When I think of creative entitlement, I think of the poet David Whyte. He says that one of the qualities that you have to cultivate to have a spiritual and creative life is what he calls the "arrogance of belonging."

I love the re-appropriation of the word arrogance. And what the arrogance of belonging is, it's not pumping your first in the air and saying "I am the best." It's putting your hand on heart and saying, 'I Am.'

That's it. I am recognizing that I'm here. And I'm part of this story. I'm part of the human family. I'm part of what we're all creating here.

I'm not going to pretend that I'm not here. 

There's a great Leonard Cohen poem in his recent book where he says something like, 'If there were no other artists in the world, my art would be very important. But there are are, and they're really good, so I'm willing to take my place at the end of the line, and to keep making art.'

Now that's the arrogance of belonging, which is saying, "I belong in the line." I'm not sure if I belong at the front of the line, or the back of the line, but I'm going to put myself in line along with all of this. The humility that is intrinsic in that is not the false humility of self-deprecation, which is not humility, but a kind of a sin.

Self-deprecation is a sort of violation of the remarklebeness of you.

The exceptionalness of you. The extraordinary miracle of the human life. It's a sort of a sin to pretend that you're not a big deal. You exist, and you have consciousness, and you have dreams, and you're here. It's extraordinary.

Just for today, I will radiate success with my whole being. Not tomorrow, not next week, and not someday. But today. ​

What makes me feel successful today will change tomorrow. And each day after that it will change, as I change and evolve my idea of what success even is. I know that today I am further than I was yesterday. I'm a little wiser. A little stronger. A little more centered. 

​Today is the day that I won't just believe, but I will know, I am successful. It doesn't matter if I haven't achieved the thing I set out to achieve. It doesn't matter if I'm not holding the results of my dreams within my hands.

What matters is that I valued those dreams and gave them space to breathe and grow. What matters is that I dared to believe in the value of my own ideas. I am successful because I took the first shaky steps in realizing my full potential. I am successful because I am here, learning, growing, facing my fears, embracing my fears, embracing me, and becoming one with all that I am, in all ways.

What makes me successful is personal to me.

No one knows where I started. No one knows what I went through just to get to this moment. No one knows the mountains I climbed and the valleys I traversed just to show up today and say, "Here I am day. Bring it on."

Today I will celebrate my own personal idea of success. I will look back and realize that I have overcome a lot. I have achieved a lot. I have done things that shook me to my core. I have changed in ways no one will understand the impact of but me. I have even torn down my idea of self, questioning the very nature of who I am and what's possible for me, without any idea of how I would land safely on my feet.

What makes me successful is not always even success.

Sometimes I fail, and in that failure, I know I succeeded because I tried something. I dared to step outside what was familiar and known and tested the boundaries of my world. My failure is the seed from which my dreams will take root and grow.

And when I fail, I allow myself to be one with my disappointment and insecurity. I remember that success is not always about winning and being the best. Sometimes, success is about honoring where I am, nurturing my wounds, and taking time to rest before picking myself up and trying again. 

No matter where I am at, or where I'm trying to go, today is the day I believe in my success.

​Today, I am successful because I refuse to let other people project their fears and limiting ideas onto me. Today, I believe in my own idea of success, and I don't need anyone's approval in order to declare, "I am successful!"

​Even if no one sees it but me, I will value and cherish my success. I will nourish it with my love, and I will guard it from the judgement of others.

And by the end of the day, if I no longer feel successful, if I feel down and defeated, that's okay. This is only for today, and tomorrow will be a new day, full of new opportunities, new people, new ideas, and new energy. I will wake up tomorrow and tell myself, "Yesterday I tried my best. And for that reason, I am successful."

But tomorrow isn't here. There is only now, and so for today, and only for today, I will believe fully in my success.

 
For years, I have found comfort in the phrase "What you seek is seeking you."

It wasn't until recently that I realized that this phrase can be misleading. It does not reflect how the Universe works, or how we work with it. If it did, all people who are seeking a healthy, loving relationship would be in one. All people who seek wealth would be rich.

And yet, there are people who yearn for a healthy, loving relationship and are in one toxic one after another. There are people who cannot break out of debt, despite wanting abundance more than life itself.

Our desire for something absolutely does call that thing to us. But how we feel when we desire it, where our energy is focused - on the lack or the abundance - determines in what form it will show up.

In other words, if you desire a thriving online business, but your energy is focused on debt and failure, you aren't going to attract success to you. It's not what you want that is delivered to you - it's what you are. What you are vibrating with is sent out like rings in a pond. They go out and out and out, find matches, and then flow back. If every fiber of your being is vibrating with fear, then your fear will be mirrored back to you through loss, bad luck, or even bankruptcy.

However, if your inner self is radiating with the joy of creation, then it doesn't matter what's happening in your business - your joy will be reflected back to you. If, in your mind, you feel you've created something wonderful, and you're excited to share it, that excitement will return to you as customers, good reviews, and good luck.

It doesn't matter what's happening (or not happening) because everything is in a constant state of flow and change. If things look grim, don't focus on that. It will simply amplify it and bring it back ten fold. Instead, get into the feeling of, Hell yes, this all worked out and I am the Queen of My Universe! And then walk around like you really are a queen or king, because when you're royalty, you know that energy bends to your will. You don't ever question how or when. You just straighten your crown and think, Thank you. I am so blessed. Thank you thank you thank you.

Rather than telling ourselves, what you seek is seeking you, it would be more true to say what you feel is showing up all around you.

There is nothing wrong with seeking and desiring things. It's what sets the gears in motion to eventually bring that thing to us. Feeling a strong impulse towards something inspires us to act in ways that will align us with our desire. But at some point, you have to let go of seeking it, because the seeking will continue to reinforce it's not there. At some point, you have to declare it's done and prepare for it's arrival. 

You must essentially believe you have it before you have it. You have to trust that all the unseen forces of the Universe are bringing it to you at this very moment. Because when you feel you have it, the rings of energy roll out of you, and everything that vibrates with YES to that will come back to you.

Now put down that fear and pick up your royal scepter. I bow down to your greatness. You got this.