31 Positive Affirmations for Every Day of the Month

31 Positive Affirmations for Every Day of the Month

by | Dec 21, 2016 | Mindfulness/Meditation

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I’m going to be brutally honest here. I used to think positive affirmations were a whole lot of bologna [ yup, just said that phrase, and yup, no one other than your grandmother has used it in the last 30 years].

I just didn’t get it.

Looking into the mirror, or closing my eyes, saying a phrase was not going to get me anything. It wasn’t going to make me beautiful or successful or a badass. It wasn’t going to make my bank account double or have clients show up on my doorstep begging to work with me. It wasn’t going to magically help me meet prince charming who was going to whisk me away to a tropical paradise to live and bask in the sun all day.

Positive affirmations can’t do that.

And I got caught up in what they couldn’t do.

Until I realized that positive affirmations had been everywhere in my life, I just hadn’t noticed them yet.

They were there when I was up to bat in the 10th inning of the National Championship game when I was 19. They were there when I quit my job to teach English and travel Southeast Asia on my own. They were there when I decided to open myself back up to love after a heartbreak. They were there when I took the plunge into private practice when I only had 2 clients.

They were ALWAYS there.

Because I believed in myself and had been raised on the mindset of constantly telling myself I believed in myself.

You’re going to get a hit. You deserve to travel. You have so much love to give. You are successful.

These were the positive affirmations that I told myself without realizing it.

So now that I have the awareness that I’ve used positive affirmations in my life on the daily my whole life and I KNOW that they work, I’m a big believer in championing my clients to integrate them into their daily life.

And even though my opinion on positive affirmations has now changed, I do believe that along with the new mindset you are creating you MUST take action.

Let me repeat that again for all of you who need reminders:

YOU MUST TAKE ACTION.

You gotta get up and do something!

You can’t just sit there, say the words, and **POOF** amazingness happens.

And when you start believe in these affirmations and say your favorites daily, the more you will take action, the more you will put yourself out there, the more you will take chances, the more you will make changes, the more amazingness will just happen.

I guarantee it.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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So what I want you to do is this:

list 3 things you can do during the day so that you fulfill that affirmation.

For example, here are 3 things I can do during the day so that I fulfill this affirmation: “I deserve to thrive.”  I’m going to pick an area of my life where I feel like I am not thriving, but surviving. So for this example I am going to choose: HEALTH.

1.  I am going to stretch in the morning and loosen up my body.

2. I’m going to spend some time outside and exercise (if its raining or snowing, I will make sure I do some activity in the house that makes me sweat – yoga on YouTube, 8 minute abs, etc.).

3.  I am going to plan a healthy meal for dinner (thanks Pinterest!).

Does doing these things change my life? No. But they do get me a step closer to what I want, to thrive. They put me on the path and if I create habits out of these 3 things, I will definitely be closer to thriving in my health.

So I invite you to try it too. And let me know how it goes.

And don’t worry! I have you covered. I have made a tracker for your affirmations and your tasks. Its in my Your Best Self Workbook. Grab yours inside the Thrive Resource Library HERE!

And if you’re into the workbook, then you definitely won’t want to miss the Your Best Self email course. Check it out!

I give you examples of action-steps you can take to feel ALL of these affirmations and make sure you are feeling your BEST SELF.

I have something you will love.

A weekly email course where each week deep dives into a new affirmation, gives you ideas for action-steps to FEEL that affirmation and manifest it in your life, take steps towards THRIVING, and be your BEST SELF.

You will also receive self care tips, inpiration, and self discovery questions to help you explore who you are and how to move forward in your life, get UNSTUCK and start THRIVING.

You're going to LOVE it.

Join my 5-day email course to check it out now!

(The Your Best Self Email Course is a part of the Thrive Resource library)

Are you ready to get going and create YOUR BEST SELF?

I’m here to help you and SO want you to get what you want..

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Do you need a mindset shift?

Use these affirmations to shift your mindset towards growth and positivity!

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety: Breathing Colors

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety: Breathing Colors

by | Nov 12, 2016 | Mindfulness/Meditation

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The breathing colors activity also builds off of the breath awareness exercise.  It uses all the same techniques, noticing your breath, how it moves in and out of your nostrils, and how it flows through your lungs and into your body.  But instead of simply focusing on your breath, you are going to give it a color.

Select a color for the in-breath and a different color for the out-breath.

You can even choose a color if you are holding your breath in between (if you choose to hold).

