Inspiration
Affirmations
…are chosen words said over and over until they become embedded in the mind as a belief system.
For example, I am patient and calm, or I have boundless energy and vibrant health, or my life is really working well now. We don’t have to believe the words initially as the mind picks them up and believes them after enough repetitions. We are not limited by our present reality.
It’s called ‘recanalising’ the brain, making new thought pathways. You might think of it like cows going to milking who always tread the same paths – change the milking shed and they make new pathways to get to the new shed.
Why Use Affirmations?
Close your eyes. Become these words – narrow, small, tiny. Feel, see or hear them in your body. Let them go.
Now become these words – open, big, free, spacious. Feel, see or hear those in your body. Which ones do you prefer?
Words are real forces. Every one affects our body and mind immediately.
Keys for affirmations
- The shorter the affirmation, the better.
- Using your imagination to add emotions like excitement and expectation of good outcomes really magnifies the result.
- Use only positive language, present tense and ‘I’.
- First thing in the morning is great as it programs the mind for the day.
- Putting the affirmations into poetry or singing them adds strength.
- Saying ‘I choose’, first, gives powerful intention.
‘Self-talk is the preview of the rest of your life. Only you know what you are saying to yourself, but the results are seen by others.’ Dr Craig Gilberd
Tasks: Create an affirmation or a quote that inspires you, touches your heart or is something to work towards.
Have one or two extras ready to work on.
Choose powerful words that make you feel good. Powerful words can change your life in a heartbeat.
Tasks: Write your choice out 100 times each day for 21 days, or repeat it at every meal, or put it on a card and read it with focus in the mornings to create a new habit of thinking. For Example,
This is easy!
It’s all good
I move with grace and ease
I am healthier every day and so alive!
I live in gentle calm
I have unique gifts to give
I am loved and loveable
I am the master of my own destiny
I am so courageous/strong/ abundant/loved/loving/healthy etc
Use my go-to affirmations if you would like:
I’ve got this!
Strong Body, Strong Mind, Strong Life
It’s showtime!
My life is Light, Easy (means ‘flowing’ to me) and Joyful
Thank you for my miracles in this day
All is well; all is very well
I Let the Light Lead and I do the work
My husband, Dr John Hinwood, was a master of action and positivity, and affirmations were a major tool for him. Every morning he read this card – actually he recited it as he knew the words thoroughly – and he lived them. This list took him many years to refine, and I show it to you as an example of what can be achieved.
Words, thoughts and emotions are real forces, Life enhancing or Life depleting.
We change the Input to our minds … We change the Output to our bodies and lives
For example, rather than thinking of stress as only a bad thing, we can think of stress as being ‘solution time’, a useful energy that carries us forward. Instead of being busy or flustered, we can be ‘happily occupied’, a much more productive and healthy state of being. Whatever we fear can become a ‘challenge’ instead.
If we can’t change a situation, we can change our perception of it, how we think about it, to move forward – or nothing can change.
‘Scientists say our thought signals seem to move faster than the speed of light and in ways that classical physics cannot explain.’ – Dr Caroline Leaf
Bob Richards won two Olympic Gold Medals in the pole-vault despite being told he was too short, and it was impossible for him to succeed.
‘Research shows you need a 5:1 ratio of positive thoughts to negative thoughts.’ – Dr Mark Waldman, neuroscientist
We came into this world with negativity as our mind’s default setting, eons ago, for self- preservation; we had to be wary and questioning to stay alive.
So, how do we do this ‘relentless positivity’?
1.Catch your thoughts, words, and emotions.
Watch and be the objective observer.
Those judgements can catch us out, like I’m too fat or too thin, too old or too young, too busy, too… Watch for words like I haven’t enough…, I can’t…, I/you should…, I’m not…, you’re not…
‘Thou shouldst not should on thyself’ is a life enhancing principle given to me years ago.
By catching and stopping the negativities we stop toxic, depressive thoughts being wired into the brain.
2. Change Your Words, Change Your World.
No two objects can occupy the same space at the same time – why NOT choose words, thoughts and emotions that make us feel good and healthy?
Replace the harsh words with helpful opposite words like I’m terrific as I am, I am plenty, I am clever, brave, fast, focussed, energetic, calm etc. This tool is immediate in its action.
3. The Release tool
Say ‘I release, let go and move on’.
Move whatever stress you have out your feet or breath. Just let it go.
You have done the best you could at the time. That has to be enough – it is enough – in fact, it is plenty.
4. Take an hour (or 15 minutes?) to observe yourself
Watch every thought, word and emotion and write down every negative. Then replace these with something useful, tear the pages into tiny pieces and release them and the contents.
This can amaze. We sometimes have no idea of what is happening with us habitually.
Repeat the exercise every day for a month at least because practice makes permanent. Or you could do it for a challenging 24-hour session, say each month
Key: Cancel, find the positive and release the negative.
This can be a really productive prevention tool as, with awareness, thoughts and words can be anticipated and framed positively before they are spoken or thought, and emotions monitored.
It can take quite a time for these tools to become habits as we have lived one way for so long, however, the benefits are brilliant. I can’t stress enough how vital this tool is to mentally organise ourselves. ‘It’s kind of like you are your own brain surgeon’ as Dr Caroline Leaf says.
Also, ‘Research shows that the most effective way to produce localized and specific changes to the brain is behavioural or mental intervention. If the brain can get worse by constantly focusing on a problem, then the brain can get better by understanding how to eliminate and replace the problem.
This is the key to switching on our brains. Plus, the fact that new baby nerve cells have been born while you were sleeping (‘neurogenesis’) and are at your disposal to be used in tearing down toxic thoughts and rebuilding new ones.’
Reference: ‘SWITCH ON YOUR BRAIN the Key to Peak Happiness, Thinking and Health’
Dr Caroline Leaf, Neuroscientist