I’ve just added this post to Diana’s Scale Junkie Healthy You Challenge linky after a long hiatus!

Affirmation Monday is a new initiative from Transformational Diaries. Readers of this blog will be well aware of my penchant for viewing things through eyes that can be said to be ‘alternative’ or ‘new age’ by some.  I just love to try and find the positives in life and I struggle when I allow myself to be sucked into this cycle of stress, poor eating and poor habits.  It is then that my positive nature has to work so much harder.  It’s still there, but I do tend to feel battered from within.

So, each Monday, for my own benefit,  I am going to choose something to focus on for the coming week.  I will then write it in the form of a positive affirmation and this will be my mantra for the week.  I’ll put it on my screen-saver, on my phone, on a card in my pocket, on the bathroom mirror …. anywhere I can think of to prompt myself.

Affirmation 101

An affirmation is a positive statement of intent, written in the present tense, and designed to help shift our energy in more positive ways.  It focuses on what you want, not what you don’t want.

For example, an affirmation that says “I am not going to be a doormat for people any longer” puts an emphasis on being “a doormat” and is actually the trait you are trying to overcome. It also seems future oriented in the ‘going to be’ part of the statement.  Instead, the affirmation could be reworded to be something like “I set my boundaries and people respect them”.  The focus shifts to what you want to have happen, rather than what you want to overcome.  It’s subtle at times, but there is a difference.

Using words like “I will” also have no place in a positive affirmation.  They are future focused and have the power to hold us back from what we want to create for ourselves now.  For example, an affirmation that says “I will be rich one day” can keep you in a ‘lack’ space, whereas an affirmation that says “Abundance comes to me in many different ways” opens doors to opportunities and is expansive.

My personal experience with affirmations has evolved over the years. Initially I just couldn’t say the bloody things and believe them.  I mean, here I am, 30Kg overweight and I am to look in the mirror and say “I am thin and healthy”.  I mean, come on!  And that, my friends, is when affirmations don’t tend to work ….. when you shut off their power because you don’t believe them.

Strategies to Help Believe Positive Affirmations

How the affirmation feels when you say it is what is important. If you’ve followed the rules for writing an affirmation (positive statement of what you want in the present tense) and it feels like a load of baloney, then look at the strategies below to see if they help.

1.  Write them in the form of “I am in the process of …..”.  That acknowledges that you’re working towards the goal, one step at a time.  So, the above affirmation I could be reworded to “I am in the process of creating a healthy and thin body”.  That feels different and doesn’t feel like a lie.

2.  Write them in the third person – “Catherine is thin and healthy” doesn’t create the same negative chatter in me and feels like it is coming from outside of me.  Once my comfort levels increase with the subject of the affirmation, I change the affirmation to second person (Catherine, you are thin and healthy) where it sounds like a statement someone is saying to me in recognition of my efforts, or if I’m ready, to first person (I am thin and healthy).

Affirmation for Monday 9th May

Look, I hummed and haa-ed before settling on the affirmation below.  Initially I went for one regarding healthy choices, but then decided that the one I’ve chosen is almost like the umbrella affirmation that for me always needs to be worked on.

“I love myself the way I am”

If I need it to be written in another way to help with any resistance I feel, here are some adjustments as an example:

“Catherine loves herself the way she is”

“Catherine, you love yourself the way you are”

“Each day I am better at loving myself the way I am”

“I am in the process of loving myself the way I am”

There are a heap of variations just on this one positive affirmation.

If this blog post talks to you, suggest a variation of the affirmation above in the comments section or come up with your own for the week.

Footnote:  The image above is from www.photobucket.com