Choose your colors before you begin the exercise. Close your eyes and imagine your in-breath color. See it clearly even though your eyes are closed. Feel the color. Imagine it enveloping your entire body. Sit with that color for a few moments. Really get to know it.

Let’s practice using your in-breath color completely on its own.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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Bring your attention to your breath, not changing it in any way.

Just noticing for a few breaths. Now, as you breathe in, imagine your breath is the color you have chosen. Imagine the color entering through your nostrils (or mouth if you are more comfortable) and moving through your body. Imagine the color moving through your nose, to your throat, to your lungs, and then out to all the parts of your body, all the way out to the tips of your fingers and toes.

Imagine the color become bolder with each breath you give it.

The more life you give your body, the brighter the color becomes. As you begin to feel more confident with your breath and your color, you can start to incorporate the out-breath color.

Instead of flowing through your nostrils out into your body, your out-breath color moves backwards. It moves from the tips of your fingers and toes, back through the body, into the lungs, up through the throat, out the nostrils, and out into the world.

Continue to breathe your colors. Imagining them getting brighter and bolder with each life-giving breath.

More on mindfulness:

What is Mindfulness?

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety

Breath Awareness Exercise

Progressive Breathing Exercise

Body Scan Exercise

Alien Objects Exercise

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety: Alien Objects

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety: Alien Objects

by | Nov 11, 2016 | Mindfulness/Meditation

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Alien Objects is a super fun (at least I think so) mindfulness exercise that forces you to take on a whole new perspective on the things around you. Often we see the same things every day. On the road to work we see the same billboards, the same stop lights (or if you’re like me and live on an island without stop lights, you see the same stop signs), the same trees, maybe even the same people if you commute via public transportation.  You see the same people, eat the same foods, and hold the same cell phone.

But what if it was all new to you?

Like you had never seen any of it before. Like you had landed on a new planet and it was completely different than Earth.

This is the essence of the Alien Objects exercise.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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Everything is BRAND SPANKING NEW.

So I want you to grab something that you see every day. I’m tempted to say grab your phone, but I also don’t want you to be distracted by incoming texts, Facebook or Instagram notifications (or Snapchat for you hip kids), or reminders that you need to send an email.

But using your phone might be the ULTIMATE mindfulness exercise because its so darn tempting.

For the sake of this exercise, I’m going to use the phone. Because its one thing that I know we all have and the one thing that sometimes seems to rule our lives, so it might be fun to gain a little perspective on labeling it a “foreign object” that isn’t attached to our hip.

So grab your phone and just take it in for a second. Feel its weight.  How it feels in your hand. The curves. The texture.

Imagine that this is something that you have never done before.

That this object in your hand is brand new, that you’ve never seen it before, that you actually have no idea what it is. That you have no idea what it even does, what its used for, why people would even want it.

Notice everything about the phone. Describe each and every feature of it. How would you describe it to your best friend? How would you tell them about it so that they could picture what you are holding?

Notice.

Notice how the screen reflects. Notice how the buttons feel under your finger. Notice how it lights up when you press one. Imagine seeing it light up for the first time and your surprise.  Why does it light up? What is it for? What can I do with it?

Come back to the color. The textures. The weight of the phone in your hand. Move it around. Describe it again. Do you notice anything different than what you noticed before?

Now, put it down and leave it for a moment.

Imagine that you didn’t need it. That it was just some random object that you picked up on this foreign planet.

<<Whoops, didn’t realize that was going to turn into a meditation on letting go of your phone for a moment.>>

I encourage you to do this briefly with an object every day (or every other day – however often you want, just try to make a small habit out of it). It will not only slow you down for a moment, allow your mind to clear of all the to-do lists and “have tos,” but it will cause your perspective to shift and for gratitude for the things in your life to seep in.

More on mindfulness:

What is Mindfulness?

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety

Breath Awareness Exercise

Progressive Breathing Exercise

Body Scan Exercise

Breathing Colors Exercise

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety: Body Scan

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety: Body Scan

by | Nov 9, 2016 | Mindfulness/Meditation

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The body scan is one of the first mindfulness exercises I learned and fell in love right away.  There are a ton of variations of it for different circumstances, but for the sake of simplicity, I will cover the most basic body scan exercise.

A body scan is pretty much what it sounds like, a mental scan of your body.

