Affirmations: Our Mental Vitamins

"Affirmations are our mental vitamins providing the supplementary positive thoughts we need to balance the barrage of negative events we experience daily." (Tia Walker)

Edwene Gaines, author of Four Spiritual Laws of Prosperity, recommends that if you want to conquer your goals, you take the 21-Day Affirmation Challenge (http://ourprosperouslife.com/21-day-affirmation-challenge/2014/03/31). Make a list of goals, then make a list of positive, life-affirming statements to support each goal.  (If you are a Christian, you can make a list of 21 Bible verses.) Write them down on index cards.  For example, "I am happily vacationing two months of the year in a tropical paradise and working just four days a week on my own business." (http://jackcanfield.com/visualize-and-affirm-your-desired-outcomes-a-step-by-step-guide/)  After 21 days, the aim is for the statements to have passed from your conscious into your subconscious mind.

As Jack Canfield says, "Visualization and affirmations allow you to change your beliefs, assumptions and opinions about the most important person in your life -- YOU!"  If you set aside a day to add up how much self-talk you do, you would be amazed at how much time you spend in the process.  It is too easy to get bogged down in negative self-talk, to beat yourself up about what has gone wrong in your life.  Unlearn the habit of negative self-talk; it will uplift your spirit.

As a writer, I appreciate stories of authors who overcome rejection and go on to publish their books..  Jack Canfield, co-author of Chicken Soup for the Soul, was rejected 144 times for his manuscript "Anthologies don't sell," was the standard response he received.  Jack Canfield employed visualization and affirmation to overcome the repeated rejections.

"When we were writing the very first Chicken Soup for the Soul book, we took a copy of the New York Times bestseller list, scanned it into our computer, and using the same font as the newspaper, typed Chicken Soup for the Soul into the number one position in the "Paperback Advice, How To and Miscellaneous" category.  We printed several copies and hung them around the office.  Less than two years later, our book was the number one book in that category and stayed there for over a year!"(http://jackcanfield.com/visualize-and-affirm-your-desired-outcomes-a-step-by-step-guide/)

https://www.powerofpositivity.com/11-powerful-affirmations-help-treat-depression-anxiety/

My Vision Board 2017

Imagination x Vividness = Reality

I remember reading Glenna's Goal Book in the original edition of Chicken Soup for the Soul back in 1993.  Glenna was a divorced mother of three with a house payment, a car payment and a dream.  She attended a seminar where the speaker explained the principal of I x V = R (Imagination x Vividness = Reality).  She decided to make a goal scrapbook to help achieve her goals which she succeeded in doing right down to the last one on her list http://alinefromlinda.blogspot.ca/2015/01/glennas-goal-book.html.

Like Glenna, I am a goal-oriented person.  Two years ago, I made something similar to a goal scrapbook, a vision board.  At the end of the year, I examined the pictures and realized that I had achieved much of what I set out to do.  Last year, I made a second vision board.  Once again, I was successful at reaching the majority of my goals.  

The key word is "vision".  Visualization is a vital part of the process.  Study the pictures and set them in your mind.  Think about them as you go about your day.  Picture yourself as already reaching your goal, of crossing the finish line.  

   

My vision board for 2017 courtesy Thomas Jonasson.

In the centre of my board is the Bible verse:  The same Power who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you (Romans 8:11).  What daily inspiration for my journey!  

My goals include:

1.  Supporting Thomas in his musical endeavours.

2.  Creating a War Room or Prayer Room.

3.  Reading the Bible from cover to cover.

4.  Editing my new picture book, Mr. Tufts' Ties this winter.

5.  Using my time more wisely.

6.  Maintaining a healthy eating routine.  

7.  Sending my picture book manuscript The Hockey Stick to Canadian publishers.

8.  Organizing my space more wisely.

9.  Sending Jacqueline to HDCH this fall.

10.  Sending Jacqueline to Kentucky on a mission trip this spring.

11.  Rob and I spending our 25th anniversary in the Maritimes this summer.

12.  Signing my first book contract!

13.  Reading 26 books, one every other week (added after photo was taken).

So why not make your own Vision Board this year?  

