Affirming With Action

Affirmations always require action. I heard this at a Weight Watcher’s meeting last week and it really struck me because I’ve never been a fan of affirmations. It seemed silly to just proclaim a positive thought in the conscious mind about something you wanted—material or intrinsic—and voila it happened. And, I tried them. A lot.

And guess what, yeah, they didn’t work. For years I affirmed that I would give up smoking and alcoholic drinking, affirming that God would just take it away.

It is true that the affirming of a desired outcome begins in the conscious mind and with continuous affirming the intent gets planted in the subconscious (that’s why they say think about what you think about) and it works to reach the goal.

What I found was that unless I took an action—a tiny action like putting the drink down and reaching out for help—the affirmation would sit in my conscious mind. Same with the cigarette addiction which didn’t happen for five years after I got sober.

The conscious act of affirming a desired outcome will push the subconscious mind to take a step toward the goal. But then you have to take the step.

For ten years I have struggled with unhealthy eating that has wreaked havoc on my metabolism. Right now I am affirming that I will be at peak health by the end of this year.

A healthy lifestyle doesn’t happen all at once. So as I continue to affirm my intent, I find that as I make changes—tiny changes–my affirmation becomes reality. It’s already happening!Last week’s aha moment reminded me of that classic story book, The Little Engine That Could. It’s a story of the littlest, weakest engine who volunteers to pull a bigger, stranded train when all the other engines decline because they think it’s too tough a job.

As the little engine gets going, it repeats to itself, “I think I can, I think I can,” It keeps this affirmation in its mind. The story goes that the going gets more difficult as it has to climb a steep hill but slowly it makes its way to the top and, finally, downhill all the way to success. The chant then becomes, “I thought I could, I thought I could.”

Affirming success and taking it slow when the going gets tough—easy does it, baby steps—staying consistently committed brings the intent to pass.

I’ve been praying for wisdom, focus, commitment and discipline over the past several months. I’ve affirmed that God does have my best interest at heart in all areas of my life. I can affirm this on a daily basis and believe that the power comes as I step out; making small, seemingly insignificant changes until voila, the affirmation truly does come to pass.