When I first started practicing the body scan, I would do it before bed when I had too many thoughts running through my head, or I was anxious about the upcoming day, or had a particularly tough day, or was suddenly thinking of all the best ideas in the world. I feel like most people can relate to that sudden “inspiration” that hits right before you want to go to bed or the running through the next day’s to-do list.  For me, its often the sudden hard-core motivation to work out and get into shape, which I think is hilarious, because unfortunately, the next morning when I actually can do the workouts, that motivation is mysteriously gone.

Anyways, I digress, much like I do when I’m trying to focus on the body scan, which is why it is such a perfect practice. It gives the mind something tangible to do. Unlike the breath practice I described earlier, the body scan has a much more physical nature to it and for me, seems to occupy my mind and hold my attention a lot longer.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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The body scan is about bringing your attention to each and every one of your body parts as you move from your toes to your head.

I tend to move up one leg, move over to the next leg, and then up the body, starting with my big toe. You can do it anyway you like, put your own spin on it, or do it exactly how I do it, the most important thing is bringing your awareness to your body.

With each body part your mind comes to, send 5 breaths its way. Focus on the body part. How it feels, how it moves, how it interacts with the other parts of your body (this is a great exercise if you want to focus on one body part – maybe you’re feeling tension in your back while sitting in your chair at work and you need a stress relieving activity between emails).

Fill that body part with your breath. Let the breath seep into your muscles and bones.

For example, let’s use the shoulders (this was my focus this morning as I was feeling quite tight when my 6-month fell asleep on me).  Bring your mind to your shoulders. Notice any tightness or tension that you may be feeling. Bring your attention to where your shoulder muscles attach to your neck. How your shoulder muscles make the rest of your back feel.

The body scan can take a few minutes or it could take 30. It depends how slow you want to take it and how deep you want to go into each body part. It can be a quick break between meetings or a full-on night time ritual that you use to relax your body and mind before bed.

More on mindfulness:

 

What is Mindfulness?

 

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety

 

Breath Awareness Exercise

 

Progressive Breathing Exercise

 

Alien Objects Exercise

Breathing Colors Exercise

5 mindfulness exercises to calm your anxiety: Progressive Breathing

5 mindfulness exercises to calm your anxiety: Progressive Breathing

by | Nov 7, 2016 | Mindfulness/Meditation

Are you ready for BIG CHANGE in your life but unsure of where to start?

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Progressive breathing …

is a mindfulness activity that I have found particularly helpful to people that need a stronger sense of control in their lives and a way to ease and calm anxiety. It incorporates the aspects of the breath awareness practice and builds on it to create a sense of control, patience, and calmness to the practice.

NOTE: There are many variations of the practice and you are free to tweak it however works for you. I have used multiple variations with my clients based on their preferences, what they are comfortable with, and their level of anxiety. You are also free to find a pattern that works for you and instead of doing progressive breathing, keeping to a breathing pattern that speaks to you and calms you at your own pace.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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Progressive breathing is helpful because when we are often trying to catch our breath, we may take a deep, long in-breath and then shoot it out as fast as possible on the out-breath. This is actually counter-productive. We want to have a slow in-breath and an equal to or even slower out-breath.

Actually try it right now.

Take a big deep breath, maybe even take three to four seconds to get all that air in there. Hold it for a moment, and then let all the air out in a “huff.” Note how that felt.

Now, lets try again.

Take a big deep breath, the same length as your previous breath, hold it for a moment, and then slowly let it out, taking the same amount of time that you took on your in-breath. Now how did that feel?

I’m hoping it felt better because it sure does for me.

In this progressive breathing exercise, you will be keeping one pattern the entire time:

breathe in, hold, breathe out, breathe in, hold, breathe out, breathe in, hold, breathe out.

What progressively changes is the amount of seconds it takes for you to complete an action.

For example, we will start with one second and move to two.

Take a breath in for one second (you may want to count in your head if you are on your own, or you can listen to my recording below if you would like to be guided), hold for one second, and then release your breath for one second.  Let’s do this a couple times so you can feel comfortable noticing your breath and begin preparing to manipulate it. Now, breathe in for two seconds, hold for two seconds, and release your breath for two seconds.

You can continue for as long as you would like, but I typically go to ten and then if I feel like it is necessary to continue, I will progressively move back down.  I’m sure that breathing in for ten seconds, holding your breath for ten seconds, and then slowing breathing out for ten seconds sounds a little crazy right now as you read this, but if you focus on the progressive slow increment movements towards 10, it is completely attainable.

