Transforming the World; Me at a TIme!

 

What are affirmations? An affirmation is the action or process of affirming something or beng affirmed, a formal declaration by a person who declines to take an oath for reasons of conscience, or emotional support or encouragement.  What are the affirmations that will allow me to end my year graciously?

If I have learned one thing this year, it is necessary to be gentle with myself and others.  It has been a year of hard work, financial inflation, pandemic uncertainities, an emotional roller coaster.  We all have been a bit weary and stressed.  It is time to become recklessly gracious! A gracious person is a graceful person, someone who at least attempts to not hurt others’ feelings with clumsy words or thoughtless deeds.  I know that I cannot control what happens in life, but I can control how I respond to it.  I do remember that my response is my greatest power.

This year, I have learned that no single struggle defines everything we are.  I took lesson when an experience with a family member dashed and slaughtered everything I believed to be good and righteous in this person.  What she did changed the course of my career and in how I care for my husband and myself.  It has taken me a long time to resolve the situation within myself and I have moved on.  Time will tell whether or not this person will be allowed back in my life but I will not be the one to approach her.  She will not define me by my response because in my lack of response, I hold my greatest power.  Little does she know that her behavior (or lack of good behavior), changed the course of my life into a course of more success and blessings I could have never imagined.  My greatest power.

One of my affirmations is that remembering that no single struggle defines everything that I am.  I am surprised how persons tell me that they have been good and kind and yet defined by that one mistake.  And remembered only for that mistake.  How I can relate to that!  I have dealt with the consequences of my mistake for years.  No single chapter tells my whole story regardless of the malicious person(s) that attempt to do so.  I have learned to just keep turning the pages that need to be turned and writing the new chapters that are carrying me to the happy ending.

I have found that my life steadies itself with simple rituals.  I make my bed as soon as I rise from it.  I love it neat, pressed, and decorated with my favorite pillows.  This drives my husband crazy but it stabilizes the start of my day.  I cannot jump out of bed, get ready for work right away, and leave the home.  I have to have an hour before to drink something hot, plan my day, get ready unhurried, start the car to let it warm up, check my animals, lock our home, and leave.  Each simple act attracts calmness and wisdom.

The end to my story is, despite all of our world challenges, the biggest, strongest, and most complex obstacle that I will ever face is my own mind.  I am not responsible for everything that happens, but I am responsible for undoing the self-defeating thinking and behavioral patterns that the unwelcome experiences create.