Do Your Thoughts Support Your Dreams?
Have you heard of the energy experiments with potted plants, where one plant was spoken to lovingly over a period of time and the other verbally abused with harsh or negative words? The result? You guessed it. The abused plant shriveled while the loved plant flourished.
It’s the same for us. Our self-talk can nourish – or quench – our ability to manifest our dreams.
You may have plans for your future, but your past can influence whether your actions will support your plans. When we are young, the phrases we hear repeatedly become fixed in our subconscious, as do our perceptions of the events in our lives.
Our subconscious can override our conscious, spoken thoughts. Think about the last time someone gave you a complement. You may have responded with “thank you” but most likely your thoughts discounted the complement, countering it with negative feedback. Have you ever thought that this practice actually disrespects you, and the person giving you the complement? What is the source of that feedback? Your subconscious files.
I have good news, however! You can reprogram your subconscious. You can replace those thoughts. Not overnight, of course, but step by step with daily affirmations.
Daily affirmations send a message to the Reticular Activating System in our brains which filters the mass of information that bombards us moment by moment. When you give the RAS a focus, it will highlight opportunities in your environment – when you get a new car, you begin to see those cars all over town; when you wear a particular color, you notice others around you who are wearing the same color.
Repeating a positive affirmation – one that states an attitude or characteristic you want to develop in yourself, connecting an emotion with a positive statement – causes your RAS to get busy noticing ways to help you achieve the stated goals. Steady repetition also creates dynamic tension in our beings. If what you are saying is at a higher vibration than what you perceive the truth to be, the tension is uncomfortable. Subconsciously, you want to rid yourself of the tension by either 1) no longer saying the affirmation, or 2) raising the bar on reality by making the affirmation and reality match. That’s when you WIN!
Here are a few to get you started:
- I am successful in everything I attempt.
- I am energetic and strong.
- A river of compassion washes away my anger and replaces it with love.
- My body is healthy; my mind is brilliant; my soul is tranquil.
- I have a strong urge to eat only health-giving and nutritious foods.
Listen to your thoughts and take note. Re-write the negative thoughts into a positive statements, actually writing them out on index cards that you can carry with you. Speak them out loud – slow and steady – and pause to let each sink in. Say them like you mean them (even if you don’t) – the whole purpose is to change the way you think.
Be patient. It could take weeks or months to feel yourself turn over to a new perspective. Rather than wallowing in the suffering that always accompanies negative thinking, daily affirmations can help you eagerly anticipate each new day and cope better with daily challenges.
Interested, but having difficulty putting this practice into action? Contact me and we can talk about it.