And feels really good!

More on mindfulness:

 

What is Mindfulness?

 

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety

 

Breath Awareness Exercise

 

Body Scan Exercise

 

Alien Objects Exercise

Breathing Colors Exercise

5 mindfulness exercises to calm your anxiety: Breath Awareness

5 mindfulness exercises to calm your anxiety: Breath Awareness

by | Nov 3, 2016 | Mindfulness/Meditation

Are you ready for BIG CHANGE in your life but unsure of where to start?

I have the perfect thing for you..

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Our breath is everything to us.

Just sit with that for a second.

Our breath is EVERYTHING to us.

Without it, we do not exist.

We go about our day and just rely on our breath to keep us going. And it does. Faithful and tirelessly, it keeps going.

So let us pay some homage to our breath and give it the awareness, love, and dedication that it deserves.

And it will continue to love us right back and fill us with gratitude, energy, and, most importantly, life.

Breath awareness is the backbone of mindfulness and meditation so it is the first mindfulness exercise that we will talk about. It feels simple and sounds simple in its description, but does take a lot of practice.

YOU DESERVE TO THRIVE!

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I RECOMMEND STARTING WITH A COUPLE MINUTES TO START IF MINDFULNESS IS NEW TO YOU.

Really, just start with 2 minutes.  A lot of sites recommend starting with 5 minutes, but honestly, to me when I was starting out, 5 minutes FELT like forever.  It may sound like nothing, but when you are just beginning with focusing on your breath, it seems like an eternity.

So start with 2 minutes. Set a timer (make sure that the alarm that goes off is something soothing and not an alarm that sounds like someone just pushed the end of the world button – you know the one I’m talking about) or download a meditation app that has a soothing gong at the end of it (I’ve used the Insight Timer – Meditation App previously).

Find a comfortable and quiet place. You can sit or lay down, whichever you choose. Just be comfortable and intentional with your body.

BRING YOUR ATTENTION TO YOUR BREATH AS IT FLOWS THROUGH YOU.

Without changing it in any way. Just notice how it feels as it flows in and out of you. Are you using your mouth or your nose? Do you use your nose on the in breath but your mouth on the outbreath? Just notice.  Notice how your breath feels as it goes in and out.

Notice how it fills you with life as it goes in and out with ease.

Notice how your body responds to the breath. How your lungs, your belly, your muscles react to the fly of air and energy into your body.

WHEN YOUR MIND WANDERS, AND IT WILL, JUST SLOWLY BRING YOUR AWARENESS BACK TO YOUR BREATH.

When this happens for me, I tend to gravitate towards the sensations in my nose. I feel the breath going in through my nose and notice how it feels on my nostrils. Its a tangible sensation for me to grab hold of when my mind wants to think of a million other things (which is pretty much all the time).

If you’re new to meditating and mindfulness, you might find that you’ll focus beautifully for a short while and then you’ll notice that you’ve been focussing beautifully and then you’ll start congratulating yourself on how beautifully you’ve been focusing and then you’re now thinking entirely about how awesome you are at focusing beautifully on your breath that you are no longer focusing beautifully on your breath.

I PERSONALLY THINK THIS IS HILARIOUS …

… and a wonderful part of the meditation process because you know what, you should cheer yourself on.  Give yourself a couple breaths of congratulatory air and then slowly bring yourself back to your breath.

Continue to focus on your breath (and coming back to your breath when you stray) until your time is over.

Come out of your meditation slowly. Try not to just snap open your eyes and move on with your day and the hundred things on your to-do list. Slowly open your eyes and move your body around. Even if its just for a moment, reflect on how you feel, how your body feels, and if anything came up for you during the practice, reflect on it now.

AS YOU CONTINUE TO INTEGRATE MINDFULNESS INTO YOUR ROUTINE, YOU CAN SLOWLY INCREASE THE TIME YOU MEDITATE.

The longer you meditate the better, of course, but an optimal time is around 12 minutes, but don’t get discouraged if you have to hang out in the 5 minute mark for a little bit. No matter what you are doing, you are practicing, you are improving your self awareness, and, most importantly, you are growing in your love for yourself (even if its hard to see at first!).

More on mindfulness:

 

What is Mindfulness?

 

5 Mindfulness Exercises to Calm your Anxiety

 

Progressive Breathing Exercise

 

Body Scan Exercise

 

Alien Objects Exercise

Breathing Colors Exercise

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