Personal Bill of Rights

Have you ever tried drafting your own personal Bill or Rights?

The first 10 amendments to the American Constitution are commonly referred to as The Bill of Rights. This document outlines the citizens' rights in relation to their government and spells out their protections. Likewise, drafting a Personal Bill of Rights for yourself can help you to identify how you will allow yourself to be treated in relation to the people and world around you. It can also be a powerful way to reconnect with how you want to behave in relation to yourself.

I have completed this activity multiple times throughout my years of therapy and personal development work. Some phrases seem to stay the same across the years and others seem to come and go, depending on the stage of life I find myself in. Currently, my Personal Bill of Rights consists of the following reminders...

My Bill of Rights - 2023

• I am allowed to take up space in the world.

• I am allowed to exhibit pain and weakness.

• My emotions do not have to make sense to anyone else.

• It's ok for me to need space and time to myself.

• I do not have to take responsibility for the feelings, actions, and behaviors of other people.

• I am allowed to need other people and ask for help.

• I have the right to prioritize my own safety needs.

• I am allowed to fail, apologize, and try again.

• I am allowed to lean into my own internal knowing.

• I am allowed to pursue my own peace and joy.

• I have the right to change and grow.

• I am allowed to love myself without condition.

• I have the right to say NO when I do not have the capacity.

• I am allowed to disappoint other people - even the ones that I deeply care about.

• I have the right to rest.

• I am allowed to have priorities that don't align with anyone else.

• I am allowed to be a human with needs.

Often, as adults, we forget that we no longer require permission from any outside authority to believe certain things or act in certain ways. A Personal Bill of Rights is an incredible way to reclaim your own authority and give yourself explicit permission to be treated in the ways that you deserve. Once you acknowledge the rights that you want to claim for yourself, you will be much more empowered to uphold and protect what you deserve.

Love Ability

Did you know that the amount of love that you receive from other people has absolutely nothing to do with how 'lovable' you are?

If other people struggle to love you as you are, that is a reflection of them and not you. It has nothing to do with your 'lovability,' and everything to do with the other person's ability to love.

If your parents or grandparents withheld love, that was a reflection of their own lack of capacity. It had nothing to do with how worthy or deserving you were of their love.

If you are still carrying the sting of being dumped or rejected, please remember that it had nothing to do with how lovable you were. They simply lacked the ability to love in the way that you needed or deserved.

You do not ever need to do anything differently or be any different than you are in order to access more love.

Your lovability is inherently, unconditionally absolute. You are as lovable and worthy right now as you were on the day that you came into this world.

Another person's lack of love ability is never a reflection of your 'lovability.'

You are 100% whole, worthy, and infinitely lovable. You always have been. You always will be.

No need to go chasing after love from those who simply lack the capacity and ability to offer it to you.

Instead, why not try increasing your own capacity and ability to offer unconditional love to yourself?

That is a skill that you will never regret cultivating.

Bonus: When you increase your ability to love yourself, you are actually increasing your overall love ability.

This will radiate into all of your other relationships and interactions. The overall result is that you get to experience feeling more love more often. Who doesn't want that?

Love always feels good. It's a win-win situation.

For more insight on this topic and how to increase your overall ability to generate more love for yourself, be sure to check out Episode 9 of the Podcast!

An Epidemic of "Shoulds"

I'm pretty sure that virtually every client I have ever coached has one specific thing in common...

A nasty habit of should-ing all over themselves.

Maybe we've always been this way as humans, or maybe it's worse in our modern age of information overload and near-constant social visibility. Either way, there seems to be an epidemic of should/shouldn't thoughts going on in the world.

We pick up our "shoulds" from all over the place:

• expectations in our family of origin

• religious culture and teachings

• direct and indirect social conditioning

• messaging from past relationships, etc.

Essentially, any feedback we have ever received about what it means to succeed at being human has been implanted into our brains as something that we should (or shouldn't) do, say, think, feel, or believe.

Anytime a client comes to me complaining that they are deeply depleted, overwhelmed, or swimming in anxiety, I know there is a long list of shoulds just waiting to be unpacked.

The main problem with shoulds is that they generally originate from someone or somewhere outside of us, which keeps us stuck in a constant cycle of seeking external validation to know if we are worthy and ok.

The simple truth is this:

You are worthy and ok. Period. End of sentence. No debate.

Your worth and right to exist in this world is something that you brought with you when you were born. You cannot prove it or earn it by pursuing that long list of shoulds that you are carrying. You already have it. Your worth is untouchable, no matter who tries to tell you differently.

You could take every single should you have ever internalized and throw it straight to the wind without losing a single drop of your worth and importance.

Show me the list of shoulds that you have acquired over your lifetime and I will show you an instruction manual of who other people want you to be. But what if they were all wrong?

What if the only person in the known universe who could possibly know what you are supposed to do in this world or who you are supposed to become is actually you?

Who do you want to be?

If you think you might want to put aside external expectations long enough to actually get familiar with yourself again, I highly suggest the following framework:

1. Identify a "should" thought that is driving your current evaluation of your worthiness.

2. Swap out "should" for "want to." (Example: "I should eat more vegetables," becomes "I want to eat more vegetables.")

3. Does it still ring true?

4. If Yes, do you want to do that thing for reasons that you genuinely like? (i.e. reasons that resonate with your highest self, that allow you to live in integrity with your values, that don't require you to reject any part of who you are, etc.)

5. If No, what do you actually want?! Who do you want to be in this area of your life, and why?

What if you didn't have to spend a single moment more on living your life for other people? What if tapping into who you truly want to be and what you truly want to contribute to the world was actually what the world needs from you?

You might just be one dumpster full of shoulds away from exploring that possibility.

I want that freedom for you. Are you capable of wanting it for yourself?

Be sure to check out Episode 7 of the Radically You podcast for more insights on this topic and a deeper dive into how shame plays into the picture.