"I AM, I WILL"

I AM, I WILL

These 4 words hold so much POWER! Be they simple to remember they carry such a heavy load.  In this layout they are open ended, which makes them all the more powerful.  It is these words that will carry me through THE STRUGGLE.

These words will be the beginning to my days and the encouragement through my day when feeling discouraged, belittled, stuck, or deflated.  These words are the bases of an ever changing cheerleading statement.  Cheerleading statements are implemented and understood in the psychological approach of Dialectical Behavior Therapy and there are 3 types:

• Statements that provide courage to act effectively
• Statements that help in preparing for a situation- helping you focus
• Statements that counteract myths about interpersonal behaviors

Similarly, these words are much like a mantra for myself.  Although mantras are most often implemented in the mediation rituals of Hinduism and Buddhism; in its most simplistic definition, mantra is a word or phrase that is repeated often and expresses someone's basic beliefs.  For me, this mantra is an utterance that holds spiritual power to recenter my thinking.

These 4 words are also an affirmation, or at least the basis to a multitude of positive affirmations.  Positive affirmations are positive statements which you repeat to yourself which describe how you want to be.  In theory, you receive these affirmations and become part of  a self-fulfilling prophecy  as the statements come to fruition. The most powerful affirmations are clear, specific, and concise as well as paired with action.  These powerful positive affirmation are based on 3 ideals:

• I am: A statement of who you are.
• I can: A statement of your potential.
• I will: A statement of positive change in your life.

No matter which method of thought you follow- ranging from soft science of psychology to religious practices of Hinduism or even the fast growing hard science of brain scans and neurology- positive thinking is at minimum helpful and potentially powerful beyond what we imagine.