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Howdy friend. Welcome to Unforged, an unfiltered holistic nutrition and mental wellness podcast for evolving folks that crave a delicious life of fulfillment.

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Haley, here I am, your host, a trauma-informed functional medicine dietitian, holistic mental wellness coach and the founder of the Fulfilled Fork.

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On this show, we dish up insights and activations while learning about sustainable mind, body, soul lifestyle practices.

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It's sweet, it's savory and it'll spice up your life.

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To stay connected, make sure you sign up for our unforked email list at thefulfilledforkcom.

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Forward slash links. Let's dig into the episode.

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Thefulfilledforkcom.

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Forward slash links. Let's dig into the episode.

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Welcome back to the Unforked podcast.

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Oh my gosh, I am excited, for today we are talking about affirmations. We're going to talk more about how to craft those effective affirmations.

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To craft those effective affirmations that we talked about in part one.

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So we talked in part one about how affirmations are beneficial for our health, how they can catapult you into your next version of you, like your next level you, your next level of health, your next level of fulfillment.

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Affirmations are incredible. We talked about that.

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We also talked a little bit about the neuroscience and psychology of affirmations on our last episode.

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So today we're going to bring in some concrete examples of how to use them and how not to use them, but, but, but.

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But. Before we get into the juice of today's episode, I really want to tell you about the Ignite your Mental Wellness training.

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We are going to be igniting your mental wellness transformation and I am going to be teaching you how to confidently step into your next level of health in this training yes, it is free.

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It is free, guys, it is free.

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Do not hesitate to jump on this training.

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You're going to get a taste of how I work, how I help people transform their lives and yes, I say transform because my clients abso-fucking-lutely transform their lives when they start working with me.

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I honestly am blown away by the transformations.

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We're going to be talking about some of those transformations in the Ignite training.

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Sign up in the show notes for the Ignite your Mental Wellness Transformation.

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You can also find it on my website, thefulfilledforkcom.

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It's plastered up on the navigation bar.

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It says free training. You cannot miss it.

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Inside the training, you're going to learn three foundational strategies that help you step into your next level of health with confidence and clarity, and we're going to do it in a way that's sustainable.

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So how do you move from your current state into your desired state of health.

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We are going to be talking all about that.

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I'm going to give you clarity, I'm going to give you the confidence and you're going to walk away feeling fired up about claiming your most flavorful, fulfilled, abso-fucking-lutely incredible life.

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You are incredible, my friend, and I want you to know that.

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The confusion, the stress, the overwhelm that's what this class, this training, is here to help you do is get rid of all of that.

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We want to get rid of all the stress, confusion, all that.

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So we're going to be talking about the functional nutrition, functional mental wellness in a holistic point of view, from a trauma-informed, values-based lens.

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What a unique blend.

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And we're going to find your next step.

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What is the next action?

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What is the next thing to do in your life?

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How can you step into your most flavorful, fulfilled life?

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That is what the Ignite, your Mental Wellness transformation training, is going to do, for you Cannot wait to see you in there Again.

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Sign up in the show notes and or on the Fulfilled Fork website.

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Wonderful, let's dive in to the episode.

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So how do we craft those effective affirmations?

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Because now that you're probably like ooh, yeah, affirmations, that sounds fucking awesome.

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I am intrigued, haley, let's dig in.

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But you're probably like, how do I use it in a way that's beneficial for me?

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Because, I will tell you, we all use them in very different ways and so I don't claim to have the ultimate truth.

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I don't claim to have your ultimate truth or the ultimate truth by any means.

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So I am here to give you ideas and inspiration in how you can use affirmations yourself.

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I will tell you how I use them right, how do I use them and how do I use them to transform my life and become the version of me that feels so aligned, so aligned, so powerful, so so, so good.

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So we know that crafting effective affirmations is a super powerful tool and that can shape our mindset and our beliefs, and when we learn how to create these affirmations in a way that resonates with our deepest desires.

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So how you craft it in a way that resonates with your deepest desires, your deepest beliefs, your new beliefs, right?

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A lot of times, affirmations are helping us step out of the old ways of being and the old ways of thinking, into a way of being and thinking that is far more resonant with our authentic selves versus the conditioned self.

