If you have tried to use affirmations, and like many, found them too corny and ‘blah’ and given up; you’re not alone. The words we say to ourselves are powerful. Affirmations are similarly powerful, but there seems to be a ‘spiritual competition’ to keep coming up with bigger and brighter ones.
Here is the only affirmation I have ever found effective and worthwhile: “I am enough.”
What does being enough mean? Well, this is for you to decide for yourself. To be enough to not require external validation, external ideas, or to feed self-depreciating doubts is a part of what it means to me. I will not thrust my ideas upon you though. All real learning comes from a process of an internal investigation and meditation.
What I will offer is how I suggest applying and using the affirmation.
Take a few minutes of quiet time, and say to yourself, “I am enough”. Aloud is good. Saying them silently is okay too. Now allow your mind to explore those words, and the chatter that comes up around them. Observe what thoughts are distracting you but remember that you don’t have to pick them up and play with them.
When you feel your mind straying, with a focus on each word, say again, “I am enough.” Allow yourself the luxury of exploring what these words mean to you. Their meaning will change and deepen as you continue this practice. Understand that this is a process of developing and deepening an understanding, not one of arriving at a destination.
Affirmations aren’t to be chanted as a distracting action; but intended to be dwelt upon and thought about deeply. Only repeat the words when you find your mind wandering away from its exploration of what being enough means to you. Allow yourself to profoundly explore the differences between having enough and being enough; of earning enough, being accepted enough by others, and any other iteration that might come into your mind as you deepen this practice. You are digging out fears and giving them nowhere to hide, so this will also be challenging at times. It will definitely be challenging if you are allowing yourself to explore the words and their deepening meaning to you.
Take a few minutes, a few times a day, to stop and allow yourself the luxury of meditating on these words and this affirmation. There is no more complexity needed, no more words required. “I am enough.” This meditation and affirmation is enough, and so are you.
Blessings of peace to you all,
Craig