Affirmations are powerful sentences that can change your mindset and your life.
The spoken word has a LOT of power — tell a young child something often enough, and they’ll begin to believe it and take it to heart. That includes positive AND negative statements.
How many of us, as full-grown adults, can still hear the strident voice of an adult who thought too little of us and characterized our sincere efforts as “not good enough,” or who continues to carry the less-than-affirming labels others have applied to us?
In contrast, how many of us can remember positive, encouraging statements made to us by a loving parent, a favorite uncle or aunt, a beloved teacher, or another person that believed in us and saw our potential even when we didn’t?
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Both types of statements are Affirmations — and they have POWER.
You can use the power of affirmations to create positive changes in your life. It’s not enough to just THINK the statement, you MUST say them out loud. It’s critically important to your conscious and unconscious mind to hear the affirmations said in your own voice.
Studies have proven that it’s impossible to think a negative thought and say a positive statement out loud at the same time. Use this principle to stop negative thoughts in their tracks and turn them around.
Forgiveness is NOT an easy concept to implement. Psychologists generally define it this way, according to the Greater Good Science Center:
Forgiveness is a conscious, deliberate decision to release feelings of resentment or vengeance toward a person or group who has harmed you, regardless of whether they actually deserve your forgiveness. https://greatergood.berkeley.edu/topic/forgiveness/definition
You can use affirmations intentionally, over the course of 30 to 60 days, to permanently change your mindset and by extension, your life. That period of time is enough to start establishing an affirmation practice — one that can stick with you for the rest of your life.
Forgiveness isn’t only centered on the person who has wronged you — it’s a way for you to take back your power and release whatever hold another person may have on you by your reaction to their negative actions.
Holding on to the anger and hurt from your prior experience is, in the words of the Buddha,
“Holding onto anger is like drinking poison and expecting the other person to die.”
Read through the affirmations below and choose one or two to help you start your affirmation practice and move toward forgiveness — the benefits you will reap are worth it!
It is not my responsibility when others do not act with integrity.
I forgive the people who have wronged me and embrace a life of love, joy, and peace.
Compassion, patience, detachment, and understanding are my natural state.
I forgive those who have wronged me, and I release the resentment I have stored. I am at peace.
I am overflowing with unconditional love, and I can choose it at every opportunity.
I am grateful that I can choose forgiveness.
I choose to be free of hatred, sadness, anger and hurt.
There is no purpose to holding onto my anger, it does not serve me.
My happiness and peace of mind are more important than a grudge.
The only one hurt by my anger is me. Letting go serves me.
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This post was previously published on medium.com.
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White Fragility: Talking to White People About Racism | Escape the “Act Like a Man” Box | The Lack of Gentle Platonic Touch in Men’s Lives is a Killer | What We Talk About When We Talk About Men |
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