Earlier this month, the world lost Muhammad Ali, who is widely considered the greatest heavyweight-boxing champion in history.
Now, I’m not a big fan of boxing, but I’ve always admired how before he was a champion, Muhammad Ali publicly and privately affirmed, “Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee. Nobody can beat, Muhammad Ali!” and, “I’m the greatest of all time.”
He knew how to use affirmations to create the life he wanted and famously said, “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
The thing is, our lives are reflections of our beliefs.
Whether we learned them from family, friends, teachers or observing others, we’ve collected beliefs about money, love, our careers, health, food, culture and almost everything we know about life.
We’ve decided certain things to be right, wrong, good, bad, easy, hard, possible or impossible.
There are exceptions (like the world being flat!), but most beliefs are true only if we believe them to be.
For example, my friend who believes money always shows up in her life with ease recently crossed a parking lot and found an abandoned $20 bill, while another friend who believes money takes hard work and sacrifice is constantly exhausted from work and missing out on all the other goodness life has to offer.
It’s like the chicken and the egg – which comes first? Do we believe something (like money coming easy) because we experience it, or do we experience it because we believe it?
Muhammad Ali understood in order to create the life we want we have to change our beliefs. And the way to change our beliefs is through the repetition of affirmations.
If you’re new to affirmations, they’re powerful statements declaring something is true.
Even if it isn’t for you right now!
The first step to working with them is to decide what to affirm. Hint: Something we want that we probably don’t have.
For example, if you’d like to feel more confident in your skin and love yourself more you may affirm: “I am beautiful. I am smart. I am kind. I am wonderful. I love myself fully and others love and appreciate me fully too.”
If you’re tired of being broke you may want to affirm: “Money flows effortlessly to me. I always have more than enough money. I’m responsible with money. The perfect clients and customers always come to me at the perfect time.”
If you’re not feeling so hot you may affirm: “My body is strong, healthy and resilient.” (This affirmation did wonders for me when my health took a dive a few years back.)
If you’re eager for a loving relationship you may affirm: “I am worthy and deserving of love. I’m always lucky in love. My perfect partner is on the way.”
You can create whatever affirmations feel good for you. Tip: They’re most powerful when you say them out loud!
When you start working with affirmations there’s a good chance you’ll feel uncomfortable, full of yourself or like you’re lying.
If you’re fresh out of a messy break-up or have debt collectors knocking on your door it’s going to feel a bit odd to say to yourself, “I’m always lucky in love.” Or, “money comes easily and frequently and in large sums,” but do it anyway.
Changing a belief using affirmations is like losing weight or training for a marathon. It doesn’t happen overnight.
Remember what Muhammad Ali said, “It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”
Now, is affirming enough to create the life you want? Not. At. All.
Muhammad Ali wouldn’t have become a celebrated boxer by binge watching Netflix and stuffing his face with pizza. He had to take action. And so do we.
But even with all the training in the world he knew in order to be the best he had to first believe it.
Whether we mean to or not, we affirm all day, every day. We stare at our bank accounts, pass by mirrors and are programmed to declare to ourselves, or out loud to friends what’s happening in our lives that we don’t want to be happening.
So, we may as well take a few minutes each day to affirm what we do want to experience.
Take time today to create affirmations. Write them down on index cards or post it notes. Carry them around in your purse or tape them to your mirror or somewhere you’ll see them.
Make repeating affirmations part of your daily routine. (I do mine when I brush my teeth!) You can also set an alarm on your phone to go off three times daily as a
reminder.
In order to create the life you want you must first believe it’s possible. Affirmations are key to belief. And when you believe it, you will see it.
~Emily Florence~
