have you used daily affirmations succesfully?

al franken's character on Saturday Night Live may have unduly stigmatized a very effective tool to help train your mind to do what you want it to do. This is a new article by Joshua Wayne on affirmations.

what has your experience been?

-PT

Link

Wed. Nov 5, 11:52am

I am not sure I agree with this. You can't change the underlying reality by just saying something new. You can change your mental approach to things. you can change your attitude. you can actually feel better after exercising. does this make sense?

Wednesday, November 05, 2008, 1:16 PM

Funny you should mention Al Franken today when he's only 600 votes under the incumbent (R) Norm Coleman. Now us folks in Minnesota are going to have this thing drug out.

A loss is a loss, but I believe it speaks volumes for Norm's character and the job (if you can call it that) he's done in term so far.

Ok enough political crap....

Judith Beck teaches cognitive therapy, change your thought patterns and pretty soon it's habit.

It has worked successfully for me. I have learned many things by training my mind and body together.

Thanks PT!

Wednesday, November 05, 2008, 1:35 PM

I'm with both PPs. Beck definitely helps with her practical advice....

The Beck Diet Solution has worked for me. However, her advice does not consist of affirmations. Rather, her program involves rational, practical advice which include "responses," tasks, checklists and some journaling - all done in a step by step manner. She helps the dieter locate his or her weight-loss issues and faulty thinking in order to change his or responses to them, perhaps even to solve them.

Affirmations, on the other hand, seem like pieces of wishful thinking that, in the end, only serve to cover up the dieter's problems. As such, unfortunately, they end up only being "new age hocus-pocus."

This is the second article I've read by Wayne. The first was okay, and I did get something out of it. But he made me think of Beck while reading it, too...sort of like a Beck-Lite. I get the sense that he's trying to follow her formula and put his own name on it. Needless to say (such a stupid phrase, since I'm gonna say it anyway!), I'm not impressed.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008, 4:58 PM

Think affirmatively

Beck sounds interesting and effective. I have been studying the idea of affirmative thinking for 22 years. Here are my thoughts:

Sometimes affirmations don't work because:
-if we are trying to manifest out of the blue, then we are asking for a thing, situation or blessing to come to us, not the other way around. It does work sometimes, but it doesn't strenghten us and so its not always for our best interests.
-one can listen to affirmations about weight loss or repeat them over and over, but if we have a sub-conscious doubt or counter-intention, the effort is instantly and easily negated by the mind. This is because the Mind is so Powerful! so don't throw the baby out with the bath water.

Affirmations do work:
-when they serve to bring up this uncomfortable counter-intention or doubt and we deal with it daily, determined to overcome self-sabotage.
-when they solidify a wisp of a hope floating through our minds. We grab onto an idea and commit to it. We can do this either by daily verbal reminders or creating a scrapbook of magazine articles with health tips we hope to re-enforce in our daily habits.

It's all about habits:
- Our habits make or break us. Making a habit of thinking positive and turning fears into hopes has an amazing transformative power in our lives.

I read about the Hawaiian traditional religion Huna. There is/was a belief there that the body is like a two year old. It is emotional, loving and impressionable. It also wants comfort. The body responds to loving guidance, and affirmations can provide that. Have you ever noticed how much more smoothly things go when you say to a child "be careful with the drink" rather than "don't spill the drink"? Try it!

"The Secret" team isn't too active. Perhaps this attitude of rotely repeating "I am beautiful. I am beautiful." is the problem. But I promise you, if you smile into your eyes in the mirror every morning and say "hi beautiful" it will bless you.

To me, my thread on the Secret Team is like a journal. I express my emotions and aspirations and I then I look back and see YES, when I commited an idea to paper, it did truly grow in a way that serves my highest good.

I AM blessing and celebrating my perfect figure now. Thank Heavens.

Wednesday, November 05, 2008, 11:15 PM

I find this kind of thing helpful. I have not used affirmations in the traditional sense mainly because I tend to be visual and kinesthetic so I appreciate that this was addressed in the linked article.

I have a long hx with meditation and art so I love the thought of meditatively either making or visualizing vision boards. Did this years ago when I was in the middle of a huge life altering weight loss and I still cherish the images.

There is a lot being studied about mirror neurons and I think the visual links people put together in visions boards may tap into that brain phenom. Wonder if auditory links fire up a similar phenom for some people.

I would LOVE to find community around this kind of thing. In essence we are that for each other in a limited sense...just wish we could share the visions some way and discuss them...maybe with a open blog or something?

The typical format here is somewhat adaptable but I find I probably wouldn't necessarily want to share the content for this kind of thing broadly because not everyone would get it.

What do others think about this kind of thing?

Hmmm as an afterthough I am linking to what I am talking about above. The little flying fat lady was wonderful company for my journey back then (5 years ago). This journey required sitting down in my bones, and taking flight. I needed to be where I was, celebrate the best there, and envision moving ahead.

I need to re-engage that process because I am facing a different leg of the journey.

I am interested in this kind of discussion at PT. So thanks!

Link

Thursday, November 06, 2008, 2:33 PM

I attribute my weightloss success not only to diet, exercise, and support from my peers but also to positive thinking. Not long after I began taking care of myself, I discovered The Secret. New Age hocus pocus? Maybe. But I think the general principle of avoiding negative people and situations and maintaining a positive outlook makes sense. It's not magic. I think people are just more productive and successful when they are content. Since I started weeding out the negative influences in my life I have lost 108 lbs, moved to a city I wanted to live in for quite some time, got a new, wonderful job (not to mention a very substantial pay-raise) and have been successfully running my own design business on the side.

This is not to say that one needs to just BELIEVE they are going to lose the weight of find the job to actually do it. I think it's more of the belief that they CAN. It keeps you from quitting or getting discouraged when you're working hard.

Weightloss is a journey that I have found to be about self-reflection and, in a way, rebirth of the body and mind.

-dothezonk

Thursday, November 06, 2008, 4:16 PM

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