The things you think really matter. Your thoughts create your reality.
Talk to yourself negatively and you attract negativity. Talk to yourself positively and you begin to attract abundance.
The following is an affirmation exercise to rewire negative beliefs around self-worth. Repeat these out loud if you wish, making sure to take a deep breath between each statement. I’m including a link to my guided version if you prefer to follow along with audio.
- I am valuable.
- I have valuable contributions to make.
- I am unique.
- I am worthy of love.
- My value is not determined by achievement.
- I am worthy by right of birth.
- I deserve—and will receive—abundance.
- There is enough abundance for everyone.
- Receiving abundance does not deprive anyone else.
After you’ve said each of these lines out loud, check in with yourself to see if you really believed each statement. If you don’t believe one of the affirmations, ask yourself why. What is preventing you from believing it? This investigation will highlight negative beliefs that you can let go of.
If you find yourself unable to let go of a negative belief, spiritual teacher Bashar teaches that as soon as you investigate a belief and it appears nonsensical, you let it go. If you do not let go of a negative belief upon inspection, there is another unexamined negative belief underlying it. Keep investigating until you find the root of the negativity and all those beliefs will disappear.
Let’s take one of the negative beliefs I uprooted using this exercise. When I wrote these affirmations, I was thinking about how I feel about my performance at my day job and realized that I didn’t believe I was good at it. I tend to only value myself when I’m over-achieving. If I’m not currently setting records or receiving high praise from my peers and superiors, I tend to think I’m not doing well and am therefore bad at my job. This belief has plagued me for decades, and initially I believed it served me well, so I didn’t want to uproot it. The desire to be the best has propelled me to achieve a lot, including a PhD. I had to dig deeper to notice that there were two beliefs coupled together here that should not be. Once I examined them, one was obviously nonsensical. Belief 1: I like to try to be the best. We want to keep this belief because I like the feeling of being the best, and I like to strive for more. Belief 2: If I’m not the best, I am not worthy. It is nonsensical to believe I’m only worthy if I’m exceeding expectations. Exceeding expectations can’t be the norm. Accomplishing the rare is by definition…rare.
Annoyingly, I had already concluded this kind of logic was nonsensical in other people and other situations, but until I examined it at play in myself, I held onto the self-limiting belief. Take, for instance, the lowest-ranked professional athlete in any given sport. They may not be competing as well as their peers, but you bet your ass they could destroy you at their sport or, to reframe in the positive, teach you a lot about it.
Self-limiting beliefs like mine can have real consequences. Undervaluing your work can prevent you from advocating for yourself, which can lead to missed opportunities and promotions. And each missed opportunity reinforces the old story, making it harder to see your true worth.
I hope these affirmations help you to identify and squash your own nonsensical self-limiting beliefs you’re holding onto. You can also add your own statements as appropriate to address whatever you struggle with. Make this practice your own and you will surely benefit.
Meditations On Being 