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Hi, this is Kat O'Leary and you are listening

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to another episode of How to Be Creative.

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So today I'm going to talk about my

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process of writing affirmations.

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Um, so this is one of the things that I do every

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day , um, as part of

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, uh, ideally my morning routine.

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Sometimes it doesn't happen until, or

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certain aspects of it don't happen until a

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little bit later in the day. Um, but

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I guess the, the ideal version is

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really , um, for me to do

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these things , um, kind of before

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I really start getting ready for work and

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, um, thinking about the rest of my

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day. So, affirmations for

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me are really just a piece of mindset

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work. Um, essentially

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the value that I get out of them is

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kind of , um, and especially if I do

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them first thing in the morning, trying to kind

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of prime my brain

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attitude mindset for the day , um,

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from like, through a positive lens so

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that , um, I'm coming at it from that

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direction. And regardless of what

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the day throws at me, I've

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at least sort of , um, you know, done what I

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can to ground myself upfront

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. So I thought I

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would go about this by actually just going

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through writing my affirmations

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for the day while I record

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and kind of talking about how

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I've selected each one. So a

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little bit on , um, I guess how I've

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structured my affirmations, and I do write the same ones

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every day . Um, in

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the past I've had them kind of evolve

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to where, you know, let maybe

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, um, one of them, it feels like

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something that has really just

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become second nature to me. Maybe it's not something

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that I need to actively think about or

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write in my journal every day that

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might fall off the list. Or maybe

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there is , um, you know, something

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that I'm struggling with or an

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area of growth that I've ident identified

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for myself. Um, and

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I might, you know, identify , um, an

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affirmation that goes along with that. Recently,

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the way that I've been sort

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of structuring my list of affirmations

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is that I start with

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, um, kind of mindset focused

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a affirmations. So things that are

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really about kind of how I wanna feel

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now as I go through my days , um,

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and , um, you know, maybe kind of

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reminders to self. Um , and

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then from there I'll do a set of

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vision affirmations. And these are more

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things that I want for myself

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in the future, but don't have yet. Um

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, but I write them in present tense

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, um, as a means of sort of, you

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know , kind of trying to trick

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my brain into believing

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that I, not necessarily believing

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that I already have them, but more believing that I'm

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the type of person who will eventually

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have them. Um, and then I finish on

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another mindset affirmation

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that kind of recenters me

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in where I am now, and

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, um, helps me to move through

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my day from the present. So

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the first affirmation that I write every day

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is I act like I already

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have my perfect life. So I

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like this one because it's a reminder

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to , um, you

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know, kind of value what I have now and

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approach my day to day from

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that mindset, even if there

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are gaps between where I

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am right now and where I would

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ideally like to be. The

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second affirmation is I am

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fearlessly and unapologetically myself,

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and this is just a reminder for

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me to embody

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one of my values, which

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is originality. Um,

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I think, you know , sometimes in life

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there can be , um,

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pressure or even temptation to

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conform or shut down those parts of

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you that are different , um, whereas

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I find that , um,

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my life feels the best and most authentic to

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me when I am actually,

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you know , fully stepping into who

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I am, especially when it

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doesn't necessarily , um, line

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up with the ways that other people are thinking

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or going about things. And

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on a similar note, next we have, in

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stepping out of my comfort zone, I

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step into my potential. Um,

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so this one is , um,

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you know, kind of along the lines of

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being fearlessly and unapologetically

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myself , um, in that

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it is , um, something that requires

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a degree of intentionality , um,

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in a way that is kind of somewhat hard

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and often involves going against the grain. Um,

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so for this

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, um, it , this one really just serves

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as a reminder to me , um,

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that I don't want to live

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a life that is always comfortable. Um, and

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that a lot of the best things

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, um, that have happened in my life have

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really happened once I've kind

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of crossed over into an area where

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I feel a little bit less

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comfortable , um, or, you

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know, like I , I'm being stretched a bit in

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terms of my skills. And

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then the other thing about this one

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, um, that's pretty meaningful

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to me is that , uh, so

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I think, you know, the last few months

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or last year maybe, I've

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really been kind of having these sort

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of big picture internal conversations

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with myself about what

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I want from the rest of my

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life and how do I set myself

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up now? Like, what are the

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things I can control that I can do now , um,

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to ensure that I get those things. And , um,

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one of

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The results that has come out of that kind

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of internal dialogue, I always say, 'cause

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I'm a Gemini , um, has been that

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I've identified that , um,

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my, like, the meaning behind my life or,

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or my primary goal in life, or

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what feels like the reason why I'm

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here is really to

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fulfill my own potential. And so this

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affirmation serves as a reminder on

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a daily basis that , um, you

