Have you ever described yourself as having a bad attitude? Do you find yourself always thinking negative thoughts about your life or your current situation? This can be in your career or your personal life. Well if you answered yes to those questions, then don’t feel bad you are not alone. There have been times when I felt that things were hopeless and that my situation would never change. Sometimes I still find that negative thoughts try to creep in my mind when things are not going my way. Something that helps me when I start to feel discouraged or have negative thoughts is affirmations and visualizations.
Let’s talk about visualization first. I have a very vivid imagination, so much so that I have created several different versions of the life that I want to live in my head. I have been doing this since I was a teenager. When I started reading books for pleasure, that is when my imagination opened up. I didn’t like to read in middle school because of a bad experience I had in class. I went to a school that separated the “slow” readers, so right away you feel inadequate. That is a story for another day…. It’s funny because when I was a little girl, I would always participate in the summer reading program to win the free personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut but for some reason that all changed in middle school.
One day I was bored so I picked up a book called Ghost House. Now I don’t remember the author, but I remember that this book changed my attitude about reading forever. This book took me outside of myself and in the world of the haunted house. I could imagine myself walking through that house because the author described everything in vivid detail. From that book, I began to read more and more as long as it wasn’t a textbook LOL! Now back to visualization….when you can visualize the life that you want to live then you are one step closer to making it happen.
Let’s figure out what you need to visualize in order to live the life you want to live. We can do this by writing affirmations. An affirmation describes what you want. Let’s look at several examples, dealing with career and education. These examples are some statements that we may use, but we want to turn them into affirmations.
Statement
- I want a promotion, or I will never get a promotion.
- I want to pass my classes, or I will never pass my classes.
Affirmation
- I am learning and gaining experience every day on my job that will lead to a promotion.
- I am an exceptional student, I take full responsibility for my education.
Visualization
- Visualize yourself being promoted and moving from your cubicle to your new office with the view of the city and conducting the weekly management meetings.
- Visualize yourself receiving an assignment or test from your teacher with a giant A+ written in red along with the words great job.
Use these examples and start to affirm and visualize the life that you want to live!