So this concludes the writings I adapted from my reflections and synthesis of what I was learning on my project Gratitude Is Present.
One of the takeaways from that journey was the use of affirmations. Some people don’t like affirmations and believe them to be cheesy or too self-helpy even though there are some studies and empirical evidence to support the efficacy of them.
I experimented with them because that’s the most obvious way to see if they actually work or not. I’m all for postulating and waxing hypotheticals, but self-experimentation is what I do and clearly the best way to find out if they worked for me.
Short answer: they work for me.
Going through the affirmation process itself was a self-reflective exercise to identify and define what is important to me and what matters in my life. There are a lot of nice sounding words and ideas people throw around, but honing in and identifying the phrases that define you, define your life, and define your life’s mission is an entirely different, immersive experience from passively nodding at random maxims and buzzwords that sound cool.
Doing this process and often to this day, I intermittently forget that I grew up with one of the most well-known sets of affirmations around: the Boy Scout Oath and Law.
I love and owe so much of who I am to the Boy Scouts, and to this day still carry around my Eagle Scout Card–something I worked years to earn. Boy Scouts provided me with role models, like-minded young men, a sense of duty, responsibility, and hard-work. I’m a man who loves the finer things in life, but thanks to the Boy Scouts, I also love roughing it in the wilderness on a backpacking trip, digging my own latrines, and purifying my own water. (I also love making big camp fires, but I think that’s a trait I was born with)
And so before every meeting, we would recite this oath and law. I don’t think an Eagle Scout ever outgrows the Boy Scout Oath and Law (and I strive to live up to those ideals to this day), but I decided to make my own version of affirmations without extensively plagiarizing.
I blended these affirmations with my favorite pieces of music, speeches, and movie scenes, and I listen to the track almost every day, especially in those times when I seek motivation and gratitude.
You may not agree or like every clip that’s there (and I’m by no means an expert mixer), but everything in it is so personally meaningful and impactful that I wanted to share it with you my readers.
I hope you enjoy it for what it is and for what it represent to me, and I encourage you to make one of your own and see if it too impacts your life like this does mine.