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So how do you harness the power of affirmations to their full potential so that you can manifest positive changes in your life, and I don't want to just say positive changes, but your desired, your desired next level, your desired outcomes.

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First, we need to talk about the characteristics of an affirmation that is going to be powerful for you.

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So if they are encompassing of these characteristics, they're going to be more effective in influencing your subconscious mind, your thoughts, your beliefs.

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So when you have an affirmation, you want it to be positive and or neutral, and you also want it to be in the present tense.

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So instead of saying, an example of a positive or neutral present tense affirmation would be I honor my body as my sacred home, treating it with respect and great care.

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That is a present tense affirmation.

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So I am saying I honor, I am honoring.

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That is what makes an affirmation really, really powerful and over time that is going to lead to that neuroplasticity and forming those new connections in your brain.

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With that example you can also see how the affirmation is very personal and specific.

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So I'm specific about what my goals are, what my vision is, what my values are, so that I can make the affirmations that I choose to incorporate into my life more impactful and directly relevant to my needs.

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And so if you come across an affirmation where it doesn't feel personal, it doesn't feel like, oh yeah, that one really hits, that one resonates with me a lot, then that might not be the affirmation for you.

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That might not be the affirmation for you.

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Tweak it and make it resonant to you specifically. You might be like oh, sacred home, haley, I don't want to say that.

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That doesn't feel right and so that's okay.

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You can readjust and change the affirmation into a way that is very personal for you and very specific for your most fulfilled life.

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What affirmations could you use in the moment to help support you as you expand out of your comfort zone and courageously step into your most fulfilled life?

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So, along that note, the affirmation should also be emotionally resonant.

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So we talked about the specificity and making it personal.

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But there's a difference between a sentence that feels ooh, that one hits.

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Ooh, that one lights my soul up.

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Ooh, fucking love that one.

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You will know when an affirmation feels emotionally resonant with you.

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I am a very emotional person, so maybe your emotional resonance won't speak as loud as mine does.

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I don't know. That'll have to be an experiment for you.

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Emotions are really really big for me in my life.

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I can tell if something is for me or is not for me based on my emotions.

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If I'm in a clear state, I want to add that in there.

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If I'm in a clear state, I want to add that in there.

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If I'm in a clear state, if I have a regulated nervous system, if I am not in a clear state, you know I take my emotions with a grain of salt.

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I'm not saying I use them to make every decision, but we do want these affirmations to be emotionally resonant because that is going to make it more powerful for you.

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It is going to make it more personal and specific for you, right?

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And so those emotions, the feelings of the affirmation, you can feel how that amplifies the impact of the affirmation and that helps to reinforce how that affirmation lands in your subconscious, in your body, mind and soul on a deeper level.

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So emotional resonance is huge.

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Honoring my body as my sacred home and treating it with respect and care.

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That lands for me, that is so aligned with my values, just beyond belief.

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Like I'm getting chills thinking about it. Okay, not saying that every affirmation needs to give you chills, but I will say there are many that have and those.

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Just they just hit me on a deeper level, okay. So, that being said, in that example of the affirmation about treating my body with respect, care and as a sacred home, that is a simple and straightforward affirmation.

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It is concise, it is clear and it helps focus my intentions and my attention on what truly matters to me.

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So I want you, when you are looking at affirmations, to make sure that the affirmations you choose to use are concise, that they are clear, because when they are clear and concise and straightforward and simple, it will help you align those subconscious beliefs, thoughts on your values, on your vision and what truly matters to you.

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I want to dive a little bit further into the personalization and emotional resonance piece.

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So when we personalize our affirmations, that adds that layer of authenticity and relevance to our practice, our affirmation practice.

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So, of course, we can see how that makes those affirmations more meaningful and compelling for us.

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And when those affirmations align with your values, your goals, your emotions, that's when that's like the magic sauce.

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That is the recipe, guys.

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That is the recipe that makes the affirmation a super potent tool for transformation.

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When you have that emotional resonance, it deepens that connection between your conscious and your subconscious mind and it helps to imprint those beliefs and and ways of being more effectively.

