Whatever you do, do not think about a pink Chanel bag.
What came to mind when you read the above statement? I would be willing to bet that you did not NOT (double negative, sorry) think about a Chanel bag and instead, a luscious pink quilted purse flashed across the screen of your mind. Funny how that works, isn't it?
I'm sure you have read about a tool called affirmations that the internet and books alike deem the fast track to your dream life and success. If there is anyone who wants to take the fast track, it's this impatient millennial right here: me, Cathclaire. When I discovered this whole affirmation idea, I couldn't get to work on them fast enough. It's as simple as writing down your dreams as if they are true and reading them when you wake up every morning, right?
I used to belieb the same thing years ago and my affirmations went something like this:
"I won the lottery."
"I am a famous baton twirler."
"I lost 10 lbs."
"I am a sucessful fashion blogger"
I read my affirmations and read my affirmations and read my affirmations some more not much changed over time. My fast track oriented brain got discouraged. I started thinking things like: WTF. Where is my winning lottery ticket? How about my miraculous weight loss?
I took my discouraged butt where I always go when I'm discouraged: to get a bottle of wine and to google and well, poured a glass of wine and began googling.
"Why aren't my affirmations working?"
I love google but at the time, my search did not reveal results that could seep into my brain and teach me the truth behind affirmations. Could've been user error but I also don't remember taking a class in the art of googling at Virginia Tech so......
Fast forward 5 years (so much for the fast track, am I right?) and I finally understand how to use affirmations as a tool for success and why like the Chanel example at the beginning of this post, it's important to be aware that your mind doesn't do what you tell it to do all the time. The key to an effective affirmation? Pay attention to how you feel and what picture flashes across your mind when you are reading your affirmation.
When I was affirming "I won the lottery" years ago, I got zero feelings associated with someone who wins the lottery. At the time, I got the feeling of a little girl with no magical credit cards, yet alone a winning lottery ticket, looking inside the Barneys window dreaming of fabulous things. No offense Cathclaire (sometimes I talk to myself in the third person), but that ain't the feelings someone who just won the lottery would feel or the picture they would see flash across their mind.
Ok, so now you know what makes up an effective affirmation but that is not enough! I don't want you to walk away from this post until you know how to create an affirmation that will work for YOU personally. We are all beautifully unique snowflakes and unlike Hanky Panky underwear, there is no one size affirmation that fits all. How do you find the affirmations that will work for you personally?
My now father-in-law said it best: See it how you want it to be and work backward. Think of your dream life as one of those pesky math problems from middle school when you had the solution but not the whole problem = _ + _ = 6
Stripes on Stripes:
You know your end goal, that's the easy part. The hard part is figuring out what words you need to include in your affirmation that will elicit the vision and feelings you want to experience.
Picture yourself at your end goal and decide how it feels. What do you see in your mind when you feel this feeling? Who is around? What are you doing? Dive really deep into this day dream before you try to put words to it and once you have got a good grip on this feeling vision - write down the words (think of them as clues) that will remind you of this feeling. THAT, my dear, is an effective affirmation - tailored for you by you, not google or a guru on the internet.
My affirmation today is: "This blog post on Cathclaire helps atleast one person get one small step closer to their dream life."
