MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL… I got wrinkles around my eyes and I have a double chin. I LOOK TIRED.
This is how a lot of us feel when we look back at ourselves in the mirror or variations of this. Instead of noticing the positive things about ourselves, are minds flip to the negative - at the ready to create a war in our minds and spiral into self-doubt and anxiety. But what if we can flip this narrative? Instead hear:
MIRROR MIRROR ON THE WALL! My wrinkles are from my smiles and that is beautiful. Who is making things happen, beautiful and just awesome!? THIS ONE!
80%
Research attributed to the the National Science Foundation in 2005 showed that approximately 50-80% of our daily thoughts are negative.
That is right 50-80%!
Why so much? In a nutshell, our minds are busy trying to protect us and keep us safe. But as we well know, that can create self-doubt and anxiety instead.
Science has shown that how we talk to ourselves is connected to how we act and behave. If we think negatively, more negative things happen. If we think positively, more positive things happen.
Now this isn’t about being positive all the time and forgetting hard emotions. Those are important to acknowledge, address and process. But rewiring your mind to focus on more positive thinking will empower you to make things happen that you want in your life.
Enter Affirmations
Waking up my mind was filled with anxious thoughts, buzzing around like angry wasps ready to attack. One day, I grabbed a stack of sticky notes and started to write one positive thing about myself. I placed them next to each other and near the mirror in my room. Every day, I woke up, walked to the mirror, stared straight into my eyes and said each empowering phrase.
Some days I felt better, others I didn’t. But with time and practice, I noticed I was calmer. I felt uplifted. I was smiling more. It was making a difference.
The Ingredients of Affirmations
Each thought can act as a seed which we water and let grow. This is the power of an affirmation - a tool to rewire your mind towards self-worth and confidence by shifting the way you speak to yourself.
There are key ingredients needed to make affirmations work. They are:
No. 1 - Specific
It is important to pick an affirmation specific to a challenge you are dealing with or one related to your situation. You may also have different affirmations for different areas in your life. See the Affirmation Builder below to start making one!
No. 2 - Belief
It is important to say an affirmation until you believe it. If you constantly feel that an affirmation won’t work, it won’t work. I have some cool facts to help with this.
Why Can’t I Just Believe It?!
This is where the mind comes in. We have our conscious mind, subconscious mind and analytical mind (or critical faculty). In future posts, I will go into more detail about this but right now, we will focus on the analytical mind.
Our analytical mind acts like a filter for us - telling us what we believe is or isn't true. The thing is, a lot of this is based on our own internal beliefs and filters that we have. So if your affirmation is "I am enough" and you truly believe you aren’t, the analytical mind can't break the ice to allow the new affirmation into your subconscious mind, where your beliefs live.
How Do I Get Around This?!
Answer: Af-FOR-mations
An afformation is simply changing an affirmation into a question. For example, "I am enough" could become "where have I seen that I am enough before?".
By shifting this to a question, your mind starts to search for and build evidence seeing how you are enough. You are literally building the backing to say "yes I am enough and this is how I know!".
No. 3 - Practice
Bringing your affirmation into your routine is important. It isn’t a quick fix where you say an affirmation one day and everything is better. This takes practice and routine to build into your life. But this is also where it gets fun!
You can write it on sticky notes. You can say it out loud. You can have a reminder on your phone. You can say it when driving to work. You can bring it into your day, however it works for you.
Introducing the Affirmation Builder!
Find a quiet space where you can go through the below questions and consider what affirmation you want to build. Some emotions can come up through this process so just be aware of this and know this is a safe space.
Or if you would prefer to do this process with me, book a Free Discovery Call where we can discuss next steps.
What is a specific challenge you are going through?
Consider something that has been going through your mind a lot. Just let your mind flow and write down what comes up. Then pick the specific challenge you want to focus on.
What is the specific belief you have about yourself in the challenge?
What is a positive thought that could overwrite the negative one?
Is it best as an Affirmation or Afformation?
Choose how you say it to yourself.
Where, how and when will you say it?
There you go - one Affirmation / Afformation built just for you!
What's Next?
A Starting Point
Not sure where to start and want some help?
Here are a few of my personal affirmations you can start with.
Get A Unique Phone Wallpaper
Want to have a unique phone wallpaper of your personal affirmation?
Dive Deeper
Is this the tip of the iceberg but you want support to dive deeper to a challenge?
Click here to book a Free Discovery Call with me today! I would love to speak with you and hear your story.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post, I am excited to see the affirmations you create!
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