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So one way you can personalize and keep track of the affirmations that have emotional resonance for you in this moment, because it will change over your life, right?

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What resonated with me 10 years ago is very different than what resonates with me now, and that is okay, that's normal, that's expected.

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As we grow and change and become more of our authentic selves, our affirmations are going to change, our beliefs are going to change, and so how I use these affirmations, and how I encourage you to use these affirmations, is to collect them.

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So if I find an affirmation that I really resonate with, perhaps I will write it down in a folder on my phone, maybe I'll write it on my journal, maybe I will speak it into a little voice recorder on my phone.

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I've been loving my voice recorder lately for documenting ideas and, you know, contemplating all the things.

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So when you document these affirmations that have the personalized feel and the emotional resonance, make sure you are crediting the source, especially if you're going to use them in some sort of like public way.

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So if I was inspired by an affirmation from something that another coach or creator said, then I would absolutely fucking mootly credit them and say, hey, these affirmations were inspired by this person, this book, so don't forget to do that.

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I think that is incredibly important. Yeah, just paying respect and being inspired by other folks is so incredible.

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And let's spread the love, especially when we're sharing it in a public place, because you never know when you might want to use them.

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And so, that being said, once you have a collection of affirmations that either you have adapted from other affirmations that you heard maybe they just came to you, sometimes they just like come to me and I write them down that is when you can take that collection and you can make an affirmation recording of your own.

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I think it is super powerful to hear affirmations in our own voices.

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I like recordings. Honestly, I prefer recordings over me saying the affirmation from memory, because then I can use those affirmations just going on a walk and as I hear that affirmation, I can then repeat it, either in my head or I can repeat it out loud.

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Most of the time I repeat them in my head, I don't say them, but it can be very, very, very impactful also to say them out loud.

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So it just depends on where you're at the situation, what is your preference on how exactly you want to use them?

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But I do find it very, very, very powerful to make that recording and you are literally like.

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You can think of it as your higher self, your more authentic version, your next level, you.

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You can think of it as that version of you speaking to the current version of you.

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And what would they do? How would they think?

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What would they believe? How would they respond to this situation?

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How would they move? That's how I find affirmations to be so powerful, because it's not.

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It's bringing the, your dreams, your, your vision of yourself into the present moment.

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A lot of times we just sit and wish or think about oh my gosh, this is who I would like to be, but we never actually take a step or do anything in the present moment to get there or to be that person, because it's not always a later.

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How can you be that person now?

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Because now is all you have.

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Bringing that next version of yourself, the higher, your higher self, into the now is so incredibly important and that is what helps speed up transformation and growth and impact and your feelings of personal power and fulfillment is bringing it into the now.

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So integrating these affirmations into your daily routines is key.

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I am not saying that you have to do it every single day and have like a super consistent routine that you do every single day.

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I am more intuitive with my practice.

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I use them as a tool. I reach for them when I need them, especially as I am anchoring myself into the next version, the person that I want to be, and I want to shorten the gap from being that person.

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It doesn't have to take 10 years. It doesn't have to take a year, five years.

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How can I be that person now? And so a lot of the times, how we do that is through these affirmations, through changing our beliefs, through changing our thought patterns, through changing how we act and make decisions in the world.

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So when I am really desiring to grow, that's when I personally bring the affirmations into my life more and on more often, on a more regular basis, and it really really helps.

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So I do this in the morning.

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I would encourage you to do morning affirmations and right before bed affirmations, because this is when your mind is in a very impressionable state.

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You have different brain waves going on at that time and so it's more, it's less likely that you'll be very critical and overly analytical if that is you of the affirmations you will.

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You might feel less resistance if you're practicing in the morning or the afternoon, or I mean the evening before bed.

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It also starts your day off on a positive note, on a powerful note.

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It helps you get into that frame of mind of the version of you that you desire to be First thing.

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So then it carries on through the rest of your day.

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It sets the tone, helps make your day more fulfilling, equally in the evening before bed.

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It sets the tone, helps make your day more fulfilling, equally, in the evening before bed.

