Positive Affirmations

When I hear the phrase “Positive Affirmations” my mind quickly flashes to scenes from Saturday Night Live or thoughts of new age healing centers or sound bites from The Secret. However last night I feel that I had a bit of an insight into the true power of positive affirmations — positive thinking — non-negative thoughts. As I lay in bed last night, I began to pay attention to how I pay attention, my attempt to experience mindfulness meditation, I thought rather than go to bed each night and rise each morning with negative thoughts in my mind, why not begin and end each day with only positive thoughts?

And if I am to begin and end each day with positive thoughts then why not extend this practice to the rest of the day?

What I decided to do was each time a negative thought enters my mind I will say to myself over and over, “I Feel Happy. I Feel Healthy. I Feel Strong.” I don’t know if this is a valuable technique or not, I’ll pass it by my doctor when I meet with him tomorrow but I wager it can’t be any worse than the steady stream of consciousness that flows through my mind every day, every hour, every minute: “i feel weak. i feel sick. i feel less than perfect. i feel like i’m dying. i will never get better. my family deserves better. i can’t enjoy life. i can’t do simply things people take for granted. i feel dizzy. i have a brain tumor. i am not successful. i am weak. blah blah blah.”

NOT HEALTHY. STOP!!!

I FEEL HAPPY. I FEEL HEALTHY. I FEEL STRONG.