Include This New Year’s Resolution

Cheers to a new beginning and another chance for us to make the very best of it!

Undoubtedly, the days, weeks and months ahead will be filled with incredible highs and stressful lows.  But in any case, we can train our minds to make the best of the present moment as it unfolds.

The mind is like a muscle, and just like every muscle in the human body, it needs to be exercised to gain strength.  It needs to be trained daily to grow and develop gradually over time.  If you haven’t pushed your mind in thousands of little, positive ways over time, of course, it’ll crumble on the one day things get overwhelmingly stressful.  Positive affirmations are one of the simplest and most powerful tools for doing this.  A mind well trained with positive affirmations has the right thoughts queued up and ready for retrieval at a moment’s notice. Here is a starter set of mind affirmations for the New Year:

1. “The biggest and most complex obstacle I will ever have to overcome is my mind.  If I can overcome that, I can overcome anything.”
2. “I cannot control exactly what happens in life, but I can control how I respond to it all.  In my response is my greatest power.”
3. “I have to accept whatever comes my way, and the only important thing is that I meet it with the best I have to give.”
4. “I will stop focusing on how stressed I am and remember how blessed I am.  Complaining won’t change my reality, but a positive attitude will.”
5. “Being positive does not mean ignoring the negative.  Being positive means overcoming the negative.  There is a big difference between the two.”
6. “I will not get caught up in what could’ve been or should’ve been.  I will look instead at the power and possibility of what is right now.”
7. “I am not a product of my circumstances.  I am a product of my decisions.  It’s about not letting my fear decide my future.”
8. “I will get back up.  Again, and again.  The faster I recover from setbacks, the faster I’ll get to where I’m going in life.”
9. “My next step in the right direction does not have to be a big one.”
10. “Patience is a genuine expression of confidence, acceptance, serenity, and faith in my ability.  It’s a sign of strength.  I will practice it.”[1]

Only you can control how you train.

[1] Adapted from http://www.marcandangel.com/2017/01/02/20-powerful-affirmations-we-should-say-to-ourselves-this-year/

    Until next time, remember,

• You are not alone.

• You are not your circumstances.

• You have everything within you to live a purpose-filled life.