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know, in order to , uh, fulfill

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my own potential step into my potential, I

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really need to be comfortable , um,

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doing uncomfortable things before

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I move on to the next affirmation. I

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just wanted to talk a little bit about where I have sourced

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many of these from. So , um,

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there may be one or two that, you

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know, I kind of created out of whole cloth. Um,

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but for the most part I've used , um,

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a few different resources. Um,

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so one is , um,

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just kind of an internet search for random

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affirmation lists. Um, sometimes

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I will look for, you know , um,

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affirmations for , uh, mindset

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shifts or for growth or whatever

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it is. Um, but there are also

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just kind of like a hundred best affirmations,

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that kind of thing. So Google is

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your friend here. I suspect TikTok is

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also a good place to look. I don't think that I've

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done anything , um, myself over there, but

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tends to be a pretty solid search option

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for me overall. Um, another

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key place, and I wish I

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could recall specifically which

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ones came out of this, but , um, last

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year beginning, I think on dec

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on , um, January

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1st, 2023, I did this like

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40 day email course

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called the Mantra Project that's offered by

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Holly Whitaker and Tammy Salas.

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And , um, both are of whom are really

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great , um, just

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really smart women , uh, very creative,

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very cool. And basically

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they just emailed one affirmation

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per day , um, with

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some original art by Tammy to accompany

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it. And the way that I used

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those throughout the course was that

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I would , um, add each

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day's affirm affirmation to

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the list of affirmations that

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I was already writing each day, and

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then , um, kind of drop

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things off that didn't really resonate with

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me, but there were some that I kept

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on the list that really did or

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kinda felt , um, appropriate

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to where I was at that point. Um

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, so I would say a few of them

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are from that course, and I honestly,

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as I said, can't remember which ones

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, um, but recommend looking

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into it. I think it, it may be gone forever by

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now. Um, but if you look

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, um, on

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Holly's substack, which I think is just

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, um, under her name, Holly Whitaker

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, uh, should be, you should be able

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to find it. Um, if

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it is still available, that's probably the quickest

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place to, to locate it. Um,

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and then another thing that wasn't

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really a resource for sourcing affirmations

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as much as a resource

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for kind of optimize

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, optimize is the wrong word, but , um, refining

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my affirmation practice to

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get more out of it was a

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course that I've mentioned on at

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least one prior episode from Jamie

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Rin , um, that was

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called the Magical Thinking

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Exercise or something like that. Um, I'll

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drop it into the show notes. Um,

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but that was really helpful for me in

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kind of , um, adding

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some affirmations in that were less about

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my mindset today and more about my

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longer term vision for my life. So

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with that said, the next affirmation

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on my list is by

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shining my own light, I give others permission

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to do the same. So I like this

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one because it is a reminder to

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me that , um, it's not just about

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me. And so if I am feeling

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like , um, you know, I'm

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being too self-promotional,

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or , um, that the , the work that

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I'm putting out in the world isn't meaningful or

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, um, it , you know, that

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even putting any creative work out in the world

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is somehow self-centered or self-serving

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, um, this is just a reminder that by

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doing things like this publicly , um,

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or, you know, doing really anything creatively

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, um, publicly, you

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are showing other people

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what is possible. Um, so

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if you're the type of person who maybe struggles

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with sharing things that you're

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working on , um, this

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could be a helpful reminder to you. Um,

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I definitely find that , um, you

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know, for me, it just kind of reminds me that like, it

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, it kind of almost lets me , um,

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get out of my own ego drama and

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focus on the value that I

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could potentially be providing to other people,

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whether it's by demonstrating consistency

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, um, simply demonstrating the

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ability to share one's work publicly,

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or even just making someone feel less

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alone through the specific content

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of whatever it is that I'm sharing. And

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next, we have my challenges are

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my greatest teachers. So I think this is

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a really valuable one for me, especially.

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So at this point in

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my affirmation writing each morning,

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I tend to start getting

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a little angsty about whatever it

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is that I have on my calendar for the day.

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And this always serves as

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a very timely reminder that regardless

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of what it is that I'm up against in

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that , um, you know, on that particular day

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, uh, there's probably

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going to be a valuable lesson coming

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out of it. Um, and

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this sort of helps me reorient

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my thinking around the day ahead so

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that it's less dread

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around, you know, specific things that I don't

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wanna do. Maybe it's a meeting, maybe it's , um,

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a difficult conversation with someone personally

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, um, that I, I have

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been putting off. Um, whatever

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it is, writing this affirmation

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always gets me out

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of that headspace and

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into one of valuing

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an opportunity for growth. And

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then the final mindset affirmation

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in this group is I am capable

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of manifesting my dreams. So

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that's just a reminder to myself that what

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I want in life, I can get it, it

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is possible. Um, and

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from there , um, you know, it just

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kind of puts me in a head space where

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I , um, you know, am

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am more optimistic. Okay.

