Affirmations
I've been told that if you change your mind, you change the world — or at least the way you experience it. Let's take a moment to examine that. The presumption is, if you thought the world was a hostile, ugly place filled with awful people doing awful things, that is what you'd see. Your mind would naturally seek out confirmation for its preconceived ideas (e.g., if you're intent on buying a red car, as you go about your day you'll see lots of red cars). If, however, you were able to sincerely change your mind and see that we are all God in disguise, that we are the conscious aspects of a perfect universe which had to create us so we could bear witness and stand in awe before its loving magnificence, then that is the soul-shaking reality you'd be greeted with each and every moment of each and every day. In other words, it is entirely our choice as to what kind of world we live in. With a simple decision, we can suffer in the darkness or play in the light. We can be angry, frightened and enslaved, or loving, joyous and free.
I know. It's a toughie.
Affirmations are the #1 Tool that I use every single day to correct and guard over my critical “Internal Dialogue” or ID. If you recall, I referred to someone’s negative ID earlier in the Mission Statement as your “Shitty Committee” (i.e. your inner monologue’s self-critic).
Do you know what the most exciting thing is about what you’re reading here? If you didn’t know how much power your Internal Dialogue holds over your everyday life, then this day will be a critical turning point for you.
Let's start with an example. I once asked someone, “What is the first thought that crosses your mind the second your eyes open in the morning?”
“I am alone again”, she said.
OUCH??!!!??!!
Translation: She starts each day off in sorrow and despair.
So when I say your ID, I am referring to the mental chatter going on inside your head every minute of the day. I suspect for the great majority of the human race, too much of our ID is negative and if you bring about what you think about, then we need to reprogram this ASAP.
Our minds “believe” and accept as fact, the critical ID going on in our own heads. A great analogy is the appraisal guy who comes to see how much your house is really worth before you sell it. His job, having been hired by the would-be-buyers is to knock down the dollar amount you want for the sale of your home by telling everyone involved what is wrong with your house.
“You got termites in the fence.”
“The pump to the pool is leaking.”
“Water leaked down the wall from the water heater here.”
“This window is fogging up around the edges because it’s not weatherproofed correctly.”
$$$down…..$$$down……$$$down…..comes the dollar amount you thought you WERE trying to get!
Now that same dude, the appraiser, is like the mental chatter running rounds in your head all day long.
“I suck.”
“I am a loser.”
“I will always be alone.”
“I am going to f**K up that speech at work.”
“God hates me.”
“My children think I am a terrible mother.”
“No one will ever love me.”
Have you ever noticed that the appraiser just happens to have the same voice as you?
Your internal dialogue holds great power over your life, far more than you have ever suspected. Correcting the critical statements that we tell ourselves is the foundation of cognitive therapy (see Dr. David Burns Book: Feeling Good). If you bring about what you think about, you cannot speak negative self-talk into your universe.
Think of yourself as a farmer and your mind is your crop. What seeds will you plant?
Seed1: I am not good enough.
Seed2: I am doomed to fail.
Seed3: I am not going to get promoted.
Seed4: I am going to fail that test.
Seed5: My family thinks I am crazy.
Seed6: No one likes me.
Don’t be surprised when your reality reflects the very seeds you chose to plant.
The good news is that it works both ways. Your subconscious mind is also equipped to reflect into your life the positive mental chatter as well. Your mind will return what you plant. It doesn’t care whether you plant negative or positive seeds. I want to plant the positive seedlings and I use Affirmations to do this. So, Affirmations are “positive statements” that our subconscious minds can accept as “Truth”. Your Life will reflect that Truth.
Start watering, nurturing and cultivating a different Life from seeds like:
Seed 1: I am enough.
Seed 2: I am happy.
Seed 3: I am going to find the Love of my Life.
Seed 4: I am so happy and grateful that my boss appreciates me.
Seed 5: I am so happy and grateful that my children are happy and strong.
Seed 6: I am so happy and grateful that I believe in myself.
In addition, I want you also to add this phrase to your everyday Affirmation list.
“It’s on the way!” (got this idea from Dr. Wayne Dyer)
Instead of thinking, “I am never going to get that promotion” or “I am never going to find the Love of my Life," replace those negative seeds with, “It’s on the way!”
Anything you really want but catch yourself thinking that it’s NOT happening for me, replace with “It's on the way!”
