7 Benefits of a Daily Affirmation Plan

Affirmations are not only for manifesting a specific goal. They’re meant to encourage a life filled with positivity and gratitude. While they do help you achieve certain goals, there’s more to them than that. Let’s say you manifested the job you wanted. Now what? Do you drop the “I am the boss” affirmation? Yes, you do drop that one but you should replace it with a new affirmation. Something like, “I like my job,” or “I enjoy learning new things every day.” The affirmation plan is a never-ending life practice.

The Benefits of Daily Affirmation

1. You become aware of your daily thoughts and words, reducing the risk of letting negativity seep in.
2. You notice more synchronicities in your life, which serves to encourage and motivate you to keep up the practice.  
3. Daily affirmations not only help keep you surrounded by the things you want in your life but they help bring about more blessings and gifts.
4. A daily practice helps to keep the small things in perspective. In this high-speed world you can easily lose sight of how large the small things really are. When healthy you may forget to think of how much you appreciate it. A simple morning affirmation sentence of “I am healthy” can go a long way.
5. A recent study shows that optimistic people have healthier hearts, and affirmations help you to stay positive.
6. As you continue this practice, others take note and you begin to help those around you without even trying. This, in turn, helps keep you focused.
7. Daily affirmations keep you in a constant state of gratitude.
   

Affirmations of Gratitude

Gratitude helps you stay positive and should be practiced daily. The problem is that gratitude for certain things can morph over time. For example, you got that great job after scoping it out for months, interviewing five times, and purchasing a new wardrobe to fit the title. At first you were ecstatic, jumping up and down and calling everyone you know to tell them what you manifested. Fast forward two years. The hours are long, you haven’t received a raise, and your boss blames you for things that have nothing to do with you. By now your level of gratitude for this job is different. Perhaps you’re even trying to manifest a new job and have dropped your affirmations of gratitude for this one.

Try this approach instead: Continue with your affirmations of being very thankful for your position and what it provides. The negatives are still there but using the affirmations to help you focus on the positive aspects will give more power to the other set of affirmations in your practice. Affirmations for what you are or who you are aspiring to become are important but should not hold more weight than the affirmations of gratitude for what you’ve already manifested.

Learn more about the power of appreciation with What You Appreciate Appreciates or try out this hour-by-hour positivity plan.

Melissa Carver specializes in Metaphysics, guiding her clients through the art of manifestation with one-on-one webinars and in-person sessions. Melissa is also a graduate of the Chopra Center University, completing her certification in the Perfect Health: Ayurvedic Lifestyle program.

4 Signs You're Not Trusting Your Instincts

**As seen on http://www.valorieburton.com/blog/ March 8, 2015**

A few days ago, I felt moved to post this on Facebook:

“You know truth when you see it. Your spirit knows. Stop doubting and over analyzing. Trust your instincts.”

It is a simple truth, but one we often need to be reminded of.  If you’ve ever second guessed yourself only to remember later why you should not second guess yourself, you understand why being reminded of the power of trusting your instincts is so important. I believe our instincts are a divine gift – a sixth sense, the guidance of the Holy Spirit.  It isn’t always explainable, but it is always powerful.  

This week, I want to remind you to trust your instincts on that decision you are making, that relationship you’re contemplating, or that conversation it’s time to have.  Pray about it. Listen, not just with your ears, but with your spirit. And muster the courage to act on it.  If you don’t, you’ll likely regret it – just like you have before. 

We often don’t trust our instincts because of past mistakes. But if you are truly honest, you might just realize that in those past “mistakes,” your instincts were not wrong. They were ignored. Telling yourself the truth is the first step to getting unstuck.  Often, the truth is that we had a nagging feeling about the relationship, but moved forward anyway. We didn’t really want to take that job, but we didn’t have the patience or boldness to go for what we really wanted.  We didn’t feel at peace about that decision, but let someone talk us into. If you had followed your intuition, the outcome may indeed have been different. Consider these four signs that you’re not trusting your instincts, and this week, make a commitment to pay attention:

  

1.You have that nagging feeling.

You know the feeling? Don’t do that. Something’s not quite right. The timing is off. Pay attention to those divine nudges in your spirit.  If you don’t feel at peace about something, don’t move forward.

2.You’re busy asking everyone’s opinion.

If the right decision isn’t necessarily the popular decision (especially if you are an approval addict), it can be tempting to seek other opinions. Wise counsel is good. People pleasing is not. Get off the phone, stop asking for opinions, and get quiet. Notice the answer that presents itself when you listen to that still, small voice.

