Category: Empowerment

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Positively Uplifting!

Recently a client asked,

“I’ve never tried positive affirmations, and am not sure how that really works. Is it telling yourself positive things while looking at yourself in a mirror? Or is that just a movie cliche?” GREAT question! Thanks so much for asking.

Positive affirmations are powerful tools to help build new neural pathways. In other words, they can help us rewire our brains. Practicing affirmations helps challenge and overcome self-sabotaging, and negative thoughts.

Sometimes the biggest obstacle to getting what we really want is the thoughts we are thinking. Energy attracts like energy, so thoughts attract more thoughts like themselves.

When we chronically have fear-filled thoughts, more fearful thoughts come easily. When we chronically choose thoughts that feel good when we think them, more thoughts like that come easily to us.

We’ve spent a LOT of times thinking our usual thoughts and creating well-worn pathways to more of those thoughts. If we become aware that our thoughts are not serving us and want to change them, it takes practice.

Practice thoughts that feel good!

Choose affirmations that feel good when you say them.

If you say, “Money comes easily to me,” when you are over your head in debt, it’s highly likely that you’ll get a knot in the pit of your stomach that tells you that the thought you are thinking is WRONG. And that’s when something like, “Money is hard to come by,” pops into your head. And that energy attracts more thoughts like that one. So, “money comes easily to me,” might not be the right affirmation.

How does this one resonate?

This feels more true for most people. There is no contradiction here. Now when a habitual thought pops up like, “I don’t have enough,” remind yourself of the NEW thought you are choosing. Tell yourself that the old thought may have been true in the past, but you are now open to receive floods of financial abundance with ease. Repeating the phrase often helps build a new path to better feeling thoughts.

Here is another amazing affirmation that I found in Tosha Silver‘s BRILLIANT book, It’s Not Your Money: How to Live Fully from Divine Abundance. I highly recommend this book to everyone, especially if you are feeling financially challenged!

This affirmation in prayer form felt AMAZING to me when I read it and each time I read it now, something opens in me, and I truly feel more ready to receive all the abundance the Universe wants to deliver!

If an affirmation really resonates, practice it! Write it on sticky notes to remind yourself. Repeat it like a mantra in the shower, or while sitting in traffic.

Some affirmations feed your soul for awhile and then get replaced with others that feel even better or resonate more.

And sometimes an affirmation that does not feel good in one circumstance feels amazing later on. For this reason, I hang on to affirmations with which I would like to resonate, and try them again when my energy is different!

This affirmation does not resonate with many of us. My first reaction to it was, “I wish!” If I had tried using this affirmation then, I would have attracted thoughts that confirmed I was NOT any of these things. But I really WANTED to feel that way about myself, so I hung on to the words for later. Now the words resonate for me on days I am feeling fully confident, not always, but so much more now than before! I choose to fully practice this thought when I am feeling confident and it is resonating. Why?

Because what we think determines how we feel, and the way we feel is the energy that we send out into the Universe. And what we send out in the Universe is what the Universe sends back to us.

Looking yourself in the eyes can help.

If someone won’t look you in the eyes when they talk to you, how much do you trust what they say? Looking yourself in the eyes and telling yourself Truth can help you accept it as true for you, while acting as a powerful reminder. Many people do not see themselves as worthy of self-care even though they might invest huge amounts of energy caring for others. Looking in the mirror to repeat this reminder can be very helpful.

“I am…”

Affirmations that begin with “I am,” are powerful and can be more powerful if you look into your eyes in the mirror while you say them. But if you are not yet comfortable looking at yourself in the eyes, then do it anyway! Look deep into your own eyes and remind yourself of the Truth:

I am worthy of self care.
I am worthy of the same abundant love I offer others.
I am choosing the thoughts I think.
I am an extension of Source energy.
I am valued just for being me.
Life is a process and I am right where I am supposed to be.
I am learning.
I am becoming.

Make a list of your strengths and put “I am” in front of them!

I am kind.
I am caring.
I am loyal.
I am honest.
I am a good friend.

You get the idea.

Create ones that serve your needs.

One of my clients had repeating thought patterns that constantly told her she had screwed things up again, or that she was about to screw things up BIG time! Her affirmation took a while to create, practice, and to resonate fully, but now she says it’s one of the most powerful tools in her toolbox!

It does NOT mean that everything in her life always goes the way she wants, or has planned. It simply means that when things get off track, it doesn’t feel like the end of the world anymore. There is tremendous value in the peace of mind this can bring.

Do NOT practice when you feel bad!

Do not practice affirming if you are hungry, angry, lonely, tired or your energy is otherwise depressed. If you practice saying, “I am a powerful being fueled by Source energy,” when you feel crappy, you attract more of what feels crappy because you don’t (at that moment) feel powerful or fueled by Source.

