

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something I needed. A few Louise key philosophies hit a chord.

Anita Adams: 00:07:04

Things like every thought we think is creating our future. A

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thought can be changed. And everyone suffers from the belief

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that I'm not good enough. What I remember thinking while sitting

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on the floor and Banyan books, does Gina think she's not good

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enough. I never found the courage to ask her. However,

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that did spark some curiosity. And I have asked countless

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others over the years, all of whom have confirmed that yes, at

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some point on their journey, they have experienced feelings

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of inadequacy. Even the seemingly most confident people

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have expressed these feelings, and often still do particularly

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when venturing down a new path. With this idea that our thoughts

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shape our future, my morning pages began to morph into what I

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now call my possibility pages. And that's when things began to

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really change quickly. I already identified the qualities that I

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admired in Gina. Now instead of writing in my morning pages

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about her, I wrote in my possibility pages about a future

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version of me who possesses those qualities. And I wrote in

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the present tense using I am statements. I took it one step

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further and started describing my future life. Again in the

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present tense as if I was already living that life. And

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something pretty miraculous began to happen. My competence

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grew, my sense of self worth expanded, and opportunities

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began to show up where I could step into being the person I

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wrote about this new practice 10 ext my personal growth. Similar

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to the morning pages, the possibility pages is a daily

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writing stream of consciousness exercise, however, this flowing

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river of consciousness is gently guided by asking yourself two

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key questions. Who do I want to be? And what life do I want to

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live? Then allow the pen the flow, and I do recommend doing

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this longhand, and write about that future version of you in

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the present tense using I am statements as if you were

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already that person living that life. It doesn't have to be

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three pages long. It could be one short paragraph that takes

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you three minutes to write.

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Identify the character traits and qualities you want to

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possess and describe how you look and feel. The things you do

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and the people you are with. get as specific as possible. With

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the details of your life and who you want to be, if you write

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about this future version of you every morning, soon, you will

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begin to make choices that are aligned with that person you

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want to become in that life you want to live. Life is full of

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choices. And when you weren't clear about who you want to be

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in that life, you want to lead and you believe in yourself and

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the possibilities, you begin to make choices to step into the

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beingness of that person and that life. Louise Hay was

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absolutely right. Your thoughts do create your future. When you

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get intentional with your thoughts and write them that

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down. You can map out a future to anywhere you want. You can't

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just do it once though, and tuck it away like some new year's

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resolution. This is an everyday thing until you reprogram your

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beliefs and start creating the future you want. The possibility

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pages is a powerful tool that you can start doing right now by

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simply investing a few minutes of time every day to write about

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a future version of you and your life that you want to bring into

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existence. This is how you can go from feelings of low self

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worth to feelings of self love and respect. And make no mistake

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creating a life you absolutely love and one that is full of joy

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starts by loving yourself. First, you are worthy of that

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time investment. Try doing the possibility pages for just 30

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days and see how things begin to shift for you. It's an

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incredibly powerful tool that has the ability to massively

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transform your life. regardless of your level of self love and

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competence. This is a tool anyone can use to create big

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shifts. I'd love to hear your thoughts about this practice.

Anita Adams: 00:12:04

You can connect with me and other like minded souls in a

Anita Adams: 00:12:07

private Facebook group that I've called the joyful journeyer or

Anita Adams: 00:12:12

feel free to email me privately. My details are in the show

Anita Adams: 00:12:15

notes. Thanks for tuning in joyful journeyer and we'll catch

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you next time. Thank you for joining us today on the joyful

Anita Adams: 00:12:22

journey podcast. If anything resonated with you, please visit

Anita Adams: 00:12:26

our website at joyful inspired living.com Sign up to receive a

Anita Adams: 00:12:32

free download of our three guiding principles to inner

Anita Adams: 00:12:35

wisdom and become a member of the joyful inspired living

Anita Adams: 00:12:38

community. For a deeper spiritual dive. Check out our

Anita Adams: 00:12:42

retreats we offer both in person retreats on beautiful Bowen

Anita Adams: 00:12:46

Island in British Columbia, as well as online retreats that you

Anita Adams: 00:12:50

can do from the comfort of your own home. And finally, if you

Anita Adams: 00:12:54

liked our show, please leave a review so more people can find

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it and learn how to access their highest self and together will

Anita Adams: 00:13:01

raise the collective consciousness