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So from there, I move

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into what I call vision

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affirmations. And I'm not gonna go

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through all of the

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specific ones that I write , um, partly

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just for my own privacy. Um,

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but for these, and this again

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is , um, the , uh,

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process that I got from Jamie

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Barron's magical thinking ritual. Um,

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but basically I

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started by making a list

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of , um, you

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know, a few things that I want in my life that

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I don't have yet. And

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then I assigned an

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affirmation that I wrote , um,

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for each of them . Um, so

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for example, if you , um,

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you know, you wanna travel more, you wanna be

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like very well traveled, you

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could write like, I travel

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internationally every quarter or

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something like that. So the key is to write them as

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though already presently

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true. So for

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me, for example, I will give one , um,

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real example. Um, one of

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mine is I go to Paris every year,

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so I love Paris. Um, I

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went already this year. Um, I

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didn't make it there last year. I did go for

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about 10 days in 2022

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for my birthday. Um, but

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I just feel very at home in Paris and

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would like to make

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going to Paris. Um, part

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of, you know, things I

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do every single year. So , um, for

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me, I'm kind of lucky in that I

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live in New York, so it's a relatively

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easy and not crazily

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expensive flight. Um, the good things, the

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good thing about European cities like Paris is

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that there are a lot of inexpensive

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, um, boutique hotels.

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And so that is sort

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of an achievable thing for me.

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Um, I'd say it's like one of the things

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that are on the list of vision affirmations

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that , um, it just feels like

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one of the easiest to achieve

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, um, from where I am right

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now. Um, whereas there are some others

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that , um, maybe

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are a little bit, you know, more

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of long-term goals for

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me. Um, so, you

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know, for example, if like you

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want to be a published author, you

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might write, I am a

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published author, or , um,

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if you want to be an entrepreneur, you

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could write, I am an entrepreneur,

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and I'd probably get a little bit more

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specific , um, you know, with things that are

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relevant to , um, the

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types of work that you wanna do. So if you want

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to start a tech company, I would write, you know, I'm

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a successful tech entrepreneur. Or if

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you want to write a book about your

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experience as an au pair in

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the uk , um, you could write an

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affirmation based on that. So it's really

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, um, very personal in

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terms of what makes sense for you. Like,

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what is your vision for your life, and

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, um, and then how

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do you translate that vision into

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a list of present tense

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affirmations that you can write every

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day until you have achieved those things.

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And then once I'm done with the vision affirmations,

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I close out with one final

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mindset affirmation, and that is

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I meet every day with high

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vibration energy. The

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purpose of this affirmation and

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the purpose of closing with it specifically is

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to reground myself

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in the present after writing out those vision

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based affirmations. Um, and

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also to remind myself , um,

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because kind of similar to

16:53

, um, you know, what

16:55

I mentioned earlier with my challenges are my greatest teachers.

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I, you know, by the time

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I'm wrapping up my affirmative writing

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for the day, it is just

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about time for me to get in

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the shower , um, get ready for my

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commute to work , um, and to

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sort of shift my brain into

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sort of my day to day and starting

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to , you know, I find myself kind of starting to

17:21

stress about , um, you know,

17:23

certain aspects of that day or week.

17:26

Um, and so this affirmation

17:29

I use as a tool for , um,

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reminding myself that one

17:34

thing I can control, even

17:37

though there may be many things throughout

17:39

the day or week that I cannot control, is

17:42

that , um, I can control

17:44

my energy. And it's pretty

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much always true that if I

17:49

step into my day with

17:51

the best possible energy, I

17:54

will have a better day regardless

17:56

of, you know, the specific external

17:59

circumstances that I might have to deal

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with. So that is how I

18:03

go about my affirmation writing. Again,

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I do these every day . Um,

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I have 1,

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2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13 that I now write every

18:17

day. Um, it still only takes

18:19

me about, probably only five

18:22

minutes or so to write all of these. Um,

18:26

and , um, I

18:29

do find that it, it does help put

18:31

me in a better mindset to

18:34

take on whatever the day has in store

18:36

for me. So please

18:38

feel free to reach out with any questions. Um,

18:41

I am at Cat at how

18:43

to be creative.org, or , um,

18:46

if you wanna find me on Instagram , um,

18:49

my personal Instagram is at Kat

18:52

O'Leary, K-A-T-O-L-E-A-R-Y.

18:55

Um, and then there's also How to Be Creative Instagram

18:58

at How to be creative org .