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It sets the tone of your rest. It sets the tone of, like, wrapping up your them in your head, but also pairing them we talked about with movement and also with visualization, perhaps listening to a recorded audio of affirmations that can enhance the impact of the affirmation by engaging your other senses.

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I used to use visualization a lot.

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I first came across it when I was in high school and I was a track athlete, a hurdler, and there came a time where I started to have like performance anxiety during track meets.

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I was phenomenal during practice and then there was a season where on the track, the gun would off and I don't know what happened to my body, but it was not pretty.

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It was not me, I was not performing well.

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And so I engaged in the visualizations and the affirmations before every single track meet.

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I would do it during the week. I pretty much did it every day.

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It was very important to me and it really helped get me into the state of mind that was positive, especially after so many times of having outcomes on the track that I didn't love.

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They weren't my best, they were absolutely not my best performance, they were some of my worst ever, and so it can be really easy to get caught up in those negative loops, those negative feedback loops saying, oh my god, I suck, this happened again.

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I must just suck. What's wrong with me?

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Why can't I do this? And so when you pair the affirmations with the visualization of, in my case, flawlessly flying down my track in the 100 and the 300, hurdles like those are tough races, especially at the 300.

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Those are fucking tough races. The 100 is more technical and the 300 is a lot of technicality but also endurance.

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It is a very tough race, and so I was able to use those affirmations to help get me into the frame of mind and help improve my performance and how I felt about myself, even if I didn't perform at my best, and I paired it with the affirmations for an even greater impact.

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So how can you use visualization along with your affirmations, like, for example, that affirmation that we spoke about earlier I honor my body as a sacred home, treating it with respect and care.

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When I say that, how can I visualize what that looks like for me specifically?

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This is a part of being personal and specific, and the emotional resonance how I honor my body and respect it and care for it is going to look different than how you honor your body and respect it and care for it.

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Different things are going to feel really resonant and good for different people, and so, for me, one of the first things I do is I start with my morning walks.

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That is an action that I take to treat and honor my body with respect and care, and while I do that walk, I do a mindfulness meditation, a walking meditation, almost every day, and it really helps bring me into that state where, okay, this is the day that I'm going to have, I'm going to make this a great fucking day, and I notice the difference on the days when I do it and I don't, and so that is how I say okay, I know that that is one way that I honor my body and treat it with respect and care.

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And so you might say the first thing that I want to do is I want to wake up and I want to go to the gym, and that is how I treat my body with respect and care.

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That's amazing.

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It's gonna look so different for everybody, and so I use that example with movement, but it can be journaling and other stress reduction techniques like how do you care for your body?

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How do you want to care for your body? How do you want to care for your body?

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How would the most authentic, values-driven version of you honor, respect and care for their body, their home?

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I invite you to sit with that one for a little bit and maybe switch up the affirmation a little bit.

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I don't know, but I do believe that pairing that visualization of the activity with the affirmation is wonderful and so like if I was using the affirmation as I'm getting ready in the morning.

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Honoring my body is doing my skincare every day, brushing my teeth.

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Maybe you're physically doing those actions and bringing more mindfulness and intention into how you do those actions, like it feels a lot better.

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It feels amazing when you're treating those seemingly mundane, simple tasks throughout your day as respect and care for your body and so for my mental health.

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I can even think of doing the dishes as being respectful and exhibiting care for my body and treating it as a home, because when I do the dishes my mental clarity is better.

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I feel a difference in my body when there's not a pile of dishes in the sink.

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It feels so different.

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So sit with that one, and I also.

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I don't personally use this one, but you can also use reminders.

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So actually I have used this.

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Nevermind, I lied, I'm not personally using it at the moment, we'll just put it that way.

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So there was a time I was going through a breakup and I I felt compelled to sit there and write affirmations on sticky notes, and I placed those sticky notes all around the house.

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They were everywhere, everywhere, everywhere.

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They were on the trim of the door so that when I walked out of my house every day, I would see that it was on the windows.

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It was on the mirrors Next to my bed, on the fridge.

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When I say everywhere, I mean everywhere.

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I didn't put it in the shower because it wouldn't have stayed up, but if I could have I would have.