3.The truth makes you uncomfortable.

You can either deal with it now or deal with it later. Sometimes your instincts lead you in a direction that stretches you beyond your comfort zone. And that will always make you UN-comfortable.  That nagging truth might be inconvenient, but the sooner you acknowledge it, the better off you’ll be.

4.You are overly-logical.

Don’t get me wrong. Logic has its place. We must be strategic. But sometimes the pivotal decisions in life are not the most obvious.  They are leaps of faith.  You won’t always be able to figure it all out ahead of time.  Take it one step at a time.

  

My challenge to you:

Get quiet. Trust your instincts.

Valorie Burton is a bestselling author, speaker, and life coach dedicated to helping people get unstuck and be unstoppable in every area of life. She is the founder of The Coaching and Positive Psychology (CaPP) Institute and has served as a Certified Personal and Executive Coach to hundreds of clients in over 40 states and ten countries. - See more at: http://www.valorieburton.com/

Walk In Your Own Heels!

Hello my sisters! 

It is officially summer. After the winter we just endured I will dare not complain on these hot days, even though it is tempting. One of the things I am observing the most is the conversations of women discussing their “summer bodies” and doing much comparing. At this time of year it is not uncommon to hear women not only comparing themselves to each other, but also to their former selves. I’m not sure that as women we understand how truly detrimental it is to our self-esteem and self-image to constantly compare ourselves to others. We must evolve to a place where we celebrate our own uniqueness and love the skin that we are in. Instead of trading places with women who appear to have everything we think we want, we must be confident enough to WALK IN OUR OWN HEELS!

In our conversations, as innocent as they seem, where we constantly compare ourselves to others and secretly desire to trade places with them; we are really truly harboring discontentment in our hearts. Discontentment eats away at our peace. It is hard to have peace when we are not content and satisfied with who and where we are. My sincere desire for all of you amazing women of God is to see you not only love God but also love yourselves, His workmanship. When you truly achieve healthy self-love and esteem you no longer desire to be anyone else or walk in their shoes. Instead you enjoy WALKING IN YOUR OWN HEELS.

You are God’s masterpiece! This passage lets us know that God has handcrafted us and we are his marvelous works. Think about it. We are always singing and exclaiming that He does all things well. Do we truly process the fact that we are included in that? We offer Him praise when we honor and appreciate His handiwork. You my sister are his marvelous handiwork! If you desire to be anything else you express to God that what He created wasn’t good enough; and we know everything He does is spectacular.

There is no else like you! Have you really thought about that? For the billions of people that have and will ever live there is not one like you. There is something unique and special you bring to the earth that not one soul can bring but you. When we spend time in the presence of God to discover what it is that makes us unique our self-esteem and self-love automatically increase. There is nothing as fulfilling as discovering what God gave you that He didn’t give anyone else. Once you discover your unique factor, you can continue to enhance your esteem and self-love by cultivating that skill/ability and sharpening what you have. Just like any other type of investment you will find that the more you invest in yourself the more value you will feel.

Your uniqueness will lead you to your purpose! The gifts and abilities that God has given you are a direct indicator to your purpose. Do you want to know why you are here and what you were created to do? Once you spend time in the presence of God and He reveals what makes you unique and your gifts you will find they will lead you right to what He has created you to do. Once you step into that purpose space that was personally designed just for you, you will never again feel the temptation to compare yourself to another sister or even desire to be her because you will be creating a life that you love!

I heard a singer recently say in their song, “I was losing at being you but I’m winning at being me.” That line really got stuck in my head. It is such a strong statement. When we attempt to be like other people we will always be mere copy. But why would we settle for a copy when we are already an original masterpiece of our own. No one can be you like you can so don’t leave that spot unclaimed. 

Enjoy being you my sister. The only person we should compare ourselves to is the person in the mirror and constantly making her better. Don’t desire to be anyone else. Walk confidently in your own heels!

Tiffany Bethea is an Author, Speaker, Mompreneur and founder of Lifestyle Brand She-EO Life. As a licensed minister and marketing consultant she combines personal development and business development to help women leaders master total life harmony and create lucrative business results. She-EO Life = Spirit, Soul, Body and Business Wellness.

www.tiffanybethea.com

@TiffanyLBethea

Tiffany Bethea

Author| Speaker| Mompreneur