When facing obstacles, friends and mentors often encourage visualizations and positive affirmations. “See yourself achieving ____. Every morning look in the mirror and say ‘today I will achieve_____’ because I am strong, able, and determined.” While I completely agree that positive affirmations are important, you will become very disheartened when you don’t succeed. The problem is this…
The traditional affirmation process is as follows: thoughts create feelings, feelings create actions, actions create habits, habits create beliefs, belief systems create human identities, and your human identities create your reality. But following the affirmation alone does not successfully create a positive change in your life. You need to start with a mentally clean slate, one that sees the whole truth, as it is, without judgment, regret, or shame first. Only then can you learn and build upon experiences to create permanent positive change in your life!
Another major set back that people face when trying to create the life they want to live is IGNORING the negative and only focusing on the positives, thinking that the negative will eventually dissipate. We need to realize and learn that it is from the painful past and negative experiences that we learn the most about ourselves, and therefore learn how to understand how we operate as an individual, so we can move forward stronger, smarter and prepared for the next challenge we encounter in life. If you believe that by purely focusing on the positive and ignoring the negative you will achieve your goals, then no matter how much effort you put forth, you are only passively working toward your goal.
I hope this makes sense to you, and that you have new motivation and a clearer vision of how you can successfully reach your goals – BECASUE YOU ABSOLUTELY CAN!
