On Wednesdays We Journal // 03: Affirmations

Let’s talk affirmations. I think affirmations can be seen as “crunchy” due to the ✨positive vibes only/trust the universe✨ narrative you see plastered on Pinterest. And I totally get that because that’s how I saw them at first. But after several years of using them, affirmations have become one of my favorite practices to use when journaling. Here’s why:

1. repetition is how I learn best
2. they allow me to reframe a limiting belief
3. they allow me to relinquish my need for control while still focusing on the issue on the table (#HamiltonReference)

When I first got into affirmations, I felt like there were so many rules and do’s and don’ts that I got overwhelmed and tapped out. It wasn’t until years later, when I was looking to buy my first house, that I got back into affirmations. This time, I decided to do affirmations my way – intuitively and according to my own rules.

The Issue on the Table

I had been looking for a house for a while and just wasn’t having any luck. Honestly, the search became obsessive and it was consuming almost all of my free time. After finally finding THE ONE and seeing it taken off market before I could schedule a showing (because I work a full time corporate job and couldn’t get to it soon enough), I had a mini breakdown. I was so discouraged and convinced I would have to settle for a home I didn’t love in an area I hated, that I spent Memorial Day Weekend of 2018 sulking in misery.

The following Tuesday, I got a grip on life. I wrote the affirmation: I trust that when the timing is right, I will find the right house for me. I wrote it every day for 1.5 months and sure enough, the stars aligned and I bought my current house. I’m not saying that writing the affirmation made that happen, but I am saying it made it easier. I was able to exercise much more patience and trust throughout the process. I don’t even know if you can call that an affirmation but like I said, I was making my own rules and that sentence checked all three boxes:

1. Repetition – I wrote it over and over and over again every single day until I filled a page.
2. Reframed my limited belief that I would never find a house I loved in the area I wanted to live.
3. Relinquish control – helped me give up the incessant need to check Zillow 24/7 and trust that it will happen when the time is right.

Now I’m no affirmations expert. Like I said, I create my affirmations around my own rules so that they feel authentic for me. My goal here is to share a method of journaling that has worked wonders for me. This practice can be especially useful when my mindset is off and/or I’m short on time. For this week’s On Wednesdays We Journal, we’re taking a limited belief and reframing it. Start by writing down one limited belief that has been plaguing you. Then, reframe it so that it moves you out of a scarcity mindset and into a growth mindset. So my house example looked like this:

• Limited belief: I will never find a house I love in the area I want to live in. (The emotion! The despair!)
• Reframed belief: I trust that when the timing is right, I will find the right house for me. (Trust and patience)

The key here is to hand write your affirmations to the greatest extent possible. The only time I ever type my affirmation is when I don’t have access to my journal. In those instances, I open my Day One App, journal about what was going on, and type out my affirmation at the end. I highly recommend giving this a try next time your limiting beliefs are creeping in and overwhelming you.

If you’re not ready to tackle affirmations just yet, no worries. Visit my other blog posts for some journaling prompts: Week 01 and Week 02.

Next week, we’ll talk about how bulleted list journaling gets me through when I’m scatter brained and can’t pinpoint why. In the meantime, join me on Instagram and play along using the hashtag #OnWednesdaysWeJournal