Tag: beginning

Affirm the Positive

You know how you get all warm and fuzzy inside when someone compliments you? A nice feeling. Have you ever stopped to consider that you can tell yourself complimentary things about yourself as well? It’s okay. As a matter of fact – it is necessary for success.

Those statements of self-compliment are positive affirmations, and thousands of successful people use them to shape their minds into accepting the affirmed truth and then acting upon it.

I started using positive affirmations about two months ago. I began simply: three short statements that I recited out loud each morning. I also recited them before bed. I’d sometimes reciting them while driving to and from appointments. They were:

  • I have many financial opportunities.
  • My home is clean and tidy everyday.
  • I am grateful for the many blessings in my life.

Four days later I rewrote them, tweaking the existing affirmations and adding a few more:

  • I take full advantage of the many and profitable financial opportunities that come my way.
  • My home is always clean and tidy and my family helps keep it that way.
  • I am worth the time and effort it takes to make myself and my family healthy and delicious meals.
  • I focus on the tasks that propel me forward towards my goals.
  • I am grateful for the many blessing in my life.

Today I have 16 affirmations, including those above, that I recite every morning, some evenings, and whenever else I choose.

I began to see results immediately. Not all of these statements were “true” when I wrote them (and some still aren’t). But I want them all to be true and feel true. I am grateful for my many blessings, but I didn’t use to take the time to reflect on what those blessings are. Now I do – everyday. I’ve found myself become more gracious and forgiving.

The bane of my existence was the daily questions from my children of “what’s for dinner?” I don’t particularly like to cook (so much time to make – so little appreciation). At the same time I wanted my family to eat healthy meals, but I was often choosing quick, processed foods because it was an easier choice to make. My family deserved better – and so did I. Once I began reciting “I am worth the time and effort it takes to make myself and my family healthy and delicious meals” – I found myself in the kitchen contemplating and preparing something more complex that frozen pizza. Interestingly, my family has started verbally appreciating the new meals; I didn’t even prompt them, and they weren’t aware of my affirmation.

If you don’t already incorporate affirmations – positive affirmations – into your daily life, I encourage you to do so. Start small: three simple, short sentences with action verbs. If when you say it the words just don’t seem quite right – tweak it until it flows easily. Repeat each one three times every morning, out loud. You can also write each affirmation ten times daily if you prefer not to speak aloud.

Here’s a few to get you started:

  • I make healthy eating choices.
  • I have many financial opportunities.
  • I am in a loving and supportive relationship.
  • My home is clean and tidy everyday.
  • I let go of fear and pain. I live in love.
  • I am full of energy and vitality.
  • My mind is calm and peaceful.
  • I am beautiful/handsome.

 

I Like My Sleep

I really do. So it may surprise you to learn that I have given up sleeping in – completely.

It all stems from a podcast I started listening to a few months ago: Achieve Your Goals with Hal Elrod. I had chosen to listen to a few older episodes to get a feel for whether or not I wanted to subscribe to the podcast. In almost every episode Hal mentions his Facebook group, The Miracle Morning Community. So I decided to go check it out. 

It’s a closed group, but your request to join will be accepted. Full of positive people who start their day, not only early, but with a routine that involves self-reflection, exercise, reading, and journaling. I noticed that one of my FB friends was already a member, and I then remembered that she has mentioned her new routine a few times over the last few months – and how it has changed her life.

So I hopped over to Amazon and ordered Hal’s book, The Miracle Morning: The Not-So-Obvious Secret Guaranteed to Transform Your Life (Before 8AM)  [affiliate link] It arrived on a Friday – just in time to trade in my sleep-in even later weekend mornings for a 5:30 a.m. alarm. 

I’m never up at 5:30 a.m. unless I’m traveling and have to be on the road early. What the heck was I thinking?

I spent most of Friday evening devouring the words, especially the chapter on snooze-proofing your morning. I was going to do this, because it would be worth it, in time.

I’ve continued to work on perfecting my daily routine since creating my weekly tracking sheet, but life was often getting in the way. I could barely find time to get the “real work” done let alone find time to read for personal growth, to exercise, or to even breathe slowly. 

While getting up earlier was always a solution, it wasn’t the solution that I was looking for – until I was motivated by Hal and the others from the MM community. It was certainly worth a try.

So that Saturday morning I set my alarm for 5:30 a.m. I don’t think I slept all that well that night, probably wary of how quickly the morning was going to arrive. But one of the keys to getting up early is to affirm before going to bed “I like getting up early.” Upon waking your first thought should be along the lines of “I am rested and ready to start my day.”

I can’t say I jumped out of bed gleefully that morning, but I didn’t hit the snooze button either. I completed the six practices that   lead to achieving your potential. I felt good. Proud of myself for taking the initiative to make a change. I quickly realized that this was how I was going to get in my personal growth reading as well as strengthen my spiritual needs (an area that has been lacking greatly for the last few months). For the first time since I made it, I was able to take time to study my vision board; a practice that should be done daily, but that I never took the time to do. 

I’m happy to report that today was day 26! The first ten days, as Hal described in his book, are “unbearable.” It took a lot of will power to get out of bed – especially since I was traveling and staying up later than usual. The next ten days were indeed “uncomfortable.” More travel yielded later nights (3 hour earlier time difference didn’t help) – but I kept at it. These last few days have been wonderful. 

Getting Started

So the scariest part is just getting started. You have the desire, you see the big picture, you know where you are going. But you find yourself just sitting there: taking deep breaths, feeling the vines of self-doubt tickle your ankles. If you don’t move those vines will entwine your ankles and grab hold. Moving forward will become all that much harder.

So move. Move forward. Perfection is overrated and you can’t get your message out there, or fulfill your purpose if you’re still trying to figure out what colors your website should be.