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‘GOOD FOR OUR SOUL’
Affirmations — short mantras of encouragement — can lead to positive change
By Chris Walker
It seems as if every year around this time, spring pushes lingering winter aside and says, “We deserve to feel joy.” Flowers blooming, baby animals scampering, birds chirping. Kids running, laughing and playing. Neighbors finally taking down their holiday lights as the glorious sunshine gives free samples of what’s to come in the summer. If only being as successful with affirmations — short mantras of encouragement and practical thinking — came as naturally as the seasons change. “Affirmations are good for our soul,” says Angela René Brown, a licensed clinical social worker at Counseling for Serenity in Yorkville. “It’s where we leave behind what our past says, what others and the world says about us; and even what we say about ourselves. Instead, we embrace what love says. For some of us, that love is our higher power, which is so much greater than this world and our current struggles. Affirmations are a way to overcome our past and begin to embrace our value, our strength, our beauty and a greater plan for our lives.” Paul Hansen, a yoga and meditation instructor at Sense of Samadhi in Yorkville, says affirmations can be powerful introductory paths to showing what you are capable of accomplishing when focusing on a short phrase imbued with the energy of intention. “Often affirmations can become a
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bridge over the details,” he says. “Let’s take, for example, ‘I am abundant.’ Well, it’s a fairly vague affirmation because abundance can come in so many forms. That being said, the point I’m making is that the details of how that abundance shows up in our life can vary greatly. Not to mention the timing. The affirmation builds a bridge over those details and allows the practitioner to spend time feeling the energy of being abundant coursing through them while making daily time to get quiet and repeating the affirmation in the mind.” Rondi Stickney, owner and trainer at Rondi’s S.E.L.F. Fitness in Oswego, has been teaching for over 45 years. She says one of the biggest keys to the success of her clients is convincing them to buy in to a positive outlook while rejecting the impossibility of perfection and finding a balance. “Affirmations are super important especially since a lot of people don’t think positive and are always seeing the glass half empty,” she says. “I teach lifestyle and I tell people you’ve got to have a balance.” While the past two years have been unlike anything any of us has lived through, many are experiencing a mix of uncertainty and hope. Tairi Grace is a licensed social worker who serves as executive director of the Grace Holistic Center for Education and owner of Sense of Samadhi yoga studio, both in Yorkville. She says she frequently has to remind herself to live in the now since she’s running three businesses and parenting five children. “When I begin to feel overwhelmed, I say to myself, ‘But what do I have to do right now?’” she says. “When we stay in the now moment, it reminds us to breathe deeply, stay calm and focus on our sensory experience.”
TRY THESE 10 AFFIRMATIONS!
1. I am blessed. 2. My feet are on solid ground. 3. I am a co-creator of my life.
Life isn’t happening to me; it is happening for me. 4. When I am present and aware, I am able to observe others before reacting and responding. 5. Peace and strength surround me. 6. I have everything I need. 7. This moment will pass. 8. I release control. 9. I trust myself and know I will be successful. 10. I choose to be happy.
Sourced through the sources in this story and online research.
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