One of my favorite sayings from my coach, Sara Connell, is “I Can and I Will”— sometimes taking the alliteration of “You Can and You Will” or “We Can and We Will.”
Sara always inserts this phrase (usually with a loud collective chorus from the room) whenever anyone expresses some doubt or self-limitation around a goal or dream. I like it for several reasons:
First, it’s obviously a super strong affirmation of intention, and signals to the brain that we are operating “as if” and fully expect to achieve that which we have dreamed. “If you can dream it, you can achieve it” is a mantra I believe in. I do not believe that our minds are capable of dreaming and conjuring something that is not within the realm of possibility.
Second, when we are careful about the words we choose, either to speak to others or even ourselves, it matters. I hope, I think, I wish, and I have to are very different than I will, I’m certain, I can, and I get to. I can and I will are statements of fact and paint a different picture, in turn creating a different feeling about what we’re doing.
Also, Sara coaches a technique that she calls “future pulling” which is exactly what it sounds like. It’s a written and/or verbal exercise with a partner where you pull the future you want toward you by claiming it now in the present tense. One version of this exercise is a manifestation technique where you do the following steps:
- Write a future goal (or your future bio) on a 3 x 3 paper.
- Declare: I am confident the _____________ (money, job, clients, employees, lover, home, goal) that I desire also desires me. I can and I will.
- Say 9x to yourself before bed.
- Insert under your pillow.
- Repeat for 21 days.
So far for me, this has been almost a freakish experiment in manifesting what I desire as most of what I have written from a purely honest place has happened (or at a minimum opened doors leading to the goal) in much less than 21 days. Is it focus? Is it the setting of intention? Is it rewiring my brain? Is it magic? Who cares! I certainly don’t.
In 2023, I firmly believe you can and you will get what you focus on and that which you believe is on its way to you right now. You’ve got zero to lose by trying on this mantra, and if you’re feeling really wild and brave, try on the future pull exercise as well. I’ll be dying to know what you manifest for yourself and future pull into your present reality.
Oh, and one more brilliant statement from Sara… she ends most of these conversations as I will end mine with all of you today…
“And, so it is.”
We can and we will.
“Setting your intention is like drawing an arrow from the quiver of your heart.”
~Bruce Black