Our “subconscious” mind does not know the difference between the past and our future. It thinks everything passing through it, is Here and Now. It just reacts as if it's truth. The Reticular Activating System (RAS) is part of brain that processes your thoughts from words that get repeated over time as part of our identity. It doesn’t care whether the thoughts are positive or negative. That is why it is so important to state the Affirmation positively and in the present tense as if it were already true. This is not a wish where you are asking for something. Basically, you’re stating that your wish has already been granted. “I am so happy and grateful that I am healthy and energetic” is stated in the positive both Here today and Now at this moment. It gets received as a command by your subconscious mind which carries out the order as an obedient, loyal soldier. Thinking through this logically also means that all thoughts and words—everything that we repeatedly say to ourselves or think--is an Affirmation. This includes a slip of the tongue, so be wary. Do not speak negative self-talk into your Universe.
(Power Thoughts Meditation Club)
My personal Affirmation game plan
First open up the notepad on your phone and make a list of as many Affirmations as you can.
They can be anything.
What you want for yourself, the life you want for your children, wishes towards your fellow man, wishes for your country and the political climate, changes in the weather,
your job, romantic relationship wishes, etc.
My list is about 20 minutes long.
Now you have to write these sentences as if what it is that you are wishing for has already happened and I start each Affirmation with the words, “I am so happy and grateful…”
I am so happy and grateful that my parents are happy.
I am so happy and grateful that Ellie passes her drivers test.
I am so happy and grateful that Ted (referring to the neighbor) survives heart surgery and lives many long happy years.
I am so happy and grateful that the weather is beautiful during our vacation.
There is a very specific reason I start each sentence with, “I Am”. (curious who can figure this part out)
When you have your list ready, then you can set reminders on your phone for certain parts of the day that you have free to go over them. My phone pings me with multiple reminders throughout the day to watch my ID/Internal Dialogue.
Do this every day.
Now I am a very busy person. My list eventually got so big that I couldn’t figure out where to fit it in and I personally think it’s very important to start each day with your Affirmations.
I figured it out. Even better the twist I put on it was this… on the iPhone there is a voice memo function for recording and I recorded my Affirmations. So, the first thing that happens each day for me when that alarm clock goes off at 5:40 a.m., is that I reach for my phone and hit play. Then I start hearing my voice stating my Affirmations out loud. My first move is to go make coffee and I carry my phone with me listening to my Affirmations. Next I go to the shower with my little waterproof boombox speaker and I turn it on. It’s connected by Bluetooth to my phone, so my Affirmations now start barking a little louder as I take that speaker into the shower with me. I do this because I noticed that I usually start waking up with those first thoughts the second the water hits me.
Another thing I do. There is an app called “text now” and it’s free. The app function will give you a new phone number instantly for texting purposes.
You can actually text yourself!
I use this as a tool when I’m really struggling and I will write to myself. I will do battle with myself through texting. The negative vs. the positive thoughts back and forth like two people arguing.
I have more than four years of dialogue going back-and-forth with in that ID text chain. It’s actually really cool and ends up being a very intimate diary. The downside is that if I were to die in an accident and someone were to find the app and figure out that I was actually texting myself?? They would probably determine this guy was bat shit crazy lol.
You really need to start today with this game plan because correcting your internal dialogue takes years. We have done too much negative programming to ourselves since we were very little.
Using this tool will help you get so much better at your ID and has made me much happier. Eventually you will get so good at it that you’ll start catching yourself in the middle of one of those negative sentences and STOP before you complete that sentence. That is progress!!!
Example:
“I am such a dumb a_s”
Over time becomes…
“I am such a.....”
(you stop in mid-sentence and you do not complete that thought)
You do not have to believe the Affirmation. However, it does become really exciting when you start seeing your Affirmations comes to life. Not all of them will though, but to this we say?
It’s on the way!
Dr. Joe Dispenza said there was research out there that shows that 90% of our thoughts are the same thoughts as the day before. (video)
I have reflected deeply on this and with me it’s true. Pay attention to your own Internal Dialogue and know the truth.
I believe for those of you who choose to skip this exercise that you will find that your life will remain the same and there is something blocking you.
Additional Affirmation Information, Explanations and more on the “How to”:
https://www.dailyom.com/cgi-bin/display/articledisplay.cgi?aid=34834
http://powerthoughtsmeditationclub.com/what-are-affirmations/
https://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/affirmations.htm
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