THE POWER OF AFFIRMATION
- Thembi M Fletcher
- Aug 6, 2018
- 4 min read
Currently reading Dream It, Pin It, Live It by Terri Savelle Foy
Although it's very small in size, The tongue has the power to either create life or cause death........ We may not realize it, but most of us spend our day complaining either about ourselves or about others. We complain about the weather, about traffic, about our jobs, about our neighbors and it all flows right into our owns lives. Words of negativity are often released from our mouths about our weight, finances, children, spouses, etc........ Believe it or not, our complaints have repercussions, and that is we reap the results of our constant confessions. Which brings us to the point that I am trying to make today; that the words that we say have such an effect on our lives that they determine where we end up spiritually, emotionally, physically, financially, and relationship-wise.
I spent most of my teenage years away from home. There were days when I was surrounded by so much negativity that it began to affect my entire outlook on life. Even worse than that, I began to complain about everything and criticize myself on a daily basis. I remember complaining about how large and ugly my feet were-how scrawny and shapeless my body was, how bad my acne was and so on and so forth. I was devastated and became very insecure. I thought I just had issues, which I honestly did, but most of them arose from all the negative words that I fed into and spoke over my own life. But alas! There is hope for us all........ I am going to share with you a few practices that have changed my life forever and challenged me to become a better parent.
So like I had mentioned in the my blog post about Unshakable Confidence, I learned about a practice called self-affirmation, which simply means speaking positive words over yourself. I started actively pursuing this practice over a year ago, with the bible being my go to guide for positive confessions. Making daily confessions from the word of God, transformed my spiritual, mental and emotional state completely. It helped me develop a new level of confidence that I would not have been able to achieve any other way. My thinking changed from always feeling like a victim, to being victorious in every situation. And this still holds true today; I am confident and ready to take on the world whenever I make my daily confessions. On the other hand, my confidence is shaky when I feed into negative conversations or miss a day of positive affirmation.........
Now that I see just how powerful words of affirmation are, I decided to not only practice them on myself but on my daughter as well. I know that as parents we often have that innate desire to boast about kids, but there are seasons in our lives, as our children get older and become more curious, and affirming them is the last thing on our minds. Let's see if we can do a quick survey: How many of us have ever said these negative words about our children?
These kids are driving me crazy!
You are such little monsters.
My kids are so bad.
There is something wrong with you.
I think you get the point. We are all guilty of this, but the good thing is it's never too late to make a change. I chose to voluntarily affirm my daughter instead of criticizing her all the time. I began this practice even before she was born. To be honest with you, I was doing this before I even fully understood what it meant. And the effects of affirming her are prevalent in the way she acts today. She is confident, extremely smart and very tenacious.......
God gives a demonstration of the importance and power of affirmation on one of my favorite prophets in the bible, Jeremiah:
"Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you [and approved of you as My chosen instrument], And before you were born, I consecrated you[ to Myself as My own]; I have appointed you as a prophet to the nations." Then I said, "Ah, Lord God! Behold, I do not know how to speak, For I am only a young man." But the Lord said to me, "Do not say, I am [only] a young man,' Read the entire chapter 1 of Jeremiah.
God told Jeremiah that He knew him, chose him, appointed him, and was with him. If these words alone don't boost your confidence then I don't know what will. Jeremiah became one of the greatest prophets that ever lived because God spoke words of life to him, and that is all the proof that you and I need to positively impact our children's lives.
If you've never done this before, you can start today. Simply begin this practice by affirming your children whenever you notice them doing something good. Later on you can compile a list of things that you love about your kids, and feel free to make one for yourself as well. Read your affirmations to yourself at the same time everyday and find a regular time to read your affirmations about your kids to them. This will help you develop a routine. Watch the change that will take place in you and in them, and believe me they will thank you for it.....
This brings us to the end of today's post.
XOXO
What are some of the practices that you use to affirm your loved ones? Share your ideas of how we could all do better at speaking positive words about ourselves and others by commenting below.
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