Lyrics & Story Behind Song #2: “Repeat After Me”
“Now we’re all that we were meant to be, fully fledged and flying free to soar!”
All of the songs on my “I AM MADE NEW” album came out of “consciousness” work done over the period from August 2017 to August 2019 at Faith in Wellness Retreat Center. This work involved practicing a variety of tools for expanding conscious awareness. They included: eye readings; decrees; integrated breath work; energetic body work; awareness of language codes; awareness of body signals; attention to deep feeling; and more. Each song on the album grew out of my experiences with one or more of these tools.
“Repeat After Me” was my decree song. What I particularly loved about the decrees that came from my first eye reading, was how specifically targeted they were. The ones that arose during my session were exactly what I required to rewire programming around low self-esteem. For example, my old belief of “I’M NOT WORTHY”, was replaced with “I REMEMBER MY WORTH” and “I REMEMBER MY VALUE TO LIFE”. Repeating these over several weeks produced shifts I could feel viscerally. Daily repetitions aligned my head and heart as I began to believe and embody what I was decreeing. These simple, direct, first person “I AM” statements landed in deep feeling with enough power to shift my reality. The more I repeated them, the stronger they became. By the time I’d completed my second eye reading, I had pages of conscious statements I was repeating, often while looking at myself in a mirror. Finally, I decided to put them to music so they would sink in even deeper—and the song “Repeat After Me” was born.
If I had been fortunate enough to be raised by perfect parents (and they had been blessed with perfect parents, and their parents had been perfect…you get the idea)—the subconscious programming our lineage inherited might have included beautiful belief statements like:
I AM WORTHY. I AM LOVED. I AM PERFECT. I BELONG. I AM SUPPORTED. I AM SACRED.
I would probably still love studying consciousness, but likely I wouldn’t be writing songs about reclaiming self-esteem at this stage of my life. The good news is, if you perceived your childhood experiences as less than perfect, you have a wealth of untapped gold to mine. Awareness empowers new choice. Every time I sing “Repeat After Me” I am reminded that I create my reality with every word I speak. Whatever I have seen in the past as wounded, I can choose to re-imagine as healed. Whatever I suppressed into shadow, I can bring to light. Moment to moment, I have new choice about what I own, energize and decree into existence.
Anyone familiar with new age thought knows decrees and affirmations are not “new” tools for shifting consciousness. The principles behind why they work are tried and true. What I didn’t always appreciate until now, was the importance of exactly how affirmations are worded, and the powerful role imagination and deep feeling play in their effectiveness.
In the 70’s, Helen Schucman and William Thetford, published A Course in Miracles (ACIM). I was one of thousands of readers who studied ACIM daily meditations to reprogram my understanding of what was real in consciousness and what was illusion. In 1984 Louise Hay published her book You Can Heal Your Life. Again, I was one of the readers using her affirmations to understand subconscious underlying causes of illness. Similarly, Rhonda Byrne’s book The Secret taught readers how to use the energy of words and thoughts to draw to them what they chose to manifest. In short, variations on this tool range from the “law of attraction”, to the “power of positive thinking”, and everything in between. However, not all affirmations are created equal. Repeating an affirmation “wish list” from the energy of “lack, need, or want” actually perpetuates lack. Similarly, repeating by rote something you don’t believe, own or feel, also does not work. At best it dissipates energy, spinning a mental hamster wheel. At worst, it reinforces denial, keeping what you don’t want in place.
Whatever we focus on we attract. We’ve all heard the joke, “DON’T think of a pink elephant!” Since our subconscious ignores “don’t”, a pink elephant immediately appears on our mental screen. Similarly, if I feel hate, I will never shift it by decreeing I am “against” hate. Staring through the lens of a problem, instead of the solution, guarantees I keep seeing the problem. So ensure whatever you are decreeing is the outcome you desire to create (I SEE ONLY LOVE), not something you choose to avoid!
The stronger the feeling, the more stored power. We’ve all met people with a chip on their shoulder. That huge charge of anger and blame is a store of useful energy--IF we know how to shift it to power its opposites of forgiveness and authorship. I had been taught “negative” emotions had no value. Suppress them! Now I was being told every feeling contained gold. I could invite anger, fear and shame to sit at my table. I could encourage hate to get bigger! The bigger hate got, the more momentum it offered for returning to balance. In other words, pulling back the bow all the way on hate, increased my potential for a gloriously equal return on big love!
Our subconscious loves repetition. Any parent who has reread the bedtime story Goodnight Moon to their toddler a thousand times knows this. Our subconscious feeling world is at the level of a three-year-old. It loves running familiar, comforting patterns that helped it survive as a child—no matter how dysfunctional they may seem in adulthood. Those old belief systems keep running until we create new instructions. The question is, what is your self-talk creating? Do you choose to settle for survival or consciously decree in support of your thriving life?
LYRICS: Repeat After Me
Verse 1: I am WORTHY. (I am WORTHY.) I’m ENOUGH. (I’m ENOUGH).
I am PRECIOUS. (I am PRECIOUS.) I am LOVED. (I am LOVED.)
I’m ESSENTIAL, (I’m ESSENTIAL,) WHOLE & PERFECT, (WHOLE & PERFECT,)
& deserving… (& deserving…) of JOY! (of JOY!)
I’m FORGIVEN. (I’m FORGIVEN). I’m UNIQUE. (I’m UNIQUE.)
There is no one (There is no one) Just like me. (Just like me.)
I’m supported (I’m supported) As I bloom. (As I bloom.)
I have room (I have room) To BE… (To BE)…
CHORUS: All that I was born to be, fully fledged and flying free to so-o-ar…to soar.
Verse 2: I was WOUNDED. (I was WOUNDED.) Now I’m HEALED. (Now I’m HEALED.)
Just a SHADOW; (Just a SHADOW;) Now I’m REAL. (Now I’m REAL.)
There is no price (There is no price) Love won’t pay (Love won’t pay)
Once your heart knows (Once your heart knows) The way… (the way…) to be
CHORUS: All that you were born to be, fully fledged and flying free to so-o-ar…to soar.
BRIDGE: Just begin from where you are, shining like a wishing star.
You are heard. You are seen, fully conscious, free to dream.
Just remember WHY you’re here. Reclaim power from your fear.
You’re safe. It’s crystal clear. None can stop you now—from being
CHORUS: All that you were born to be, fully fledged and flying free to so-o-ar…To soar.
Verse 3: Were you EMPTY? (Were you EMPTY?) Now you’re FILLED. (Now you’re FILLED.)
Didn’t matter? (Didn’t matter?) Now you will. (Now you will.)
You are SACRED. (You are SACRED.) You are STRONG. (You are STRONG.)
You are CHERISHED. (You are CHERISHED). You BELONG. (You BELONG.)
Do you SEE me? (Do you SEE me?) I see YOU. (I see YOU.)
So AUTHENTIC. (So AUTHENTIC.) Made new. (Made new.)
We’re EMPOWERED. (We’re EMPOWERED.) And REBORN. (And REBORN.)
There is nothing (There is nothing) We can’t do… (We can’t do…) Now we’re
CHORUS: All that we were born to be, fully fledged and flying free to so-o-ar…soar.
Just keep, keep on soaring.
© 2019 Ann S. Bugh