So, what to do? When you feel crappy is when you really NEED to change those thoughts if your goal is to feel better. What can you affirm in those more challenging moments to shift your energy in the direction of beginning to feel better?

Esther Hicks and Abraham urge us to “go general.” So instead of thinking about the specific problem/solution, focus on general thoughts that feel better than the current stress-inducing ones you are entertaining.

My Inspirations

I just want to give credit where credit is due. Most of my affirmations and my wisdom around positive thoughts and how they affect us have come to me through the work of Esther Hicks, Jill Lebeau, and Tosha Silver. I am eternally filled with overflowing appreciation for these women.

The power is in your thoughts.

You will find affirmations everywhere. Google “positive affirmations’ and you’ll get a million. Here are all of my favorites printed on beautiful photos to help them raise my vibration and stick in my mind easier.

All of my free images can be seen and downloaded here: 
The Art of Positive Thinking

I have over 500, so here is a link to each individual category:
Health & Wellness
Prosperity & Abundance
Inspired by Abraham
Raise Your Vibration
Self-Esteem
Self-Empowerment
Soothe Your Spirit

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Staying Motivated to Reach Our Goals

How do we stay motivated to reach our goals?

I hear a chorus of you singing, “We don’t!”

That’s one of the things people frequently hire a coach for: support in staying motivated.

If you are wanting to energize your life, you also have some changes in mind you are wanting to make to that end.  Maybe you want to get more active, maybe you want to enrich your menus with more veggies, or by reducing fats.

Whatever your particular goal is, the biggest key I can share with you is to shift your mindset so that you are focused on the outcome you desire!

Now, maybe you’re thinking, “I have been focused on losing 50 pounds for the last ten years, and it hasn’t happened yet!”

This is the ideal time to point out that every subject is really two subjects: the subject itself (the object you desire), and the absence of it.  Often times we think we are focused on what we want, when we are actually focussing on the fact that we do not yet have it.  Focussing on NOT having what we want slows motivation, so that what we desire is slow to arrive, or we block it completely and it never arrives.

Let’s use the example above.  If someone says they have been focussed on “losing weight,” chances are what they are really focussed on is the fact that they are “not losing weight” or how “hard it is to lose weight” or maybe, “I’ll NEVER lose all this weight!”

The first thing I would say to a client in this situation is that trying to “lose weight” is an uphill battle that few of us actually win.  Why? Because we resist “losing” anything!  We want to be winners and we don’t like it when we lose games, keys, or our minds.  If we do lose something the first thing we do is try to get it back.  That’s not helpful if the real goal is to reach a healthy weight we can maintain.  Your goal could be weight reduction, or body composition improvement, or as one of my delightful clients reframed it; to reveal your sexy inner beast!

All of those goals sound more desirable than “losing” anything, don’t they? So step one would be to reframe the goal in a way that motivates you.

Visualize your desire as a fully formed outcome.

What does your authentic body look like?  More importantly, how does it feel?  Sit with that feeling of loving the skin you’re in!  Let it soak in and inspire the cells of your body to give you what you truly desire!  Nothing has ever manifested that was not “thought” first.  Let your mind spend time on what your ideal body feels like, looks like, performs like.  Submerse the cells of your body in the vibration of what you want them to become.  They will respond by matching that vibration!

Usually we get distracted with “what is.”  We know what we want insomuch as it’s NOT what we currently have.  We want something ‘better,’ or healthier, or smaller or bigger, but we spend very little time defining what we actually WANT because we get caught up on looking at the “what we currently have” part. 

We’ve developed patterns of eating meant to soothe emotions more than to fill nutritional needs.  We’ve given up being active for the sake of getting the to-do lists accomplished.  And we look at our current state of “not being where I want to be” and can’t figure out how it’s possible to get from where we are to where we want to be.  Many lose faith that it’s even possible.

Don’t think about HOW you get there from here, just visualize BEING there already, and more importantly, how it FEELS to be standing there in your full power.  Engage all five senses to help make your vision REAL in your mind.

Be open to the possibility that it COULD happen for you. Even if you can’t see how that miracle arrives, leave the door open for it.  Don’t shut it out by deciding it is NOT possible, or will not come to you, or that you’re not worthy.

If you’re not willing to spend time just thinking about what you want, what are the chances you’ll actually take action to make it happen?

One of the best ways to stay motivated is to keep looking at what you want without trying to figure out how you get it.  That way you’re excited by feeling it in your vibration, without splitting your energy with thoughts like, “I want it but, I don’t know how to get it.”  Your energy is all moving toward what you DO want if that’s where you focus the energy.  “I know what I want,” is how you reframe that one.

See your ideal outcome fully formed in your mind and add the mantra, “I know what I want.”  

When something or someone introduces a question like “HOW do you plan get there from here?” You can answer, “By staying focussed on what I want, and not limiting the Universe by telling it HOW to deliver what I want.”

