Feb 25 2008
What Story Are You Telling Yourself?
I was just reading Jeannette Maw’s Good Vibe blog and she has a great post, The “Truth” About Affirmations.
Do they work or not work?
Well, both! 
In my lifetime, I have recited many thousands of affirmations. Some of them I only used once. Some of them have become a permanent part of my mental chatter. Can you guess which ones came true?
Jeannette cites some great examples on the power of beliefs, and I agree that we can convince ourselves that virtually anything is true.
When I was a child, I would occasionally spend the night at my grandparents’ house, along with my younger brother. My grandparents lived about a half mile from a busy highway, so all through the night you could hear tractor trailer trucks and other traffic passing by. However, because it was in the distance it sounded like a strange roaring.
Not knowing what the sound was, I finally asked my grandmother and she told my brother and I that a big dragon lived under the ground in her backyard. At night, she said, he would open a trap door and come up to the earth’s surface, looking for food (we imagined, wide-eyed, that this “food” might be small children, even though she didn’t exactly say so).
For years after that, I was afraid to go into my grandmother’s backyard – especially when it started getting toward dusk.
Okay, you’re thinking, “Yeah, but you were a kid. Kids will believe almost anything.”
Hang on, it gets better.
Years later, my grandmother and I were laughing over that old story and how it scared the pants off my brother and I, and she shared something funny with me.
Later that same night when she told my brother and I about the dragon, she put us to bed and then went to get ready for bed herself. She went into the bathroom which faced the backyard, and while she was in there she heard a scraping sound on the window screen outside. The hair on the back of her neck stood up and she felt really frightened – and exited the bathroom in a hurry!
It’s not just kids who will believe almost anything. If you create something in your mind and make it vivid enough – you can convince yourself it’s true. No, of course Grammy didn’t REALLY believe there was a dragon in her backyard, but her mind sure started running away with the possibility – which made her feet run out of the bathroom. LOL
As funny as that story is, it really demonstrates the power of the mind. That dragon is a perfect example of our negative thoughts, limiting beliefs and self-doubt.
The good news is that this same power of the mind can help us to be more confident, successful, prosperous and happy. Like all powers, it can be used for good or ill.
It’s all in what we choose to believe is true. What do you want to be true in your own life? Turn it into a vivid storyline and keep telling it to yourself. It works.
In case you missed it, I recently posted a list of 101 Power Affirmations that you can use. They’re a good start, but feel free to alter them to suit your own needs better.
If you prefer to write your own affirmations from scratch, I have a few good articles on how to do it:
- Writing Your Own Powerful Affirmations
- Supercharging Your Affirmations
- Add Power to Affirmations with One Simple Step
You’ve got all the tools you need to write the greatest story of your life – your life IS the story.
Wendy
CreationThoughts.com
WingsfortheHeart.com
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2 responses so far
2 Responses to “What Story Are You Telling Yourself?”
What a great story from your grandma, Wendy! I love it!
And thanks for great resources to use in making and implementing affirmations! I especially liked the piece you wrote about how emotions fuel the power of affirmations. Very true!
Great work you’re doing here – I can’t wait to spend more time on your blog!
Thanks for stopping by Jeannette! That old story makes me laugh every time. It’s so easy to spook ourselves – but of course we can create a lot more damage than a few chills.
Love your blog and look forward to chatting more with you, either here or there! 
Wendy