Affirmations: From Non-Believer to High Achiever

🎙️Feeling Stuck in a Negative Loop? Unleash the Power of Affirmations to Transform Your Life! (Listen to this episode of Living Lucky® to discover how)
Ever feel like a broken record, stuck on a loop of self-doubt and negativity? You're not alone! But what if you could flip the script and transform your mindset with a simple yet powerful tool?

This episode of Living Lucky® dives deep into the world of affirmations, revealing how these potent phrases can become your personal cheerleaders, propelling you towards success and fulfillment.  Join Jana and Jason as they share:

• The science behind affirmations: Discover how positive self-talk rewires your subconscious mind, replacing limiting beliefs with empowering truths.
• From cheerleader chants to spelling bee champs: Learn how Jana's childhood experience with cheerleading affirmations boosted her confidence and academic performance.
• Taming your inner critic: We all have that voice whispering doubts. This episode equips you with strategies to identify and silence your inner critic, replacing negativity with empowering self-talk.
• Crafting affirmations that resonate with YOU: It's not a one-size-fits-all approach! Discover how to find words that truly inspire and motivate your unique spirit.
• The power of positive language in relationships: Affirmations aren't just for self-talk! Learn how the language you use with others can cultivate fearlessness, strengthen bonds, and navigate life's adventures together.
• Building a shield of positivity: Life throws curveballs. This episode explores how affirmations can create a mental armor, protecting your inner strength and resilience.

Ready to ditch the negativity and step into a life overflowing with confidence and possibility?  This episode of Living Lucky® is your roadmap!

Bonus nuggets:

• The surprising connection between music and affirmations (and why that breakup song might be holding you back!)
• How to use empowering questions to unlock a world of possibilities.
• The secret to making affirmations a daily habit (hint: it involves a catchy tune!)

affirmations, positive self-talk, self-confidence, success, relationships, negativity, Living Lucky®, Jana Shelfer, Jason Shelfer, transform negative thoughts, c

Transcript

Affirmations and Positive Self-Talk

Jana Shelfer 0:00

Are you ready to create a life you crave? Let's spin that doom loop of negativity into an upward success cycle and start Living Lucky®. Good morning, I'm Jana and this is my husband, Jason, and we are Living Lucky®. You are, too, because you're here with us. That's right, and we couldn't be more appreciative.

Jason Shelfer 0:25

And excited and enthusiastic.

Jana Shelfer 0:27

We are Alive Awake Alert Enthusiastic. Woo Alive Awake Alert Enthusiastic. Woo Alive Awake Alert Alert. Awake Alert Alive. Alive Awake Alert Enthusiastic.

Jana Shelfer 0:39

We're talking about affirmations this morning.

Jason Shelfer 0:42

Yes.

Jana Shelfer 0:42

The words we speak, the sing-songy little inflections that come out of our mouth, it makes a difference.

Jason Shelfer 0:53

Yeah, even the ones that stay inside our head make a difference.

Jana Shelfer 0:56

Become your own cheerleader.

Jason Shelfer 0:58

Oh, I love that.

Jana Shelfer 1:00

You know, when I was little, my mom would make me this little Corduroy cheerleading outfit. I hated that it was made out of Corduroy, but that was the only material that they had at Creative Fabrics that was red and blue. So that's what we went with and I'm very grateful because I was the only one in town that had a cheerleading outfit.

Jason Shelfer 1:24

From the age of three to the time that you joined the cheer team To eight. Yeah.

Jana Shelfer 1:29

So I got to stand on the sidelines with the cheerleaders and I got to do all the cheers. My dad was the coach and it was like a privilege to be out on the track with the cheerleaders and along the court with the cheerleaders and along the court with the cheerleaders. Now, while I was doing that, I was learning all the cheers, For example, A-W-E-S-O-M-E Awesome Totally. I was the only one that got that right on the spelling test by the way. It was because I knew the cheers.

Jason Shelfer 2:05

You're five years old and you're already spelling awesome.

