We are half way through 2017 and many of us have fallen off of our new year goals. June is the perfect time to reflect on your process to achieving your personal goals and this half way mark brings about an optimistic attitude towards changing different aspects of a person’s life. The power of the mind and what you speak life into can make a world of difference in achieving your 2017 goals and seeing your vision board manifest itself. Affirmations can help you change your state of mind according to Gail Lee Gardner, life coach and founder of I Am Blossoms, a non-profit for young women ages 9 to 12 whose mission is to give them empowerment and raise academic achievement in schools. “2017 is going to be the secret sauce for tapping into who we want to be in life and where we want to be. It’s the affirmations that will get us there. You have to speak it and believe it,” she shared.
Gail can attest to the power of the tongue and the mind as she used simple positive affirmations to turn her life around in the span of fewer than two years. Before Gail entered a life of being mentally, emotionally, spiritually, physically, and financially fit, she found herself in a tough predicament. Her bank account was low, her marriage was failing, she was separated from her children while she served some time in jail. She was at the lowest point in her life and she didn’t know how she was going to overcome it all.
“The separation from my children really forced me to make a decision about my life. I’ve got to do better. So when I made the decision to be a better woman, a better mother, a better sister, a better daughter and a better friend that is when I began to learn and look up some information, read self-help books and inspirational books,” Gail explained.
As she set out on the road to self-discovery and learned how to put herself first, she developed an interest in affirmations. She decided to practice using them to see if adding positive thoughts, words and proclamations would free herself from the negative experiences that brought her to a low point. She shares her four steps to using affirmations to change your life in 2017:
Identify What You Need to Change
Gail suggests assessing what aspect of your life needs to change. “You have to become aware of what you want to change by first acknowledging that you have a problem,” she said. Is it who you are? Who do you want to become? Do I need to change my behavior? On her road to becoming a better woman, Gail thought about the areas in her life that needed some work. She identified self-love, relationships, finances and her spirituality as her focal points to work on.
Develop a Mantra
Affirmations like, “I love myself,”“I am blessed,” “I have clear skin,” “Everybody loves Gail,” “I am open to receive,” “I am a money magnet, money comes to me,” and “I am happy” were some of Gail’s initial affirmations that she used. There is no limit to how many mantras you develop, but with every mantra, make sure the affirmations speak positively to the change that you want to make. “Come into your own awareness of your own downfall or what you are lacking. If you are in debt and you no longer want to be in debt, then make your mantra ‘I am debt free’, and that’s how you set your affirmations and start claiming them,” Gail explained.
Speak Positive to the Change
The desire to become a better you is already in you. “We’ve got it in us already, we just haven’t tapped into it yet. It’s by way of affirmation that you begin to tap into it and it ignites within and all of a sudden that fire starts burning and you believe it so now you position yourself to receive it” Gail said. Speak life into your the mantras even if you don’t believe it yet.
Repeat Until it Comes to Fruition
Once you have your mantras and found a way to speak positively about the change you then have to continue to fuel it with repetition. “I would look at myself in the mirror and start saying my mantras to myself,” she said. The life coach suggests you find ways to say or read your mantras throughout the day beginning when you wake up to before you go to bed. Gail kept saying her mantras aloud in her home, in the car and even in the elevator. She also wrote them down in her journal to read them. In the beginning, she felt silly for saying them, but the more she said them the more she started to believe it and then she was able to receive it as truth.
After continuing to repeat her affirmations she then started to notice a shift in her life by simply speaking positive change. “I didn’t see the manifestation take place, but I did see the fruition of it. Like the after-fact. Like now I have clear skin, now I love myself so I can love someone else, now I respect my money and I’m debt free,” Gail revealed.