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Tap the Power of Your Mind:
How to Write Your Own Positive Affirmations
by Susie Michelle Cortright
author, More Energy for Moms
What if progressing toward your most monumental goals was as
simple as acting like you'd already achieved them?
Experts say it can be that simple.
A single positive statement, repeated throughout the day,
taps the power of your subconscious mind and energizes your
spirit while propelling you toward your goals.
HOW IT WORKS
The subconscious remains, in large part, an enigma, but we
do know that a connection exists between our self-talk and
our achievements.
Research shows that a full 75 percent of our self-talk is
negative.
Think about how your life would change if you could eliminate
your negative self-talk and replace it with more positive,
optimistic language.
Positive affirmations will help you do just that.
The theory is that, even if you don't believe the positive
statements to be true at first, the act of continually
repeating them convinces your subconscious that they are true.
Your mind then spurs you to realize that goal.
Here's how to write your own affirmations:
STEP ONE:
Ask yourself: What about your life would you most like to
change? Take a sheet of paper and, without stopping to think
about it too hard, make a list of your most significant life
challenges.
STEP TWO:
Narrow down these challenges. The more specific your
affirmation, the more effective it will be.
For example, "I owe a lot of money" becomes "I owe money
to credit card companies."
STEP THREE:
For each specific challenge, brainstorm all of the possible
solutions. Visualize the best possible outcome of your problem
STEP FOUR:
State this outcome in a clear, direct sentence. Focus on
specifics. Write your affirmation in the present tense and
in a positive way.
Example: "I will pay off my credit card debt" becomes "I
am debt free."
If you find objections surfacing in the form of negative
self-talk, restate the objection in the form of another
positive affirmation.
Example: Affirmation: "I can pay off my credit card debt."
Objection: "I can't come up with that kind of money!" New
affirmation: "I find ways to earn all the money I need."
Print your affirmations and place them where you'll see
them throughout the day. Repeat your affirmation
aloud, with confidence, throughout your day.
MORE IDEAS:
* Say your affirmation just before bed, so your subconscious
mind has something to chew on while you sleep.
* Repeat your affirmations in the morning, when your refreshed mind
is most receptive to new thoughts and ideas.
* Record your affirmations into a tape recorder
and listen to them in the car.
* Write your affirmations in your journal, in first-, second-,
and third-person constructions. (For example, "I have all the money
I need," "You, Yourname, have all the money you need," Yourname has
all the money she needs.")
When you replace your negative energy with positive
energy, you open the floodgates for constructive thoughts
and creativity.
Try it for yourself and witness the powerful and immediate
results.
Copyright 2003 Susie Michelle Cortright
This article is excerpted from More Energy for Moms, an
interactive mind-body-spirit fitness program, designed
exclusively for moms. Its creator, Susie Michelle Cortright,
is the author of several books for moms and founder of the
award-winning website Momscape.com. Visit today to get
her free course-by-email, "6 Days to Less Stress":
http://www.momscape.com
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Painful Lessons from the Maternity Ward
(Don't try this at home, folks.)
By David Leonhardt
Whoever dubbed New York, New York "the city that never sleeps"
should visit The Maternity Ward. My recent visit included a
drop-in on several screenings of "A Star Is Born" at the late-
show theatre, right near Mama's Breast (all night milk bar) and
Papa's Gas Station ("We burp you on your way.").
To a chorus of infant cries, I drafted this column at 1:00 a.m.
Of course, it was 3:00 p.m. in Tokyo, so I suppose it wasn't so
late after all.
The whole experience of birthing seems to be a very traumatic way
to build a family. Fortunately, it did lead to two very happy
results. It gave me a new daughter, Lauralee, the Little Sister.
And it taught me some valuable lessons, which it is my patriotic
duty to share with you.
The first lesson - all men, take note - is that my wife is my
hero.
As the husband, I experienced the whole birthing outburst second-
hand. After careful observation, I conclude that this is the
best way to experience it. (Apparently I had some first-hand
experience over 40 years ago, but I can't remember too many
details.)
Most husbands suffer great humiliation during childbirth. Wives
hurl razor-sharp insults like "I hate you!" and "You fink!" and
"You did this to me!" and "I HATE YOU!!!" My wife, truly
original even in pure agony, didn't use any of those words. In
fact, she didn't say a thing. Instead, she threw up on me.
Of course, I don't hold the throwing up against her. The second
lesson I wish to share with you is the importance of forgiving
people who act in haste, in anger, or in excruciating pain from
pushing a six-inch wide baby through a one-inch wide hole in
their bodies.
Did I mention that this was a "natural" childbirth? Natural, as
in no painkillers. OK, so there was the epidural, which should
have relieved the pain, if even one of the four dosage increases
had worked. And I suppose you could call morphine and nubain
painkillers if they had actually killed any pain.
So my wife, with a permanent back condition amplifying the stab
of every contraction and reverberating it through the spine with
no momentary relief between contractions, felt every glorious
minute - 487 in all - of the unplanned "natural" childbirth. Did
I mention that she is my hero? The third lesson is, when the
best-laid plans go astray, improvise (which might explain the
throwing up - I have reason to believe it was not planned,
either).
My wife's trauma was nothing compared to what Little Sister
overcame. Her shoulders got stuck, pinching the umbilical cord
and cutting the oxygen supply from her not-quite-yet-born brain.
To do the equivalent, you would have to press your shoulder up
into your nose, while a bulldozer on steroids pushes you in a
river of blood through your mailbox. (Don't try this at home,
folks.)
Thanks to Quick Thinking Doctor, the focused team of nurses, and
a well-sharpened pair of scissors, Little Sister is enjoying
great suction at the all-night milk bar with no more damage than
a limp arm. (That's "brachial plexus injury" in medicalese.) The
arm will hopefully recover. Even if it doesn't, we know what the
alternative would have been ... and we do not look good in black.
Lesson number four is to appreciate what you have rather than
worry about what you don't.
The Maternity Ward offers far too many lessons to share with you
now. My fatigue is overtaking me. I feel like a wad of gum
squished on the asphalt, baked in the sun, and stuck on a
motorcycle tire burning rubber on a gravel trail. Ha! Bet you
never felt like that in New York, New York.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The author is David Leonhardt, The Happy Guy. To receive his
satirical happiness column weekly in your inbox, sign up at
http://TheHappyGuy.com/positive-thinking-free-ezine.html or read
more columns at http://TheHappyGuy.com/self-actualization-
articles.html . Visit his home page "Finding Happiness and Self-
actualization" at http://TheHappyGuy.com.
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