Positive Affirmations

Back to that wily brain. With journaling, we can find out what we are thinking, and how that shapes us whether we know it or not. But did you know you can also create specific thoughts and change how your mind works?

So imagine that through journaling you find out that you keep thinking a negative thought, and that keeps you thinking other negative thoughts all the livelong day. Maybe your thought is, “I am no good at my job.” So you go through your day feeling crappy about yourself, hating your co workers, not standing up to your boss, and just being miserable for 40 hours a week because you are “no good at your job.”

You can’t quit, and they don’t seem inclined to fire you, so now what? Start working with positive affirmations. Give your mind something good to think about instead of it’s boring old, bummer thought. Find a phrase you can really get behind too, not something that just sounds good on paper.

For example, just telling yourself that you are awesome at your job probably won’t work. You have to find something you can believe right off the bat. Like, “I am a sponge and learn new things everyday.” or “I thrive on challenges,” or “I am constantly improving.”

Find something that turns you on, or maybe somethings, and once you find your affirmation it does two tricks for you. The first is that when you say them to yourself in the morning it sets the groundwork for your day. “I thrive on challenges,” is way more fun than, “I am no good at my job.” So you go out into the world ready to overcome mountains and molehills with ease and zip.

Secondly, when that old though pops in, you squash it and repeat your positive affirmation. “I am no good at my job,” can be replaced with “I am constantly improving.” Improving feels good. Being no good at something feels like a dead end.

Taking the time to change your thoughts is a powerful and simple tool. Choosing what to think is literally choosing how you live. Pretty neat, huh?