This is the third set of affirmations that we made for you. These are helpful reminders to help us achieve a healthy mindset to become the people who are able to live our best lives.
This set of affirmations reminds us that we are human, and that optics are not as important as authenticity. Social media and the internet are good things but they can never take the place of personal face to face connections.
School has started for most kids, and many schools are now holding face to face classes or blended ones. This is a positive development. We are meant to be with people, that’s part of the human experience.
Here are seven affirmations for the week. Download and share with your family and friends.
Speak the Truth
Telling the truth is much easier than telling a lie. It is also much healthier. There’s short-term stress and discomfort when one tells a lie. When one lives a dishonest life, it has long-term repercussions on health, like high blood pressure and elevated stress hormones in the blood. Studies show that telling small lies (including white lies) make it easier to tell big ones. What may also happen is that you start believing in the lies you tell so getting to know yourself becomes harder. If you want a healthier mindset, speak the truth.
Pick Your Fights Wisely
Don’t take things personally. Make tranquillity your preference. What seem to be insults or slights are more about the other person than about you. When insults are hurled at us, or we feel slighted by someone, it’s not about us but about them. I am not sure if Buddha really said this but it is something worth remembering, “Holding on to anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.” Guard your equanimity and don’t let other people manipulate you into losing it.
What fights should you focus on? Giving your family a better life, being the best person you can be, standing by your values, guarding the last piece of chocolate (maybe not).
Control is an Illusion
We’ve been brought up or educated to make to-do lists, follow procedure, do step 1 first before 2, and 2 before 3, and so on. If we inform ourselves as best we can, consider all scenarios, and come up with Plan A, B, C…, we think we are going to win brownie points and succeed in this life. But life just keeps throwing curves, big and small. So we stress when something does not go as planned, expending energy best used for living fully.
A human being can only do so much to achieve “control”. Think of athletes who train long and hard to get in the flow and have body and mind move as one. But something like a pandemic can throw all plans and dreams out the window, and hinders many from participating in the Olympics.
I’m all for planning for the future and living in the present, and being mindful not to expect things to go the way I want them to. If something goes out of whack, then I just believe that I have it in me to either get it back on track, or go back to the drawing board to plot a new course. For big things, this is hard to do but definitely achievable. It gets better with practice.
Define Perfection for Yourself
Striving for perfection is a losing game. We are not machines; we are human beings. Sure, as students we were taught to strive for a perfect score. This has conditioned us to move towards achievement or success that have been defined by others. Each of us should be defining what those things should be for ourselves. There are no standards as to what it means to be the best we can be. It’s a unique experience for each of us.
Love Yourself
Are you familiar with that voice in your head that puts you down, gives you negative criticism, questions your worth? You are not alone. We have got to manage our internal dialogue much better. Just like we give love to our family, friends, and even pets, we have to love ourselves unconditionally too. Motivational author Louise Hay said, “You have been criticizing yourself for years, and it hasn’t worked. Try approving of yourself and see what happens.” Start now.
Different is Different
Diversity makes society stronger. It widens perspectives about life. Understanding other cultures, lifestyles, ways of thinking, challenges in life, religions, motivations, education, sexual orientations—this stretches us in ways that can make us a better person. It’s easier to discriminate people with backgrounds different to ours. Understandable because it requires a lot of effort to appreciate differences. But it can also be very interesting once we understand where the other is coming from. We grow as a person and that’s a gift worth receiving.
Find Your Home
The anonymous living in urban areas had been over romanticized. Belonging to a group of people is very important. We are human beings and we need to be “seen” by another, by many others if we are lucky. In the Philippines, we define family as the extended one. Close friends are considered family too. The terms barkada, dabarkads, tropa, and kapamilya evoke that feeling of belonging. If you haven’t found your tribe yet, stay open.
The Color Palette
This is the paint color palette for this week’s affirmations. You can have any color mixed at a Boysen Mix and Match Station. Click here to find the location closest to you.
We will be coming out with one more set of affirmations this month. If you like this type of post to become a regular thing, please send a message to info@myboysen.com or leave a comment below. Meantime, do subscribe to Let it B.