We have all seen the commercials that has the tagline: What’s In Your Wallet.  That tagline has been running through my head for the past couple of months which not a coincidently aligns with the start of a new position a couple of months ago.   For me starting a new position or any other venture for the first time can be a scary yet exciting time, a time filled with nervousness and  sometimes a little self-doubt.  In the past the scary and self-doubting voices would be so loud that it would overshadow the feelings of excitement and nervousness; I believe that nervousness is a great thing (that will be expounded upon in a future post).

Over the past 6 -8 months my meditation and prayer time has been focused on me gearing up for this new phase of my life and equipping me with the tools for this journey.  This has been purposeful journey, where based on God’s direction I have been equipping myself with what is needed to  allow me to embrace this exciting time and not allow my alter ego who I call Ms. Critical to steal this time.  Ms. Critical is my self-doubting voice, the voice that echoes that I am not good enough to succeed at this task or that I am destined to fail.  It is a daily struggle to move Ms. Critical to the background; it is not something accomplished overnight but day by day I see the improvement.

I personally interpret What’s in Your Wallet to mean what are the tools I equip myself with each day, it is my choice to equip myself with negative or positive tools.  Those tools include what I read, friends I surround myself with, what I listen to, what I eat (yup – if you eat junk your mind will be junk), and lastly what I think.   We generally keep those things in our wallet that we deem as important, driver’s license, pictures, credit card, etc.. In that same thought process, I want to make sure I keep what is important to me in my wallet.

Now before I go to bed at night I begin the process of equipping myself with the tools needed to be successful the next day.  During my morning commute to work I listen to songs of empowerment, during the day I surround myself with positive words, and when feeling tempted to be critical of myself I either look at one of the many inspirational quotes on my desk and/or take a couple of intentional long breaths (my quick meditation).  Daily I make a conscious effort to move beyond Ms. Critical and to fill my wallet with positive words of encouragement.

It is easy to get into the rut of stuffing your wallet with unfulfilling or self-sabotaging things, take the time to reflect and make an intentional act to change what you put in your wallet. Only you can change what you put in your wallet.