Or, Get Yourself Unstuck from the Ruts of Life
If we always do what we’ve always done, we will always get what we’ve always got.
We all have our own glass ceilings. We have self-imposed limits that are beliefs we hold about what we can do and what we can’t. They can be based on past experiences, fears, and insecurities. To quote a familiar slogan, they hold us back from being all that we can be.
Do any of these sound familiar?
- I’m too old to go back to school
- I’ll never find a job I love, so I’ll just stay here and be miserable
- I always gain back the weight I lose, so I’ll just stop trying to diet
Would you be willing to try something different?
Recently, I learned a new tool called Afformations from the book Afformations: The Miracle of Positive Self-Talk by Noah St. John. The idea of an Afformation is that it is a question that we ask ourselves that assumes that what we want is already true. I’ve been trying it out and it seems to work and make sense.
Here’s an example:
If my belief was that I’m too old to go back to school, I could write an Afformation (always written as a question) like:
Why am I the right age to go back to school?
As you can see, the question assumes that I am going back to school (which is what I want to do!).
How does the Afformation work? Our brains are wired to answer questions. When we are asked a question, our brain instantly goes into answer mode. So if we ask ourselves questions, our brain can’t help but answer them. It’s just how we are built.
So how can you use an Afformation?
First, identify something that you want and write an empowering question. An empowering question is one that is positively worded. You’ll see from my example above, I wrote: Why am I the right age to go back to school?
Here’s a disempowering question: Why am I not too old to go back to school? This question assumes that I am too old, so I’ll have to struggle to convince myself that I can even though I’m telling myself that I’m too old! I’m tired already!
Next, after you’ve written your empowering question, look at it and just sit with it. Say it out loud if you like and look at it at least a couple of times a day. When you feel inspired to write actions that you can take, write those down under the question. Don’t feel that you have to come up with the answers right away. Let the question start to sprout ideas. When you are inspired, write down the answers. Look at them daily and start taking action.
You might be wondering how Afformations are different than Affirmations. An Afformation is something that is “forming.” An Affirmation is a statement that is “firm.”
Give this technique a try to break your own ceiling of beliefs. I look forward to seeing you on the roof!