Sacrifice: Part of Success

"To forfeit something for something else considered to have greater value." 

(American Heritage Dictionary)

Society preaches that we can have our cake and eat it too.  We see headlines like "Get ripped without long workouts!" and "Get rich without having to work hard!" and "Loose 20 pounds and eat what you want!" and "Buy a house and pay nothing down!"  The message is that we can reach our goals without giving up anything else.  It comes as no surprise, then, that the United States has a credit card debt of $886 billion!

As Frederick Douglass once said:  "A man,at times, gets something for nothing, but it will, in his hands, amount to nothing."  If you don't work to earn your fortune, you don't appreciate it nearly as much.  With every goal comes sacrifice.  If you want to become a doctor, you must give up time with your family and friends to put in the necessary hours at medical school.  If you want to become a blockbuster actor, you must give up your anonymity for fame.  If you want to become a proficient writer, you must knuckle down and write daily, rather than watching television or shopping at the mall.

Take the story of Le Van Vu.  He belonged to a successful family in North Vietnam who, in the early 1960's, owned one third of the real estate.  His father was killed by the Communists, forcing he and his mother to flee to South Vietnam.  Le worked hard in school and became a lawyer.  Capitalizing on the increasing American presence in the South by the mid-1960's, Le became a successful builder. However, on a trip to the North, Le was captured and imprisoned.

After three years, Le made a daring escape and returned to the South and his family.  He started a fishing company, soon becoming the largest canner in South Vietnam.  However, with the Communists threatening to invade, Le made a decision:  he and his wife decided to leave Vietnam. 

In exchange for all of the gold he owned, Le sought passage to the Phillipines.  In only two years, he developped the fishing industry in his new country.  

However, the Van Vu's ultimate goal was to go to America.  On the trip across the Atlantic, Le became demoralized at the thought of starting over yet again.  He was about to jump overboard when his wife stopped him, promising to help him along the journey.  His wife's encouragement was all that he needed.  

They arrived in Houston, Texas with no money and no knowledge of English.  Le's cousin invited them to work at his bakery during the day and they took English courses at night.  The cousin offered to sell him the bakery once he came up with the $30,000 down payment.  Le knew that if he rented an apartment, it would take him forever to come up with the money.  So he and his wife lived in the back of the bakery for two years, surviving on a diet of baked goods and taking sponge baths in the mall's washroom.  

After two years, Le presented his cousin with a cheque for $30,000.  Now he owned the bakery.  But he wasn't ready to move into an apartment just yet.  He and his wife continued to live in the back of the bakery until they could come up with the $90,000 balance they owed Le's cousin.  Finally, after another year of sponge baths and baked goods, Le made good on his promise, presenting his cousin with a cheque for the remainder of the loan; he owned the bakery free and clear.

Twenty years later, at the publishing of his story in Chicken Soup for the Soul, Le Van Vu was a millionaire many times over.  For the entire story, read 2.  "Willing to Pay the Price", Chicken Soup for the Soul (1993) at http://www.chickensoup.com/book-story/36237/willing-to-pay-the-price. 

Source:  www.theartofmanliness.com

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Nothing Replaces Hard Work

"If you have talent and refuse to work hard -- so what?  It will not make a difference in your life." (www.career-success-for-newbies.com)

There is no magic formula to achieving your goals.  Success doesn't just fall into your lap.  While committing to your goals is the first step, working towards achieving them is just as important.  Be persistent and keep the bigger picture in mind.  Know that there will be days where you will tire of the routine.  As one blogger says:  "Achieving goals isn't always about a daily cork popping ceremony to celebrate something sensational that you did."

John Corcoran, who battled illiteracy for decades, learned that hard work paid off.  In Grade 2, when his classmates already knew how to read, he struggled.  The letters were all jumbled.  His teacher became frustrated with him.  The other students laughed at him.  Nobody knew that he had dyslexia, an unheard of term at the time.  

And yet, despite his inability to read, he was passed from grade to grade.  With each year, John was more and more embarrassed about his illiteracy.  He could never bring himself to own up to it.  High school did not improve the situation.  Somehow, he was accepted at college.  He made sure he enrolled in classes where the professors gave multiple choice, rather than essay question, tests. Astonishingly, he received his degree and embarked on a teaching career.  He made sure that he picked his strong students to read paragraphs, stories or books to the class.