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And so having those affirmations around was a reminder.

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It was a constant reminder of how I wanted to be, who I wanted to be.

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You can also do like on your alarm every morning, maybe write like a fun little affirmation, so that way, if you use your phone as an alarm, you can like see that beautiful affirmation on there.

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I know some people will put it like wake the fuck up.

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That's not positive.

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I don't know about you, but that doesn't feel good to me If I'm like telling myself to wake the fuck up every day now, nope, um.

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So yeah, you could get creative with it.

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Use your smartphone, use sticky notes, um, however, you find that a reminder is nourishing to you.

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Absolutely. Do that, absolutely do it Helps you.

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Repeat them throughout the day and just incorporate them into a less, in a less structured manner.

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So when you customize your affirmations to suit your needs and also infuse them with your personality, personal meaning, fuse them with your personality, personal meaning, emotional resonance, and then, if you also integrate them into your daily routine, this is how you can absolutely, with so much power.

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Harness the transformation that affirmations can bring to your life.

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It helps foster that positive mindset.

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It literally forms new neural connections in your brain to help you step into that next, most authentic version of yourself.

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It can help you manifest.

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It helps Affirmations fucking help everything.

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If you ask me, okay, clearly I'm a big fan, big, big fan.

31:20

Okay, so let's do a little recap.

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We talked about crafting those effective affirmations and in that, the characteristics that we talked about were having our affirmations be positive and in present tense, so framing them in positive and neutral ways that are affirming of the things we are manifesting and how we are transforming.

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We also want to make our affirmations super personal and specific and emotionally resonant, and specific and emotionally resonant.

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Lastly, your affirmations should be concise and clear.

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Make them straightforward, keep it simple.

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Don't make it hard on yourself. They don't have to be perfect. Tweak them as you go.

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The most important thing is that the affirmations are a tool that feels good to you, and they might not feel good right away, like it took me a while before I actually felt a benefit, like a big, big change.

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Right, I felt the good small changes as I go, because when we are speaking positively and or neutrally to ourselves, like that feels good, it feels good in the moment, amazing.

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So, yes, it helps with that short-term like dopamine hit and good feeling, but it also helps with the long-term.

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It also helps cement these ways of being beliefs into our subconscious mind so that it no longer becomes something that that you have to say an affirmation about.

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You just do it, you just are it. So, bringing it back to that example of honoring your body, the affirmation of I honor my body as a sacred home, treating it with respect and care, if that affirmation feels like a stretch for you right now, if it feels like, oh man, that's not me, keep at it, because someday it will, it will feel like you, it will feel embodied.

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And so that's what affirmations do for us.

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They help us embody the person you want to be.

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Lastly, we talked a little bit about integrating affirmations into our daily routines.

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So we talked about the morning rituals, the evening rituals, the visualizations, incorporating those visualizations into your affirmation practice, and then also reminders like sticky notes or alarm notes and things like that.

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So the thing I want to leave you with is sign up for the newsletter, sign up for the Unforked newsletter, and I say this because I am going to be regularly a minimum of once a week sharing potent as fuck affirmations with you yes, potent as fuck, friends.

34:21

And this will help simplify your nutrition and mental wellness journey, because then you can take the affirmations that I give you in the newsletter and start incorporating them into your day, and you will be notified if at some point, I come out with a affirmation audio track for you that you can incorporate into your day.

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You will absolutely be blown away by affirmations if you stick to them.

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So that is the note that I want to leave you on. Please, please, please, don't forget that you can send me your thoughts, your reactions, your breakthroughs, your questions to my email and if you have a question, you might be featured in one of the future Unforged episodes.

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So don't hesitate to jump on that opportunity, because I would absolutely love to dive into your specific questions.

35:33

Amazing Well, again, have a phenomenal day.

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My friend, I will see you next time on the Unforged podcast.

35:41

Thank you for listening to Unforged.

35:47

You can find all resources and links from this episode in the show notes at thefulfilledforkcom forward slash podcast.

35:56

If you enjoyed the episode, we'd love if you'd send it to a friend and rate and review the show on either Apple Podcasts or Spotify.