Coaching Corner: Say It Again
By Master Coach Marilou Butcher Roth
For years, the idea of using affirmations has been showing up in mainstream discussions and trainings. The advice we hear is to create an affirming statement about what we want to experience. Remember Stuart Smalley from Saturday Night Live and his comedic mantra of “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me.”? It was entertaining to watch him, and perhaps it shed a negative light on using affirmations.
We have been told, as an example, to create affirmations around the dollar amount of money you would like to earn. Whatever the desire, a positive statement can be developed to assist us in moving closer to your goals. Easy enough, don’t you think? Indeed it is, with a bit of a caveat.
Here is the reality of using affirmations in their most productive way. It’s not about the words!!! It is about the feeling the words ignite within you. This is where most affirmation practices go awry. A positive statement without the feeling is only words.
Years ago, when I first became familiar with the concept of affirmations, I spent a copious amount of time formulating what I deemed to be the best grouping of phrases that I felt would bring me unparalleled success. When I was complete, I began to repeat them over and over during my daily walks. Now don’t laugh as I tell you that during the first month of this practice, I sold two houses for over $1,000,000 each, which was certainly a new adventure in my career. Bam!!
This is not something that I do on a regular basis in the present time, and yet, due to the past consistent practice of these carefully crafted statements, I can easily bring them to mind, and they still generate a great feeling for me. The feeling associated with the words is something I carry with me daily, which greatly increases my chances of obtaining what it is I desire.
If you feel drawn to play with the idea of using affirmations, choose your words wisely. Create the statement(s) that bring about a feeling of excitement or joy within you when you speak or write then. Once you have that part done, repeat, repeat, repeat until they become an extension of you!!
