For our last post on affirmations this month, here is a set of helpful tips on how we can have a fertile ground in ourselves to create a positive outlook in life.
Be True to Yourself
Self-acceptance is essential in order to be able to live life authentically. This means that you are who you are and you show people that. You live life according to your values and beliefs. This may be difficult to do in society today. Social media alone brings with it so much pressure because we are bombarded not only by posts from so-called A-listers or the who’s who of society. Now there are also the influencers who persuade us that their lifestyles are worth following. So much noise that we hardly hear ourselves think, much less be. My answer: Unplug. Limit your time in social media and instead fully inhabit the space you are in and be with the people around you. Think of your breath, feel the sunshine, taste your food, enjoy the company of the people around you, immerse yourself in a task, protect your inner space from negative thoughts, conflict, or stress. Most of all, magpakatotoo ka sa sarili mo.
Savor the Complexity of Life
Find sweet in bittersweet, or better yet, no matter what life is at a given moment, embrace it because it is a gift. Bitter. Sweet. Bittersweet. Happy. Sad. Disastrous. Boring. Joyful. Enjoyable… All these emotions are mostly reactions to your perspective of the things that happen to you. Going back to one of my favorite Stoics Epictetus, “It is not external events themselves that cause us distress, but the way in which we think about them…It is our attitudes and reactions that give us trouble. We cannot choose our external circumstances, but we can always choose how we respond to them.” Do you want to have a sweet life? Choose your attitude—be virtuous, be rational, be one with Nature, and cultivate calm indifference in the face of external events. Hard to do? You bet. You get to practice every day though.
Suspend Judgment
It is amazing how easy it is to judge without thought. We see it everywhere. We do it so often ourselves that we’re not even aware anymore that we are judging. When it should have been observation, then rumination, now it’s seeing and then making up our minds. We even do it to ourselves and beat ourselves up with negative internal talk. Let’s stop at observation. Rumination may still be ok when it comes to trying to understand the other vis-a-vis ourself, or when we have to make a decision about a situation. It helps to have the right attitude to meet life’s events when we don’t load something or someone with our judgments.
Think Abundance
In 2006, Rhonda Byrne came out with her book “The Secret to the Law of Attraction.” What I remember from the book is the message that your thoughts control your destiny. You attract what you think so if you want to manifest success, happiness, and well-being, you just think that. You attract into your life what you give your focus and your energy to. Many authors also talk about poverty consciousness vs. abundance consciousness. By the way, many wealthy people still have that poverty consciousness. This is not predicated on how little or how much money you have. You know one way to get into the abundant consciousness that has been proven to be effective? Gratefulness. Being grateful about all the blessings received throughout the day brings you in that wonderful state of abundance. Before you sleep, give thanks to 5 things that happened during the day.
Happiness is a Choice
Just as the Stoics said to choose your attitude, we can choose to be happy or sad. Or to follow Ms. Byrne’s message in her book, attract happiness by choosing to be happy. The Dalai Lama said, “”Happiness is determined more by one’s state of mind than by external events,” or, “Happiness…comes from your own actions.” Next time you have a problem you have to solve, just remember that the state of mind you are in to solve it is a choice you have to make.
Keep on Learning
Learning something new keeps one young. It also enables us to be in step with the times. Something new could also mean something entirely different, and not only learn more by drilling down into a pet topic. We become not only a specialist but also a generalist. A simple example would be to be open and learn from a colleague. For all we know, we can learn important life skills from her or him. We can turn on music that doesn’t belong to our usual genre. Or learn a new gadget, something which seems to come out with great regularity in keeping with the pace of technological development. Or paint our walls with bright colors instead of going for our favorite hue…usually white, beige, or gray ?
Go on an Adventure
Most people like to stay in their comfort zones. It is comfortable and safe, or so it seems. When you leave your comfort zone which is your fixed mindset, you enter into the growth mindset. There’s a transition zone where you feel fear and uncertainty. When you are learning new things, there is that stress of acquiring new skills and dealing with a different set of challenges. But once you get beyond that, you may feel a renewed sense of purpose or some horizon opens up and you dream new dreams. The biggest advantage of leaving your comfort zone is personal growth.
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.
For the first 3 sets of affirmations, here are the links.
- Affirmations to Remind Us that We’re OK
- Affirmations for Trying Times
- Affirmations for a Healthy Mindset
Download the artworks that resonate with you and share with your loved ones whom you think could be helped by these.
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