I'm excited about affirmations!

Dear CZ fans,

I am so excited about affirmations! I'm a Christian, and I used to think affirmations were some airy-fairy New Age thing. Well, they're not, and they are fabulously useful, regardless of your personal theology.

I've sure you've watched the Olympics on TV at one time or another. I saw a few events during this past winter Olympics. The Olympics inspire me because I see young people who are extremely successful at what they do, compete to be the #1 athlete in their field. They are so focused. They have been doing daily activity to reach this eventual goal for most of their lives, preparing for major competitions and events along the way. They've won at these competitions, and now they are Olympic champions!

One thing I noticed about these athletes is that right before they "do their thing," they close their eyes and mentally rehearse what they are about to do. They mentally visualize going down that slope or that course. They rehearse in their minds the snowboard routine they have practiced so many times or they see themselves doing that triple camel with the perfect landings. They feel their muscles making those movements perfectly. They actually see it in their minds, and it started by them thinking about it and practicing it over and over.

I used to do the same thing when I was a professional violist. I practiced at least 5 hours a day on my instrument, plus rehearsals.I was always practicing and preparing for an event- a concert or a recital. I always had a date/deadline to get ready. I always had a goal: of making it into a performing group, or performing to my best ability as a musician. When I wasn't practicing, I was mentally thinking about practicing.

Affirmations do exactly the same thing. I asked myself, who do I want to be in 5 years? What do I want to look like? How healthy do I want to be? How prosperous do I want to be? How successful? How loving? How intelligent? How giving/serving? How wise?

Then I said, OK, what can I be doing NOW in order to get where I want to be in 5 years? I didn't say "oh, there's NO WAY I could be that healthy, forgiving, whatever." I thought to myself, "successful people do XYZ, so I need to do XYZ." If successful people exercise, I need to exercise. If successful people eat mostly raw, living food and drink 4 green drinks a day, I need to do the same. If I want the results someone else has, I need to copy them.

Then I created an action plan. I made a daily schedule which included these activities. I kept saying (affirming)to myself, "successful people do XYZ. I am a successful person. I do XYZ." And the things started to fall into place! It has been amazing!

My affirmations are very simple. I do them in the morning when I get up and before I go to bed at night, but I also do them during the day. I am battling muscular dystrophy, so one of my affirmations is "I am an incredibly strong and powerful woman." How hard is it to think that? Is it true? Well, in my mind and spirit it's true, and I know that as I send these kinds of messages to my cells, they will figure it out and get on board, too. I can already do a few movements that I didn't think I could do six weeks ago. :-)

I have to watch my attitude and thought processes. I can get caught up in negative thinking:"I'm never going to get well, I'm never going to have any money, I'm never going to have a great marriage..." whatever. But now, with doing the POSITIVE affirmations (instead of negative ones), I can say "I am already healed by Christ's work on the cross and day by day I am gaining strength- WOOHOO!" "I am a successful business woman and my paycheck just keeps getting bigger and bigger!YEEHAW!" "I fall deeper in love with my husband every day.Mmmmmm." And one of my favorites, "This was such a great day! I just can't wait to see what tomorrow brings! HOO-AHH! Thank you, Lord!"

I can see all this happening in my mind, I check to make sure I'm making little daily actions that move me toward my goals, I write down little achievable goals so I can see them in print (I'm more likely to do them when I write it down), I say these positive affirmations over and over, catching myself when a thought becomes negative, and it works!

Positive affirmations are simply saying what you believe in your heart to be true or what you want to be true. It's putting your faith into action. If the Bible says "I want nothing more than to see you prosper and be in health," then it's OK to say, "By faith, I am prosperous and healthy."

Try it!

-Donna Tweet