Ready for challenge three?
I hope that you enjoyed Challenge One and Two and will continue with both!
For Challenge Three we are going to work on improving the limiting beliefs that may be holding us back from achieving our health, weight loss or life goals with the use of daily affirmations. We are even going to challenge ourselves to write 5 of our own. Writing your own affirmations helps you to really think about what is holding you back and when you write them yourself they are really powerful!
First, let’s talk about limiting beliefs. Limiting beliefs are thoughts about ourselves and the world around us that we believe to be true. They can come anywhere but many times are from childhood, our experiences and society. They tend to hold us back from achieving our goals and true happiness. I truly believe you will never reach your health or life goals when they are present and roaring.
Some examples of a limiting beliefs are the following:
“I will never get the job I really want because I am not smart enough”.
“I can’t pursue my dreams because what if I fail”.
“Losing weight is to hard for me”.
What’s amazing about limiting beliefs is once you surface and acknowledge them you can kick them to the curb. One of the easiest ways I believe to do that is through the use of daily affirmations. I have used affirmations this last year and I can’t tell you enough how much they have helped me. And, what I love most is that they can be used for ANYTHING! Whatever you believe whether it be about improving your health, healing a disease, gaining more confidence, achieving your financial goals or working on you relationships, affirmations can be hugely affective.
Lets chat about what an affirmation is. Basically they are short, positive statements that you repeat either silently or out loud multiple times. By repeating positive statements over and over your beliefs and thoughts about yourself and the world around you change.
I first started using affirmations when my autoimmune conditions were at their worst. I have always believed I could beat my AS and iritis however, when things were at their darkest moments there was a voice in my head that kept telling me things like… “I will struggle with these incurable diseases forever.”, “Immunosuprecent drugs are my only option to manage my disease and if I don’t take them I am putting myself at risk.”, “Will I be able to play with my son in a few years.” and “This pain is never going to go away”. So, I started listening to a few You Tube healing affirmation videos at least one time per day and sometimes more if I felt I needed it and you know what happened? Slowly the beliefs and negative statements I was telling myself went away. And, in their place came positive statements like… “I am healthy.”, “My body has the innate ability to heal itself.”, “All the cells in my body know what to do to heal me.” and “I pain free.” The more positive we put in the more we replace the negative.
YOU GET WHAT YOU BELIEVE. You really do!
Ready, Set, Go…. Challenge Time
The first step is to set up your free account on healthstorylines.com if you have not already.
Next, you are going to work to select one thing you continually think negatively about or have been struggling with. Jot all of your thoughts down on a piece of paper. Think of all the negative thoughts you have about yourself, your life, your job, your relationships etc. For example, if you have been working to lose weight think about your beliefs around weight loss. Do you truly believe you can lose weight or do you think you will fail? If you are dealing with chronic illness do you feel you can truly heal from the disease or do think you are doomed to living a life of illness forever? After writing everything down select one belief you want to work on changing this week.
Challenge Three Instructions:
1. Complete the above exercise and select one limiting belief you want to focus on.
2. Use the tips below to create 5 affirmations and write them down on a piece of paper. If you find it difficult to create them from scratch simply Google “affirmations” and the thing you are tying to work on (example: weight loss affirmations, healing affirmation etc.) and you will find lots of ideas. If you find an affirmation that you love write it down and include it as one of your own.
3. Find a place to put your list of affirmations where you will look at it daily. A few ideas include… taping it to your bathroom mirror, on your bedside table, on your desk at work, in your planner or on your refrigerator. The important thing is that you select a place that will remind you to look at them.
4. You can do your affirmations at anytime during the day but I personally love doing them either in the morning or at night. Doing them in the morning sets the tone for the day and at night they further embed into your subconcious in while you sleep. I am only challenging you to do them once per day but I highly recommend two. The more you do them the more affective they are and will just automatically pop into your head during the day.
5. Record when you did your affirmations in the Health Storylines app in the Journal section.
6. If you feel comfortable and want to share one of your affirmations or that you completed your challenge for the day either post your affirmation or take a screen shot of your journal and post it on your Instagram, Instagram Stories or Facebook and hashtag #wholelovelylifeaffirmation so we can engage with each other’s posts. And, if you are ok with it (I will get your permission first) I will repost on my Instagram Stories.
Tips For Writing Awesome Affirmations:
- Try to make your affirmations short. It will make them easier to remember.
- Start each affirmation with I and write them in the present tense.
- Avoid words like want, need, should, won’t, am not, doesn’t or don’t.
- Consider adding emotional words such as happy, excited, honored, motivated, inspired etc. as well as statements like I am open to or I am growing or I am willing to believe.
Let’s continue to inspire each other!
If you need any help using the Health Story Lines app check out this amazing video!
If you missed my earlier challenges you will find them here!
