Change Your Thoughts, Change Your Life
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People may think affirmations are woo-woo or awkwardly positive, but in fact, you are affirming all the time. Anything that you tell yourself on a regular basis, is an affirmation.
Affirmations can be good or they can be bad. You can be constantly affirming through your thoughts what you don’t want, or you can start affirming what you do.
Your life reflects the thoughts that you project, and if those thoughts are telling you stories you don’t want to be true, then it is time to rewrite the story.
When I began meditating every day, the biggest gift that came from it, was becoming aware of my thought patterns. This truly is the greatest benefit of meditation. It is not quieting the thoughts per se, but becoming aware of what you tend to think about on a regular basis.
What I found, was that many of my thoughts were not conducive to what I wanted my life to reflect.
For instance, I worried about money a lot. I was always afraid of spending money, and worried about having enough money. I had a massive scarcity mindset. These thoughts were with me since childhood, so they were deeply entrenched. My parents had those thoughts around me, so they naturally became a part of me.
Once I become aware of my thoughts, and understood how thoughts can manifest into reality, I decided to change my story.
First, I asked myself, “what do I want?”
I wanted to have an abundance of money.
I wanted to be comfortable enough that I didn’t have to worry about spending money.
I wanted to pay my bills with ease and have plenty left over.
I wanted to be comfortable and worry free.
So, I rewrote the negative affirmations that were so worried about money and how broke I was, into an affirmation statement that could replace them.
I wrote an affirmation to help shift me into a better frame of mind that reflected what I wanted for my life.
It was this…
“I have more than enough money for all I need and desire, and I continue to accumulate more money every single day.”
Every time I became aware that I was worried about money, I was reminded of my affirmation, and I would speak that instead. I felt my fear slowly shifting into confidence. Faith.
This is what affirmations help to do. And it is this necessary shift, from fear to confidence, that changes your energy, and then life reflects the change in your energy.
After my morning meditations, I read from a notebook that included statements I had rewritten, from negative thoughts and fears I noticed I was habitually telling myself. Reading them each morning after meditation, was like programming my mind for the day.
It takes practice. It takes devotion.
I thought about how much time I devoted – decades, to thinking incessantly about things I did not want to be true. And my life reflected it. I was ready to put in the effort to change these thoughts. I didn’t want to claim my parent’s thoughts, and their parent’s thoughts.
I wanted to write my own story.
I was ready to change my life. And I did.
You get to decide what thoughts circulate in your mind on a regular basis, just as you get to decide what show you want to watch on TV.
If you could, would you turn on a TV that was telling you what a horrible person you are, or how broke you were, or how you’re never going to make it, or that you’re always going to fail?
Is that the show that you really want to tune into?
Or do you want to tune into a show that builds your confidence and helps create the life you want?
You get to decide, and that’s the beauty of life.
When you become aware of your thoughts, you take your power back.
Negative thinking is just a bad habit. Unfortunately, those bad habits have the power to create your life. The good news is, at any moment, you can change your negative thoughts into positive ones, through devotion and practice.
You’re not locked into negative thinking. It’s just a bad habit.
You too have the power, to rewrite your stories and watch your life change around you, to reflect everything you want.
Is it simple? Yes. Is it also uncomfortable? Yes.
At first, it will be.
Your mind will fight you on it. Do it anyway.
The mind likes routine. Change its routine enough, and it will find a new one to like.
One day, your mind will find the positive statements much more comfortable, than the negative ones.
What have you got to lose?