Jana Shelfer 2:07

Now, do you think because I was practicing that in my head and singing it all day on the recess, I was doing it at home, in the car, everywhere I went, I was doing that cheer in my head. I was teaching it to all of the kids on the playground, I was doing it on the sidelines. Do you think that seeped into my subconscious somewhere?

Jason Shelfer 2:34

Yeah, so you're learning it over and over again, you're repeating it over and over again and you're not allowing room or space for any of the negative vocabulary, any of the negative phrases that would bring you down. So I would imagine that you were up.

Jana Shelfer 2:48

Even if I didn't know what it meant.

Jason Shelfer 2:51

it just had a high vibration, yeah it is a high energy, and that's the whole high vibration.

Jason Shelfer 2:58

I'm a live, awake, alert, enthusiastic. When we do that little chant, we wake up. When we don't have energy, even if we believe, even if we're telling ourselves over and over again, I don't have energy, you change the words and you change your physical state a little bit by doing the movements that go with it. You're telling your body and you're telling your mind I am alive, awake, alert and enthusiastic, and I feel it every single time I'm going to be real every single time.

Jana Shelfer 3:25

No, I'm gonna be real. This morning, jason and I, we weren't very alive, awake, nor enthusiastic. We, we were kind of, and we didn't get out of dragging our feet.

Jason Shelfer 3:36

We were a little, a little slow on the alarm clock yeah, we didn't, and we didn't get out of bed and go boy, do I have enthusematism.

Jana Shelfer 3:46

And we were having day-old cold coffee, if I'm to be honest.

Jana Shelfer 3:52

Yeah.

Jana Shelfer 3:54

Am I right or am I right?

Jason Shelfer 3:56

That's what happened.

Jana Shelfer 3:58

And we even thought, oh my gosh, it's time to do a podcast.

Jason Shelfer 4:03

It's time to make the donuts.

Jana Shelfer 4:05

Because time got away from us and we were up a little late last night. We did get excited about a project we were working on late last night.

Jason Shelfer 4:17

Yeah, we worked on it most of the day and then into the night.

Jana Shelfer 4:20

It's one of those things where time just gets away from you. Okay, so then this morning we were not prepared. So what do we do? We sing our little song and it's almost like magic. We put ourselves into a state. It raises our energy, it raises the words we're telling our brain.

Jason Shelfer 4:40

Yeah. And if we continued in that cycle of telling ourselves I'm tired, I'm exhausted, I want to take a break, today we just would have done it, and that's because our body's going. Yeah, you're right, yeah, we're going to stack the evidence one way or the other.

Jana Shelfer 4:56

I'm going to be really vulnerable right now. Do it. Okay, that's what our people are for. Okay, I'm going to be really real, really real. I have been catching myself when there's something that I don't want to do, or something that I feel I forgot, or something that I should have done, something that was on my list. I've been finding myself saying, oh fuck, excuse my language, but I've been finding myself Sometimes I don't say it out loud, but I've been saying it in my head have you ever said that? Oh, and you use the F sound?

Jason Shelfer 5:37

Yeah, Well, there's all kinds of things that I think and when we start paying attention because a lot of times we don't have that awareness of this is the pattern I'm creating.

Jana Shelfer 5:49

And there's this. I mean literally my teeth kind of purse my lip and I start making that and I kind of go into that. There's an energy there Like I have. I'm disappointed in myself, like I have forgotten something, and now I'm in a in a scurry like oh gosh I, and there's this, this worriness, this anxiety that falls over me. I feel overwhelmed.

Jason Shelfer 6:19

It's an emotional light switch me.

Jana Shelfer 6:33

I feel overwhelmed. It's an emotional light switch. It is, and I can feel it and all of a sudden, now that I'm aware that I'm catching myself, do this because I am creating this frenzy around me and your brain's going to be like, oh, she wants some endorphins and all the good chemicals going through her body because she's like fantastic. And that's exactly what I have been doing, because we create our reality, and we do it by the words we use. We do it by that inner voice that is talking to our brain.

Jason Shelfer 7:19

We do it by our energy energy, and I'll be very vulnerable and just brutally honest here, please. That's what we're all about, and you can probably go back and find a podcast where I was talking about. I don't believe in affirmations.

