The moment you’ve been waiting for. Drum roll please…The “A” of the ACTION plan stands for AFFIRMATIONS. It also stands for afformations. I will get into the differences between the two in a subsequent blog post and what makes each of these uniquely so important in becoming unstuck in your life today.
Affirmations are statements you repeat to yourself, preferably at the beginning of the day, before your day even starts, but also periodically throughout your day. These are statements that serve as reminders that, overall, “You got this!” It is a statement that, although you may not believe it when you first start saying it to yourself, you still say it. The premise behind an affirmation is that you essentially “fake it until you make it.” Or, in this case, “fake it until you believe it.” With affirmation, you are releasing a limiting belief and replacing it with a more empowering belief. It is a declaration that you are not going to lay down and simply let life happen to you. You will stand up and get the job done no matter what. And when life gets tough, it is that much more important that you continue to repeat these affirmations to yourself, even louder!
Many of us have limiting beliefs about ourselves. What negative belief did you have about or towards yourself this morning, before even leaving the house? Rather, I should ask, how many? Numerous, I’m sure! For instance, in writing these blog posts as part of the ACTION Plan book, there was a part of my negative self-talk that doubted whether all this material would even make a long enough book, let alone a decent or educational-enough book. But then, through affirmations and other means, I was able to come to the conclusion that the information contained within these posts and the book is bigger than me; it is about spreading knowledge and wisdom to everyone else. My affirmation is that “I vow to write this blog/book for the world, thus sharing what I have learned in hopes that it will reach countless people.” Another affirmation was that “I release the limiting belief that what I have to share isn’t worthy enough. I have the information, education, and personal and professional examples I can access that would make it easy to share this word. So therefore, from this point forward, I am maintaining the unwavering belief that I am an excellent writer and healer and it’s continuing to get better every day.”
I actually got the format of the above affirmation from Hal Elrod in his book, The Miracle Morning. Honestly, this book is a game changer! If you have a chance to ever read it, do yourself a favor and do it. Then apply it. You owe it to yourself and the world. It is filled with nuggets of wisdom and ways to shape and create your future where you have, or take back, control over that which has felt out of control. This is primarily done before 8am. And truth be told, I probably wouldn’t have been so regimented and disciplined about writing the ACTION Plan book had it not been for the guidance and template found within The Miracle Morning. The ideas would have remained floating around my head within the gray matter, so thank you Hal for the structure and push you gave!
This all reminds me of a documentary I watched recently on PBS where there was a family who wanted to instill certain thoughts, beliefs and values in their 5-year-old. They spoke about practicing affirmations on a daily basis. Theirs for their son were “I am smart,” “I am intelligent,” “I am kind,” “I am a good friend,” “I am loved,” as well as some others. It was clear that their son believed this, as he appeared to be a self-confident young man; and that the parents believed this with all their heart. Their motivation to engage in these daily affirmations was to counter the thought process of what others (e.g., society as a whole, law enforcement) may say or think about him as a brown child, especially as he gets older. If those thoughts, feelings, and beliefs are already deeply entrenched, it will be hard for those to be broken as time goes on. What an empowering story of affirmations! I can’t wait to see how this young man turns out in the future.
So there you have it. The first “A” in the ACTION plan. Don’t delay, get to practicing now. What kinds of powerful Affirmations will you choose for yourself today? Today, you choose to start powerfully affirming yourself, and your power of affirmation gets stronger and stronger every day!
*Note, if you want an app that helps with Affirmations, Insight Timer (I will be referencing this app often) is a powerful tool where you can listen to meditations with affirmations.