John got married and revealed to his wife that he couldn't read.  She was astonished.  He went on to make money in real estate.  However, the economy bottomed out and John was on the verge of bankruptcy.  He had visions of going to court and having to read something on the witness stand.  He couldn't keep up the masquerade any longer.  First, he mortgaged his house for collateral.  Second, he visited the Carlsbad Library and told the librarian he was illiterate.  At the age of 48, John, with the help of a tutor, sat down and did the necessary work to learn how to read.

All of a sudden, he was on fire for reading.  He read every book and magazine he could get his hands on.  He read the road signs aloud to his wife as they drove down the street.  And he dusted off the 25-year-old love letters from his wife, reading their contents for the very first time.  He went on to deliver speeches about overcoming illiteracy, calling it "a form of slavery".  Nothing could replace the time and effort that John put into solving his problem.  He did the work and reaped the rewards.  For the entire story, read http://www.chickensoup.com/book-story/36251/john-corcoran-the-man-who-couldnt-read.

John Corcoran wrote a book about his life called The Teacher wWo Couldn't Read  

http://www.amazon.ca/The-Teacher-Who-Couldnt-Read/dp/1427798303.

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John Corcoran courtesy 

http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/rvp/pubaf/chronicle/v13/o7/corcoran.jpg.

Visualize Your Goals Continually

"Cherish your visions and your dreams as they are children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements." (Napoleon Hill)

As I said in my post "Conceive, Believe, Achieve", visualization can do more than any other exercise to bring you closer to your goals.  Once you have written down your life's goals, continue to visualize them as you go about your day, your week, your year.

Brian Tracy says that if you tap into your superconscious, what Christians call the Holy Spirit, you can accomplish more in a year than others do in a lifetime.  If you change the mental pictures on the inside, you will change your outside world to correspond with those pictures.  If you want a quality, imagine you already have it.  If you want a job, imagine you already have it.  As Whitney Young Jr. said, "It is better to be prepared for an opportunity and not have one than to have an opportunity and not be prepared.  

Take for instance Miami sanitation worker Les Brown.  He dreamed of becoming a disc jockey.  He would take a transistor radio to bed at night and listen to the local deejays.  Grabbing his hairbrush as a microphone, he would practise his speech, introducing records to the radio audience.  One day, on his lunch break from cutting grass, he visited the local radio station and asked for a job.  Once the radio manager realized he had no experience in broadcasting he turned him down flat.  

However, Les was determined to pursue his dream, not just because he loved radio, but because his higher goal was to earn enough money to purchase a house for his mother.  So Les returned to the radio station everyday for a week.  Finally, the manager relented and gave him a job as an errand boy, without pay.  The disc jockeys saw how dedicated he was to his job and they started sending him in their Cadillacs to pick up visiting celebrities like The Temptations and The Supremes.  While hanging out with the deejays, Les taught himself how to work the control panels, preparing for the opportunity he knew would present itself.  

One night, the deejay on duty was drinking himself into a stupor.  Les kept a close eye on him, ready to take over when necessary.  The inevitable call came from the station manager asking Les if he would phone the other deejays to find a replacement.  Les hung up, but instead of phoning deejays, he phoned his mother and asked her to turn on the radio.  Fifteen minutes later, he phoned the station manager saying he couldn't find a replacement.  The manager asked him if he knew how to work the controls to which he replied yes.  Les hung up the phone, jumped into the deejay's chair, flipped on the microphone switch and in a confident voice announced:  "Look out, this is me, L.B., triple P -- Les Brown, your Platter Playing Poppa!"  He went on to a career not only in broadcasting but also television, politics and public speaking. 

 Source:  "Look Out Baby, I'm Your Love Man", Chicken Soup for the Soul (1993) at http://www.chickensoup.com/book-story/36236/look-out-baby-im-your-love-man.

For more information, read Your Inner Will by Piero Ferucci at http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/your-inner-will-piero-ferrucci/1118663341?ean=9780399171840.