I Am (Part 2)
Many years ago, when I was working at Canada Life, the company invested in their employees with a one-day offsite training session during which every employee had an opportunity to pause, reflect and create affirmations for themselves in a workbook. I really appreciated that the company chose to invest in us in that way, but to be honest, I struggled with the affirmation piece of the exercise. It didn’t feel natural and wasn’t really my thing. I didn’t buy into the idea that I could will something into existence simply by speaking it out loud (at least that was how I interpreted the exercise). Maybe my understanding was incorrect, but that was how I saw it.
In last month’s issue I shared about the powerful “I Am” statement which is one form of an affirmation. This time it connected with me because in his book, Thoughts on Demand, author Paul Boehnke outlined three criteria for an “I Am” statement.
1. The statement must be one that you truly believe. If I were to tell myself, “I am an expert skydiver and I travel the world jumping out of planes,” I would not believe it because I don’t skydive. So much for the affirmation – useless. But if I told myself, “I am a confident speaker and I have messages that positively impact others,” that is in line with what I do as a speaker and coach. Paul wrote, “You want the [affirmation] to be strong, empowering and believable. By strong I mean something sturdy that can stand on its own and support the new belief you want with a sense of authority.” (p. 101) He then went on to suggest ranking your “I Am” statements on a scale of 1-10 to check how believable it was. If it’s a 2, then you can revisit and refine it.
2. Look for evidence of your “I Am” statement or craft it based on evidence that you already see in your life. For example, if you tell yourself, “I am a generous person who is kind to others,” look for past evidence in your life of times when you displayed kindness to others. The evidence helps make your “I Am” statement believable.
3. Check your emotions. Paul says, “Use your emotions as a guide as you design your new belief. An improvement in the thought will always bring some sense of relief.” (p. 112) How does your “I Am” statement leave you feeling? Do you feel inspired, lifted up and empowered to move forward? As Paul would say, “Let your emotions guide you.”
Affirmations on their own are not necessarily useful, but if you create your “I Am” statement based on what you believe, can find evidence to support it and recognize positive emotions as a result then you are on the right track!
What “I Am” affirmation will you create?
Do you believe it and can you find evidence to support it?
What emotion does it bring up for you?
Recommended Resources
- Book – Thoughts on Demand by Paul Boehnke – available on Amazon.
- For more about Paul and his offerings visit his website at https://paulboehnke.com/
Monthly Challenge
Set aside 15 minutes and create a table with four columns. Then write down as many “I Am” statements for yourself that you can think of in 5 minutes in the first column. Title the other 3 columns “Believe,” “Evidence,” and “Emotion.” If you believe the affirmation, give it a checkmark and do the same for evidence. Then record the emotion you experienced for that “I Am” statement. What did you discover?