What you water, grows.

Revisiting where we left off here, I’d be sharing how I train myself to think empowering thoughts.

(I apologise if my entries are a little jumbled up. Some times each of us literally have a mind of our own lol. Fret not, I’ll eventually compile the relevant entries together for easier navigation in the near future.)

Let me just start this entry off with an emphasis on how important mastering our thoughts is. My perspective is as such – changing our actions without changing our thoughts is like peeling the scab off a healing wound again and again, and it eventually forms a scar. A single disempowering thought can negate the effort we are putting to become better. For example, you decide to go for a walk to feel better but during the walk, your mind keep thinking about how the problems, about the ‘what ifs’, ‘should have’, ‘could have’. Subsequently, you find yourself filled with guilt, regrets and everything feels so heavy, including the walk. Your mind starts telling you this is too hard and you start losing motivation in many things because even walking is difficult now. Before you know it, you start to believe that your efforts are not translating and everything is for naught.

Thoughts > Feelings > Actions > Results

Here are the four (4) ways I train myself to think empowering thoughts:
(Take note, be mindful of toxic positivity as it will counteract and cause more unnecessary issues.)

1. Be Intentional
   Start your day with the intention to empower yourself (you can do this through priming) and explore different ways of doing so throughout the day. If it’s a particular song, play it on repeat. If it’s a quote, read it often. One of the things I’ve done is to become very particular of the information I consume. I’ve unfollowed social accounts that post about the dramas and gossips about or around their lives. I’ve also created specific playlists where I find comfort and strength. Some days I’d immerse myself in the meaning of the lyrics, other days I simply move to the beats and most days, both!
   
   
2. Pick an Anchor
   (Disclaimer: I am not a NLP coach and I’ve never attended a full NLP course before) Having said so, I did learnt about the anchoring technique during my personal development pursuit. This is a technique that links a unique trigger to a specific feeling. I personally have two anchors – one is chanting ‘Nam-Myoho-Renge-Kyo‘ and the other is interlocking my fingers. The former propels me to a higher life state where I feel more courageous, confident and wiser. Whereas, the latter provides me a sense of comfort, safety, assurance and support. I’d activate this technique to get into the respective desired state at any time of the day, especially when there is a strong need to invoke the respective feelings.
   
   That being said, it takes practice and deeper understanding for anchoring to be effective. From intensity to timing of anchoring, I encourage you to learn more about it because if done incorrectly, you may unintentionally anchor things that do not serve you well. Remember, it works both ways. (PS: If you’re using ai platforms for your research, please always ask it for the sources.)
   
   
3. Say Words of Affirmation to Yourself
   “I can do this” and “I am courageous”. These are the two main things I tell myself every day as I look into the mirror, brushing my teeth. There are days where my alters beg to differ but I say it nonetheless. The key of this action is to reprogramme our belief system and condition our thoughts. We learn by repetition. Say it enough times and you’d start believing it. Again, be conscious of what words of affirmation you use because this technique works both ways too.
   
   Also a worthy mention: This technique is especially effective for me too because my top love language is words of affirmation ◡̈
   
   
4. Gratitude
   Gratitude is the best attitude. If the above seems too complex to begin with, start with this. Write down one thing you’re grateful for at the end of each day or simply say thank you to someone who opens the door for you, hold the lift for you or serves you at the cashier etc.
   
   Personally, I also made it a habit to name two things I’m grateful for whenever a negative thought begins to surface—whether it comes from myself or my alters. You can imagine the amount of things I’ve learnt to be grateful about and yknow what, it all comes naturally to me now. I genuinely feel so fortunate where I am now despite still living with my mental health condition. If you find it hard to think of anything to be grateful about, let me help you start it off – “I am grateful for having the eye sight to read this entry.”
   

Rounding off, let me draw your attention back to the title of this entry. This entry is about thinking empowering thoughts, NOT motivating thoughts. Let that sink for a moment.

Don’t get me wrong. Motivating thoughts are important as well because they are what kick us into gear and I will share more about this later down the road. On the other hand, empowering thoughts are what keep us going. Motivating thoughts will eventually become demotivating if we can’t sustain the momentum towards our desired outcome. That’s why the most important thing that I did on my healing journey is to get better at empowering myself. Without that, healing becomes seemingly impossible and hopelessness will set in.

Hence, this entry. So please train yourself to think empowering thoughts first! Get better at it. You can do it!

(Psst… We will hop back into the practical tips on how I turn my house into my haven for healing in the next entry… ◡̈)