Our 5th Chakra is about creativity and self-expression. If you grew up with mixed messages or verbal abuse, had very authoritarian parents, were the subject of excessive criticism or were in a chemical or alcholic dependency family setting, you will probably have issues here and may have found it hard to find your voice. As a survivor of all of that stuff, it is truly possible to overcome the limitations that those types of behaviors can place upon us.

I haven't had those 'voices in my head' for quite some time now. Years back I had even written a song about them and how they controlled me. I think in my own way I was trying to find my way past the voices that were stuck in my head. Some were from childhood, but there were also quite a few that were added as an adult. Mostly because that is how I thought the world was ... for everyone. Color me shocked when I found out it wasn't!

While I think time itself is a great healer, I also believe time alone isn't enough to change base beliefs that we may have. It takes a conscious choice to truly change. My affirmation for the 5th Chakra is "It is safe to speak my mind. Expressing my feelings is safe and healing." When self doubt - from the voices in my head - would creep in, I had to make a real effort to replace all those 'cants' and 'donts' with my affirmation. Some days I would win, other days, the old recordings won. But eventually, I was able to experience a complete change in my thinking. My favorite little friend to carry in my pocket for, yes, years, was a piece of turquoise I had been given on a trip out west. Today, he is still my fave little stone buddy.

For me, using my voice isn't so much about speaking or using my physical voice, it's about letting that voice inside me come out in whatever I am doing. It may be how I choose to decorate my living space, by drawing, creating healing items, any way to let that voice in my head, now filled with joy, comes out into the world.

How do you let your joy and creative spirit have a voice? Do you try to hide it or show it to the world?