You’ve GOT this! I know you have what it takes to create the life you want.

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A Powerful Tool – Free for You!

Twelve years ago I first learned about the importance of reframing negative thoughts.  There were all kinds of thoughts in my head that didn’t help me or make me happy and I felt powerless to stop them.  My first therapist called it my “monster voice” and Rick Carson described them as gremlins having distinct characteristics in his brilliant book, “Taming Your Gremlin, a Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting out of Your Own Way.”  I highly recommend it to everyone who has any self-doubts at all.

My lovely therapist taught me that reframing the thought was the trick.  Then practice the new thought until it’s more familiar than the unhelpful one.  Voila!  New neural pathways are created this way and you can retrain your mind with practice.

Then in 2010, I discovered Esther Hicks.  I resonate deeply with the message she channels from Abraham, so I became an avid follower and remain so today.  I remember watching an interview with Esther when she was asked how she began the process of raising her vibration and she said “meditation and positive affirmations.”  I began writing affirmations that appealed to me on index cards and it was a delightful tool for me.  

Several months later a close friend was going through a difficult challenge, and I thought some of the positive affirmations I had been practicing might be helpful for her.  I was going to make some index cards for her, but I have terrible handwriting, so I decided to print the index cards using my computer printer so she could actually read them.  My printer happened to have 4×6 photo paper loaded in the tray, and as I reached to take it out, I had an inspiration.  Why couldn’t I print the affirmations on my beautiful landscape photos?  That way the natural artwork of our glorious Universe would uplift the reader even more than just the uplifting words!

I opened one of my images in Photoshop, put a text box on it and made my first photo affirmation creation.!

Not my best image. Not my favorite affirmation. But it was the beginning of something beautiful!

That was in 2011.  In February of 2012, I took my favorite 38 photo affirmations and created my first book, Live Joy Fully.  It was 3×5 inches – the perfect size to carry in my purse to uplift my spirit whenever and wherever I happened to be!

Over the next three years, I sold 50 copies of my book and over 100 wall calendars full of photo affirmations.  I wasn’t getting rich, but I was delighted to be uplifting the vibrations of those I came in contact with!  

Positive affirmations continued to find me.  I was reading Esther-Abraham and Wayne Dyer.  I discovered Jill Lebeau and Florence Scovel Shinn.  Everything that spoke to me was added to a list that I could use to adorn my photos.  I delight in finding JUST the right image to reflect the feeling of the affirmation.

Every year around October I have new calendars for sale.  If you follow my blog or FaceBook, you will see order info in case you want to inspire your year.  If you’re not currently following me, you can do that, or just check my photography website in November for order information.

In 2016, I created my second photo affirmations book, Practice Happiness Daily, which has nearly sold out.  I have four copies left if you want to grab yours before they disappear forever!  

I expect I’ll create another book soon because I keep creating the empowering photo affirmations. To date I have over 400 positive, empowering thoughts printed on my photos, and you can download every single one of them for FREE!  

I sell my landscape photography online and in local galleries on canvas or metal prints, but the photo affirmation creations are my gift to the world.  They started as my way to help uplift the spirit of a friend in need and grew organically from there.  If they uplift you, I want you to have them!  Please download any that you enjoy, print them out, post them around your house, send them to friends, uplift the vibration of our planet!  

This is one of the MANY reasons that I resonated so completely with iPEC when I was researching life coach schools last year.  iPEC’s mission is to “raise the consciousness of the world, one person at a time.”  As soon as I read that, I was hooked.  No other school appealed to me after that.  I could not have found a coaching school more aligned with my own values.

My most recent empowering thoughts on photos are the 33 foundation principles of my school, also known as the iPEC Empowerment Principles.

I absolutely ADORE coaching people and helping them raise their vibration!  One of the tools I constantly use during sessions is reframing thoughts!  Most of us are thinking something on a regular basis that does not serve us.  Many of us become exhausted by those thoughts!  My clients are creative and come up with all kinds of empowering thoughts to replace depleting ones.  When someone creates one that really shifts their energy up, I add it to a photo for them as a special gift to help them remember not just the new thought, but how easy it is to shift their energy by shifting their thoughts!

Below are three affirmations created by clients and added to my own images.
That’s me in the bottom one saying “no thank you” to sugar in my power pose!

All of my free images can be seen and downloaded here: The Art of Positive Thinking

Here is a link to each individual category:
Health & Wellness
Prosperity & Abundance
Inspired by Abraham
Raise Your Vibration
Self-Esteem
Self-Empowerment
Soothe Your Spirit

If you wish to subscribe to my blog for thoughts, tips & resources for inspiration and self-empowerment, please email me at cyndicombs@gmail.com with “blog please” in the subject line. I will send you a link each time a new blog posts. Thanks!