affirmations

Most of us are very hard on ourselves.  No matter how hard we think the world around us is, we are tougher on ourselves than just about anyone else out there.  I work with a lot of people who feed themselves lots of negative messages about their relationship with food, their body or their self-image.  It doesn't have to be this way.

I recently saw the movie "The Help" and while I loved the move as a whole there was one scene that keeps repeating itself for me.  In this scene, Aibilene, the maid, is sitting in a rocking chair with Mae Mobley, her young charge, in her lap.  Aibilene says to Mae Mobley, "You is kind, you is smart, you is important" and Mae Mobley repeats it along with her.  This is such a wonderful affirmation.

We often forget to give ourselves, and our children, positive affirmations.  We give praise, hopefully often and mindfully, but we don't teach that skill of affirmation.  I believe it's never too late to start and want to encourage all of you to think about what affirmations you could incorporate into your life.  If you'd like to share them that would be even better, the we could all certainly use more positive messages.

In the meantime I've started a collection, you can see them on my Affirmation Pinboard.

We all deserve to believe in ourselves, to be kind to ourselves, and to teach our children to feel the same. Make it a habit, a healthy habit, to share positive affirmations with yourself and your loved ones on a daily basis.