The power of words
Language has an astounding impact on our emotional state and can be used deliberately to manipulate how we feel. There is a mountain of research touting the effectiveness of positive self-talk and affirmations. Beloved self-help author Louise Hay was the first to inspire me on ths subject, and from her I learned that "a belief is just a thought and a thought can be changed."
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Hate affirmations? Sometimes so do I.
One of the more frustrating elements of therapy, in my opinion, is feeling the things that seem to work for other people don't work for us. I think for a long time people had really great intentions when they told us to "think happy thoughts", or "fake it 'till you make it" with affirmations. And sometimes it worked, but often it didn't. In fact sometimes the very words that were supposed to bring peace and healing caused more damage and left us feeling worse than ever.
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If this sounds familiar to you, I invite you to give my book Find Your Words! a try. In it, I break down how your thoughts are affecting you, even when you you think they aren't. And I do my best to explain how to find the words that will indeed lift your spirits, calm your anxiety, build your self-esteem, improve your mood, and create something better.
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I don't think affirmations as a concept are the problem but rather how they are applied. It's about finding the right words and meeting yourself where you are, even on the bad days, then slowly creating something new, one word at a time. I changed my own life by finding my own words, and I know you can too.
