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The article basically states that if you are trying to self-improve by making positive affirmations about qualities you do not possess or qualities that are false or overstated that the affirmations will be met with resistance and doubt by your subconscious thereby reinforcing your negative self-image.
I'm not sure if this is entirely true, but I think I might test it out in the next few weeks. I've always been a strong believer in dressing for the job you want not the job you have. One might extrapolate that affirmations are similar in nature. Couldn't repeating to ourselves that we possess qualities that we in fact do not train our subconscious to believe that we do in fact possess said qualities and in turn cause an active shift in our behavior thereby reinforcing the desired quality until the lie becomes the truth? That's what I've always thought. But according to the article, I may be doing more harm than good.
Where does it all lead? Where can I take this? Should I stop wearing a track suit in hopes or morphing into a runner? Or a rapper? Does it now make no sense to wear my hair like Sarah Palin on Sundays in hopes of becoming a strong-willed firm-belifed power-suit harboring force of nature?
I want to alter my eating behavior. Perhaps I will no longer say things to myself like, "I have willpower. I have discipline. I have thin yet creamy thighs." Apparently even my subconscious knows that's a crock of sh*t. However, I may instead mentally utter phrases like, "I have a strong desire to eat less. I feel vigorous and alert when I eat raw vegetables. My thighs are big but they're smaller than those of that mean lady at the DMV."
It seems to me that the key here is to do a little Easter egg hunt for my positive qualities, even if they don't burn brightly, instead of focusing on my negative or nonexistant ones. Find them and fan them until they do.
Either that or stop obsessing on myself, do a little freaking good for humanity, and become a happier person out of positive action rather than simply willing it to be so.
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That's interesting. It kinda reminds me of the book The Secret. I just didn't understand how it all worked. Like if I truly believed that a check for a million dollars was gonna land on my doorstep someday it would, if I just honestly believed it would happen. I'm more likely to find that million dollars if I play the lotto...eventually, right?
ReplyDeleteI do like the idea of focusing on the positive attributes we have rather than the negative ones.
BTW, I did used to have a butterfly theme on my blog. But afterwhile I just felt it was too dark for me...so I went with a more simple look...the black and white with a family pic.
Recent blog post: When all else fails, bring out the hot glue gun....
Abracadabra! Zimzalaban! Heather's blog design is different again! I been on vacation in Cherbourg:)I have a vigorous desire to stop hiding snickers under my bed and eating them in secret! Those easter eggs are making me want one though....
ReplyDeleteRecent blog post: Happy Birthday Imajica! - Postcard Friendship Friday #22
Is it a compliment when Francois calls m thunder thighs? Your going to have to post something else soon because those chocolate eggs are killing my diet!
ReplyDeleteRecent blog post: You Sunk My Battleship!
Love this color scheme and the blog design! I know the blog expert x advise sticking to a single look to create a sense of "home", but I love the different looks. You should create a masthead button and save all your header designs for people to browse through (like Schmutzie does).
ReplyDeleteThis is a fascinating post. I think there is a difference between making affirmations regarding traits or behaviors we can change and making affirmations about things that are not within our power to control (like the lottery, or our body type). And dressing for the job you want, rather than the one you have, can be, depending on the circumstances, an act of denial or a wonderfully helpful, creative and positive act.
Having spent a huge portion of my young adulthood not liking and wanting to change myself, I can say that for me, the end goal is so much more exciting and full of possibility when I work on coming to terms with who I am and making the best of my own unique endowments.
I'll never forget seeing "Blue Velvet" with Isabella Rosselini and being amazed at the amount of cottage cheese on the back of her thighs and the way it squished about during a lovemaking scene. Suddenly, I found myself liking cellulite, even wanting more of it than I had, because I wanted to BE the desirable woman in Blue Velvet, and something about this actress's abandon and ability to revel in her imperfect body, the way it gave and took pleasure, the way it couldn't have been otherwise for her to be truly and deeply HERSELF, was compelling and charismatic beyond belief. I thought: this woman could make a double chin beautiful; she was so self-possessed, confident, commanding and serious. This was the way I wanted to be.
The trick, of course, is to love one's OWN flaws, not a Hollywood celebrity's.
Recent blog post: In Michigan and Recovering
A Fan of Simply J Crochet...
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www.thelawellinfamily.blogspot.com
Thanks! ; )