"I'm Good Enough, I'm Smart Enough..."

A couple years ago while on my love what's next journey, I ran across an episode of Saturday Night Live.  Do you remember the skit, “Daily Affirmations with Stuart Smalley”? He would sit in front of a mirror and tell himself daily affirmations... “I'm an attractive man", I am fun to be with, I’m entitled to my share of happiness.” Thinking back I remember how funny that skit was.  As silly as it was though, I got to thinking that maybe Stuart Smalley was on to something.  Not so much about staring into a mirror talking to yourself but the part about having daily affirmations.  So on my journey to figure out what I was going to do next, I did a little research to see if there really was anything to this daily affirmation concept. 

DAILY AFFIRMATIONS WORKED FOR THEM, WHY NOT ME THEN?
Affirmations are positive statements that describe a desired situation, and which are repeated many times, in order to impress the subconscious mind and trigger it into positive action. History has shown this to be extremely effective in getting a desired result. People like Henry Ford, Dale Carnegie, Thomas Edison, Alexander Graham Bell, and Woodrow Wilson all used daily affirmations to assist them in achieving incredible feats. So if daily affirmations can assist them in achieving the unimaginable like inventing cars, the light bulb and the telephone, surely daily affirmations can help me uncover "what’s next” and create a life I love.

Our subconscious mind accepts as truth whatever we continue to say to ourselves and eventually attracts corresponding events and situations in our lives. If we tell ourselves negative things all day then we are willing only negative things to happen but if we tell ourselves positive, daily, affirmations our outcome can only be one of joy.  Because we have 12,000 to 60,000 thoughts a day and 80% of them are negative, we really have our work cut out for us to change our natural way of thinking from negative to positive. Can you imagine how different our lives and this world would be, if out of those 60,000 thoughts, 80% were POSITIVE?!  This is a challenge I’ll sign up for all day….wouldn’t YOU? 

TIME,  FOCUS AND FAITH
According to author Napoleon Hill, getting results with daily affirmations depends on several factors, such as the time, focus, faith and feelings you invest in repeating your affirmations, on the strength of your desire, and on how big or small is your goal. Napoleon says, it’s important to understand too, that repeating positive affirmations for a minute, and then thinking negative thoughts all day will only neutralize the effects of your positive words. You have to stop the negative thoughts, if you wish to gain positive results from this exercise.

MENTAL IMAGES
Napoleon Hill also states that in order for this to work, you have to tell yourself positive statements such as “I am getting healthy” versus the negative “I am not unhealthy”.  The negative statement invokes a negative image in the mind not a positive one.  Always affirm in the present tense, not the future tense. Saying “I will be healthy”, means that you intend to be healthy one day, but not now. It is more effective to say and also feel, “I am healthy now", and the subconscious mind will work overtime to make this happen now, in the present. 

HOPES AND DREAMS
Start your day and end with it telling yourself your daily affirmations. What is it you want to will to happen in your life? What are your hopes and dreams that you would like to see become a reality?  I know it takes so much more than telling yourself , “I am______________”, two times a day to achieve success in life, but why wouldn’t you try daily affirmations and give yourself every opportunity to uncover what's next and create a life you love?! 

I AM____________
Here are a few examples of "I AM" statements to help you construct yours:
“I AM physically fit and healthy.”
“I AM an excellent mother, sister and friend.”
“I AM making a difference in the lives of people I meet.”
“I AM taking a vacation every year with my family to some where exotic.” 
“I AM fluent in Spanish.”
“I AM a great painter.”
“I AM loving to others because I show unconditional love to them.”
“I AM grateful for everything I have in my life.” 
“I AM in a loving relationship."
“I AM living the life I have always dreamed of living.” 

Will you try this??? Leave a comment below sharing your “I AM” statement and your commitment to giving this a try.