By Amy

During this most recent portion of my journey, I’ve been learning about affirmations – those positive statements we make to ourselves to help create and promote change in our lives. To say that this way of talking to myself is new to me would be a gross understatement. But anyway, I recently learned a great affirmation from one of my teachers: “I have enough energy for everything I choose to do today.” As soon as I heard it, I grabbed it and put it right in my brain box, because I knew that it would come in handy for me soon. What I like about this statement is that it takes out words like “everything I wish to do” or “everything I desire to do” and puts that all-powerful “choose” in there instead. Puts the ball right back into my court, and helps me be mindful of my time.

These last couple of weeks have been rough – I’ve been eating okay, but exercising has definitely fallen by the wayside. It’s a struggle when it’s dark both when I leave and when I come home, and by the time I get my dog walked, I’m pretty much done for. I’ve gone to bed with a chip on my shoulder and a sink full of dirty dishes more times than I care to report recently. So I was so happy to run across that affirmation in one of my notebooks, because it really helped me out of a slump. I’m not sick, injured, or under one hundred million obligations – it’s just dark outside. And if I want to bust through my own fitness barriers, I need to choose exercise, and choose to have enough energy for it.

The other thing I like about this affirmation is it can be adapted to other life situations: “I have enough money for whatever I choose to do today.” “I have enough food…enough space…enough patience.” I happen to be a little bit compulsive from time to time, and having these words in my toolbox can help place me back to center.

So far, I’ve had enough energy for the past several days to go to Bodypump class, go for walks, get up a little earlier, cook some nutritious meals (spaghetti squash, what what??). It takes some practice to have affirmations work for you…what I’ve found is to make it a positive statement (“I am” rather than “I am not,” for example), and make it at least 50% believable to you (no one else needs to hear it unless you want them to). Tonight I was having a terrible run – just the worst, with the leaden legs and general exhaustion. So I tried thinking this to myself: “I am capable and conditioned.” I repeated it several times, and before I knew it, I had gone past the point where I was going to allow myself to walk. Ok, full disclosure: I did walk the last little bitty bit, but I didn’t bail the whole thing, and digging deep did help.

I know it may sound a bit hooey and Pollyanna-ish, but I encourage you to give it a shot if you’re so inclined. If you want, share yours in the comments.

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