Do you remember The Secret by Rhonda Byrnes from a few years back? The idea that you could visualize something amazing (or to be fair, bad) into existence by your mere thoughts was a powerful, enticing notion. It was A Field of Dreams come to life! Some bought into the hype; others did not. I fell into the middle because I do believe to a certain extent that what we choose to focus on — abundance or lack — is what we simultaneously create in our lives. In other words, we see what we expect to see.
The Glass Half Full or Empty Life
We all see life through the lens of our life experiences. And how we respond to even similar life experiences differs from person-to-person. But we all have a choice in how we respond, which I’ve been thinking about a lot lately.
Normally, I consider myself to be a glass half-full person, even though I don’t believe you can ask the universe for a million dollars and tomorrow morning find a million dollars in your living room. It would be nice but unlikely. 😀 However, I do believe that my attitude, which fuels my actions and beliefs, can help me live an abundant life, whether or not I ever have a million dollars.
But lately I’ve been a half-empty (or all empty) kind-of-gal. And my life has been empty and unsatisfactory to match my attitude.
Daily Affirmations to the Rescue
As I mentioned in Monday’s post, I am working on rewiring my brain, which is tuned to negativity. To fear. To scarcity. It’s holding me back and that needs to stop. One way I work through these emotions is through writing. Some things I share on the blog, while some things are for my eyes only, but writing helps me unlock my hidden fears. The other way I shift my mindset is through daily affirmations.
Some of you may consider them to be a bunch of new age hooey but I don’t. I also don’t consider them to be magic spells either. My goal is to see how I feel when saying them. Do I believe what I say? My body will let me know by how it responds. Do I tense up? Cringe? Roll my eyes? Or do I smile? Feel hopeful? I want to know which affirmations make me expand and which ones make me contract because now I know where any resistance exists.
A Few of My Favorite Affirmations
I firmly believe that an affirmation must ring true to you. Some I wrote myself and some I “borrowed” or tweaked from others. Feel free to borrow or tweak to suit your purposes.
- My body is getting stronger, slimmer and healthier every day.
- Abundance is my natural state. Money comes easily and effortlessly to me.
- I let go of all fear and doubt, and life becomes simple and easy for me.
- Today I embrace the memory of my past and feel grateful for all that life has given me. I acknowledge that I did the best I could at the time and now release old wounds and regrets. I clear my future road ahead for miracles and happy surprises.
- I trust that everything in my life is working for my highest good.
- I am whole and complete.
- I am rich with opportunities to achieve my goals.
- I attract the right people and circumstances that are for my highest good.
- I have great clarity as to what I want and take steps to ensure I obtain my goals with ease.
- I let go of all fear, doubt and negativity that blocks my success and embrace my many talents and skills.
- I am happy.
I am healthy.
I am wealthy.
I am secure.
I am worthy.
I am blessed.
I am grateful.
I am beautiful.
I am confident.
I am decisive.
I am mentally strong.
I am creative.
I am calm.
I am loved.
I am excited about today.
These are few of the affirmations I say daily. And I do say them out loud.
A Good Life for Me and You is Within Reach
I want a happy, fulfilling life and imagine you want the same for yourself. And the person most often standing in our way is ourself. And that’s annoying and frustrating but also really, really good news. Because we have the power to get out of our own way too. To let go of half-empty mindsets and embrace our worth. To go forth and claim our good life. Like all good lives, there will be highs and lows, twists and turns and those peaks and valleys are what make our lives good. Because a flat, mundane existence, where we cower in fear of our own shadows and watch life roar past us, is a bad life.
Ask me how I know this.
Do you believe in affirmations? Why or why not? Please share your favorite affirmation if you have one!
Tanya
everyone has their way of navigating this complicated thing we call life and if affirmations is what helps you, then do them daily!
I’ve always lived by this rule: I will always have a choice in any situation – either I let it control me or I control it and I always choose the latter. By knowing that I have control of a situation, then I have the power to make a change.
Great post! I’ve been trying to do the same thing and like you with the secret, I’m in the middle. I used to think, “oh just because I’m afraid of flying doesn’t mean the plane is going to crash!” But at the same time, I also wasn’t able to enjoy flying either. So just letting go and knowing what is is meant to be in that moment is OK. Know what I mean? Same thing with my mindset. I have gotten in this bad habit of focusing on my age and wondering how the hell I’ll ever attract anyone and it’s over for me. When that is totally ridiculous but I need to stop bringing it up in conversations because now people WILL look at me as older! Small shifts!
I know exactly what you mean, Tonya. I, too, tend to focus on the negative lately, so that’s what I see. And I make myself doubt my abilities and so on. It is small shifts and for me paying attention to my inner dialogue is so important because it can be a real bully!
I need to print these out & tape to my mirror for every morning to read.
I think positive thinking is SO VITAL to feeling so much better in life.
Positive thinking is absolutely vital to feeling good. When I get into a negative space long-term, it has such a downer effect on me and it’s such an unhappy place to be. It’s easy to fall into that trap where we get into that negative mindset but everyone has so many blessings. And I can choose where I focus my attention and these affirmations help, especially when I’m having a bad day.
My sister-in-law is a big believer in daily affirmations. I’ve never given the practice much thought, but seeing as we often think things to ourselves over and over and begin to believe it, I can see how saying affirmations daily could alter and enhance one’s way of thinking, too!
We do our tell ourselves things over-and-over subconsciously, which is one reason I say affirmations. I’ve learned the hard way that my subconscious thoughts tend to be really, really hard on me, so this is one way I try to break up that train of thought.
I never read The Secret, but I know a lot of people liked it. I don’t have any daily affirmations that I use, although I LOVE all the ones you have listed 🙂
The only sort-of affirmation I use when I am upset and/or stressed and/or anxious, is “This too shall pass”. I don’t know why it helps me, but it does!
“This too shall pass” is a good mantra to have! I go on and off affirmations but I’ve been trying to make a real conscious effort to say them daily because my anxiety has been high lately, which affects so much of my life. I know you can relate, although I wish you couldn’t. 😀