Douglas Bloch

As the Olympics have just concluded, I wanted to share a story on how affirmations helped an Olympic skater to land her jumps. As reported in the New York Times, it was the short program and Gracie Gold, the American national skating champion was warming up. She could feel her legs start to tingle before she skated, a hint that they might betray her. Then the nervousness began.

On Gracie’s opening jump, a triple-triple combination, she landed her first jump with difficulty. Then a thought rushed into her head. “Is this my Olympic moment?” she recalled saying to herself. “I’m going to be on my butt?” She quickly told herself no. She fought for and landed her second triple.

Then, during her double axel, her body was off balance as it flew through the air. Her negative self-talk  piped up again and tried to discourage her. But Gracie countered with a perfect affirmation. “I’ve come too far not to land this stupid double axel,” she told herself. “I’m going to land it with a smile.” And that was what she did.

Gold finished fourth on the short program and fourth overall. Not bad for her first Olympics.

Keeping a positive mental attitude was a key in the victories of other Olympic athletes. Elite athletes athletes know that their mental preparation and mental toughness are as important, if not more important, than their physical conditioning. Affirmations are a wonderful way to keep their “eyes on the prize” and keep those negative voices at bay. 

One area that I would like to share with you has to do with affirmations for quitting smoking. I have worked with a number of smokers in the affirmations workshops I have taught.The simplest and most powerful nonsmoking affirmation is simply, “I am a nonsmoker.” But the real power of it comes with using the affirmation to uncover those unconscious beliefs that are keeping the person smoking.

In the page on this website called, Using Affirmations to Uncover Negative Beliefs, ” I introduced a two-column method that one can use to uncover any unconscious beliefs that may be blocking the expression of the affirmation. An aspiring professional golfer used this method to create an affirmation to heal her smoking habit. This is what occurred as she wrote down the affirmation and listened for the response

[one_half padding=”5px 0px 5px 5px”]Conscious Mind:

I am a nonsmoker.

I am a nonsmoker.

I am a nonsmoker

I am a nonsmoker.[/one_half][one_half_last padding=”5px 0px 5px 5px”]What Comes Up:

I’ll gain wait.

It’s one of the few pleasures I still have left.

It’s too hard to stop,

Smoking is an excusing that prevents me from giving 100% to life.[/one_half_last]

At this point, the woman bolted upright and exclaimed, “Where did that come from?!” Suddenly she realized that the real issue was not her smoking, but her fear of functioning at full capacity. To get to the root of that fear, she created a new affirmation, “I am now giving 100% to life.” This is what followed.

[one_half padding=”5px 0px 5px 5px”]Conscious Mind:

I am now giving 100% to life.

I am now giving 100% to life.

I am now giving 100% to life..[/one_half][one_half_last padding=”5px 0px 5px 5px”]What Comes Up:

I’m afraid I’ll fall short.

I’m not good enough.

Nothing I ever do is right.[/one_half_last]

When she finished, I asked her if she had ever been criticized as a child. “Everything I did was put down. I was never right.” she replied.  Here then, was the problem. Her fear of criticism and disapproval was the true cause of her lack of participation in life. Smoking was merely a symptom.

The significance of this type of breakthrough cannot be overstated.  Like peeling the layers of an onion, the affirmation-dialogue process allows one to go deeper and deeper  until the core of the problem is at last revealed.

I encourage you to use the affirmation-dialogue process  to  bring your most deeply held assumptions about life to the light of day where they can be transmuted into new beliefs. Here are some  nonsmoking affirmations you can use with this technique.

I am a nonsmoker.

I have successfully quit smoking.

My lungs are strong and vibrant.

I am breathing freely and deeply.

I love running (cycling, swimming, hiking, etc. Use any aerobic activity).

I am able to release old habits.

Every day, in every way,  I am  adopting new healthy habits.

Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.

I am now living a smoke-free life.

I enjoy living a smoke-free life.

People often ask me what are the best affirmations for practicing gratitude. I answer by saying that thankfulness is one of the key ingredients for our progress along the path. So often we lose sight of what we have to be grateful for—our health, friends, material comfort, and most importantly, the gift of life itself. Practicing gratitude can be enhanced by affirmations.

Every situation in life, even the apparent tragedy, has a “silver lining.” Praising and giving thanks invokes this good and helps to bring it into being. Even painful experiences become bittersweet when we know that the universe is working out its perfect plan through them. Take a look at your life. Are you giving thanks for all your experiences? If you are reacting negatively to a specific situation, try a different approach.

Give thanks for the condition being just the way it is. Then observe what happens. As your attitude about the condition changes, the circumstances surrounding it will be transformed. Such is the miraculous power of giving thanks in all things. 

Affirmations

 1. I give thanks for every experience that I have.

 2. I say yes to the universe.

 3. It’s all unfolding perfectly.

 4. Every experience in my life brings me closer to God.

 5. In every aspect of my life, I am truly blessed.

 Words to Consider

“When you learn to love hell, you will be in heaven.” –Proverb

Lazy Man’s Guide to Enlightenment

 The technique of creative visualization and affirmations are closely related. One might even call them fraternal twins. While affirmations work by repeating the spoken word, creative visualization works by creating pictures in the mind that reflect the outcome that one is seeking.

Creative visualization is a technique that is employed by elite athletes in many sports. Recently, the technique was used in the 2014 Winter Olympics by coach Brian Orser, who coached figure skater Yuzuru Hanu of Japan to a gold medal in figure skating.

In an interview in the Toronto Star,  Orser said, “I’ve been visualizing my two skaters on the podium.  At 11:11am every day I close my eyes and I visualize that. I’ve been doing after two months.”

Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve. Whether it is affirming your good or visualizing it coming to pass, affirmations and creative visualization are wonderful tools to help you turn your dreams into a reality.