Ancient lore tells us that theres a magical genie who lives in a lamp and the person who possesses that lamp has the power to invoke wishes and desires beyond our wildest dreams.

If I told you that Genie lives in you, would you believe me? Maybe not.

But if I told you that there was another character who lives in you and complains, whines and was negative about your day to day life as well as your dreams, would you believe me then? Ill bet you would. Because we are all far too familiar with this character whom I call the Gremlin.

The Gremlin is that part of you who keeps your fears, anxieties and doubts alive and well. His entire purpose is to maintain control over you, keeping things status quo even if youre not happy with the status quo.

He believes his purpose is to keep you safe by not allowing you to take risks, speak up for yourself or create changes in your life that you know in your heart need changing. And, he definitely wants to make sure the Genie doesn't make an appearance. Because once the Genie shows up, the Gremlin knows he's no longer in charge.

For way too many years I lived with the Gremlin as the one in charge until I learned how to quiet him enough to awaken my Genie Within making him my full time partner and only allowing my Gremlin to visit occasionally.

Now you may ask, Why allow the Gremlin to visit even occasionally? Because its important to realize your Gremlin will always be there. Youre human and its only natural to have both negative and positive thoughts show up throughout your life. But the trick is, to be aware of your Gremlin when hes around so you can consciously quiet him enough to allow yourself to feel a little bit better about a situation and give the Genie Within the chance to come to the surface and help you find better solutions, ask different questions and attract into your life more of what you do want, not what you don't want. Which, by the way, is what the Gremlin does. Attracts what you don't want.

To get you started in shifting from your Gremlin thinking to your Genie thinking Id like to share with you 5 Tips To Quiet Your Gremlin and 5 questions to Awaken your Genie Within.

1. Let your Gremlin be when he starts up with you. Focus more on your body and see where hes showing up in your body. Does your head hurt? Is your neck stiff? Is your stomach in a knot? Breathe into those areas until you feel some relief.

2. Give your Gremlin permission to rant and rave for a bit. Dont judge him, dont panic over whats being said or resist anything. Just let it be. Allow all the Gremlins ranting to pour out. Sit back and enjoy it for a change. Put a smile on your face as you listen calmly. Separate yourself from that Gremlin whos doing all the whining and complaining.

3. Ask him questions. Get as intimate as you can with him. Find out what sets him off. Then give him answers as if you were talking to a four year old trying to calm him/her of the dark before falling asleep.

4. Pick a name for your Gremlin and talk to him out loud. Using his name, tell him everything is going to be fine and he can take a rest for now. Keep talking to him until hes less noisy. Talking out loud will create a shift inside of you that wont happen when you just think about the conversation. By the way, my Gremlins name is Gertrude.

5. Be gentle with your Gremlin. Visualize your arm around him, soothing him, comforting him, allowing him to rest his head on your shoulder. Remember, hes scared, he doesnt want you to fall down and he believes hes doing whats best for you.

Once your Gremlin is under your control this is when you want to connect with the Genie within. Your Genie is that part of you that creates comments, ideas and questions that allow you to feel like your moving forward instead of being stuck. Hell have you feeling better about yourself overall.

5 Genie Questions

1. Whats working in my life for me?
2. Whats my intention in this moment?
3. What wants to be born from this?
4. What would be my best choice at this time?
5. What can I do for myself right now to feel a little bit better?