What Station are you Tuned In To?
This post started as a comment on a blog post by BooBish, but as it grew in length, I decided to make a post of my own.
I have long been a believer in the power of visualization and the way that our attitudes and thoughts create our reality. I've been seeing a number of posts here recently that deal with maintaining a positive outlook, which is great. One of the best things about WA (in my opinion) is the community and the way people honestly try to help and support one another.
The post by BooBish dealt with affirmations and she mentioned how some people believe in them, but some people have said that they don't. I suspect that the people who don't believe in them are thinking primarily of what you'd see in greeting cards and on posters, but there's more to it than that.
Affirmation:
1. the act or an instance of affirming; state of being affirmed.
2. the assertion that something exists or is true.
Affirmations do work. Unfortunately, many people's affirmations are things like "life sucks and then you die" or "things are never going to get better."
We are conditioned to believe that only a select few amoung us are capable of reaching the top, that there isn't enough room for everybody. Throughout our lives, we are taught to be "realistic" in our expectations-- "oh, it's nice to dream about becoming a millionaire, but you know it will never happen unless you win the lottery..."
Affirmations aren't just the cute little sayings like "if you believe it, you can achieve it!" Affirmations can be positive or negative and most of us are raised with negative affirmations. We want to believe in the positive side of things, but we spend so much of our lives reinforcing the negative, that it becomes extremely difficult.
Often, that negativity is reinforced by those who mean well. Parents, family members and close friends in particular, end up crushing the dreams of others in an attempt to protect them:
"Oh, it's wonderful that you want to be an actor, dear, but you need to have a real career to fall back on if it doesn't work out."
"It's not that I don't think you would be a good salesman, I just know that you wouldn't be happy doing that. You're not really cut out for it..."
"You'd like to be a doctor? That's wonderful, but doctors use math and you've never been very good at it, and you don't like the sight of blood..."
"Affiliate Marketing??? Nobody really makes money online, and if they do, it's probably illegal..."
Most people don't even realise that they are being negative; it's become the default position for too many of us.
Imagine for a moment that you are stranded on a desert island, or in the middle of the woods. You are completely isolated from the rest of the world except for an old radio that can only pick up two news stations. The first station only recounts bad news: war, murder, the destruction of the environment, the corruption of politicians, police brutality...
The second radio station is dedicated to good news: people helping other people, random acts of kindness, heroic efforts being made to clean up the earth and find alternative sources of energy, the coming together of different people in peace...
Depending on which radio station you tune into, you are either going to believe that the world is a horrible place and that mankind is doomed, or you are going to think that everything is wonderful and that the future of the world is bright and full of possibilities. In fact, you won't just believe this, you will "know" it.
Your mind is that radio and your thoughts are the radio stations. The things that you tell yourself are the things that determine your reality. Your thoughts affect everything. If you are capable of doing something spectacular, but you don't believe it, then the chances are that you won't even try. If you do, chances are that you won't put your full effort into it because you don't want to invest too much effort into something that "won't work out anyway."
Consider the people you know who are very successful. I guarantee you that none of them set out to achieve their goals thinking "I can't do this." Don't tell yourself that they succeeded because they are smarter, better, younger, more attractive, more charismatic or born with a silver spoon. Those are all excuses.
The people who succeed are those who refuse failure. Period.
Tune into the right radio station. Build a life of positivity. Some of the greatest success stories in the world are of people who started off in worse situations than any of us here can even imagine. They didn't have the advantages that we do, but they did have one thing: the power of belief. That power is available to all of us.
We just have to use it.
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Great words Craig, I spent the last two days up the side of a hill on my tractor doing something I did not think I was able to do but I made a start and12 hours later the scrub was cleared and the hill back into production.
It was not my hill but belongs to a young mother on her own raising children, trying to make ends meet.
Now when she looks out of the window she will smile, its all about making it happen.
That's fantastic!
Yes, sometimes if something appears impossible or overwhelming, the best thing to do is to simply start...
I think it's wonderful that you helped them out like that.
Thanks, Craig. And I'd like to add some further thoughts.
https://www.2knowmyself.com/how_to_make_affirmations_work_for_you
According to the article in the preceding link, an alternative way to get affirmation into one's head is to add phrase "becoming", as in "I am becoming rich" rather than "I am rich" or "I am becoming confident" instead of "I am confident" if one is having trouble believing. I think sometimes positive affirmations can be hard to believe (especially in the beginning), but I think they work without necessarily having to add "becoming" to them if you really pay attention to what you're affirming as you're thinking.
Agree that negative affirmations can originate or be reinforced by what others say to us, but also can simply stem from having lack of success in the past.
So that's why it's important (unless there's a lesson to be learned from looking back) not to live in the past, especially if it's mostly failures.
On the other hand, starting the mind from scratch from today and thinking about what you want is the way to create brand-new experiences/success.
My interpretation of the following quotation seems to correspond to what I just said, about being "ignorant" of past failure.
All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure.--Mark Twain
People will often say "change your mind and change your life." I think it's very true, but we often have difficulty believe that something that seems so simple could have such an effect.
Thanks for commenting.
It does have a huge impact to bring that change takes consistency and that is where the hard part is.
Craig...your analysis of positive actions is quite impressive...I was raised by such a person, my maternal Grandmother whom we called "Mayaw"...she laid a foundation for me which said, "You can only fail if you believe you will fail."...this falls inline with your general thesis in this excellent blog...well analyzed and well stated!
Arthur
Thank you, I appreciate that.
I find it very sad when people buy into the belief that they cannot improve their lives, or have the things that they deserve. My biggest desire for what I am doing here at WA (beyond finding a better way to provide for my family) is to see others take control of their lives and build a better future.
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I'm glad to have read your post. I like the radio analogy and will share that with someone close to me who needs to hear it.
I appreciate you taking the time to read and comment. Thanks!