Jana Shelfer 7:33

Oh, let's keep it real.

Jason Shelfer 7:36

I've talked to my coaches that I work with that. When I first got into affirmations I was like I don't, they don't work for me because, having this awareness, I know that I would say the affirmation.

Jana Shelfer 7:49

And while I was saying it.

Jason Shelfer 7:51

I was thinking you're full of crap, You're full of crap.

Jana Shelfer 7:53

That's not true.

Jason Shelfer 7:54

Because your brain is a bullshit detector. Yeah, so my, so, my, my. I would say the affirmation out loud in front of the mirror and I would be looking in my eyes and I would say you are so full of crap, you are a liar, and it really. The more I said the affirmations, it demoralized myself. But what I did was I changed my internal dialogue and I kept like I would say things that were true and that I knew were true and allowed that to build on itself. Knew were true and allowed that to build on itself. But what I'm realizing is if we can just catch that internal dialogue, like you said, and change some of the language in it, so it's not pulling me down. We want to always have the language and the actions that lift us.

Jana Shelfer 8:36

Change it to a question of possibility.

Jason Shelfer 8:40

We talk about that all the time. That is really the trick Empowering questions or disempowering questions.

Jana Shelfer 8:44

Change it to a question of possibility. How can this be true? How can this be true?

Jason Shelfer 8:51

Yeah, it was two days ago. I was on a call with about 300 coaches and one of the things that I, being aware of our word patterns, I said you know what I hear myself saying all the time is what, if, just what if, and in the positive, because when you open up that, what if? The curiosity is like a doorway opening into the possibilities? Otherwise you're making statements to yourself all the time, because I used to hear myself making statements all the time. But anytime I'm working with someone, if they have a negative mindset or a bad outlook on the world, I say, well, what if? What if this is possible? Because that's not confrontational. It doesn't say your belief is wrong, it just says what if? What if there's a difference? What if it could be different? What if that could be different? And then that just opens up a door for possibilities and that's, that's an affirmation in itself.

Jana Shelfer 9:48

And in any conversation you have like, if you're in any kind, I mean, I'm thinking of just any kind of conversational, confrontational conversation, even with your spouse and if you just throw in that, what if it could be this way? Yeah, Then all of a sudden both of the parties can still be right in their stances. And yet there could be a third option.

Jason Shelfer 10:15

Whoa. And our brain is instinctually going to go yeah, what if Right? Then it starts looking for the evidence. Because what happens is we tell ourselves these statements all the time and if they're negative, our brain is going to look for the evidence in our reticular activating system to prove us right. But if we say, what if our brain will start going yeah, what if that could be? Let me see if there's evidence for that and start stacking that evidence for you.

Jana Shelfer 10:41

Right. So back to the affirmations. What if? What if those affirmations could be true? So let's go back to the affirmations. When you are coming up with an affirmation, there are a couple key points that I think have really helped me. Number one find words that resonate with your soul. Now, how do you find words that resonate with your soul?

Jason Shelfer 11:09

It's what's exciting to me, like what gives me a little bit of spark, or what do I really want to hear? What are those words?

Jana Shelfer 11:17

Yes, so I know that, like yesterday, I really started thinking of words that light me up Magnificent.

Jason Shelfer 11:27

Extraordinary.

Jana Shelfer 11:29

Extraordinary is a word that lights us up Outstanding is a word that lights me up, awesome. Brilliant is a word that lights me up. Awesome is a word that has always lit me up. Fantabulous I made that up a long time ago. It's a word between fantastic and fabulous and I kind of meshed it together and for some reason that word always lights me up. But dynamic, that word.

Jason Shelfer 12:07

Woo, superbulous, that word always lights me up, but dynamic the that word woo superbulus, enthusiasm, optimism, optimism, enthusiasm, energy, excited, excitement.

Jana Shelfer 12:19

They're just words that for some reason, those resonate with me and they're going to be different for everybody.

Jason Shelfer 12:25

And they do change the focus.

Jana Shelfer 12:28

They have resonance and when you say them out loud, they they create. I was on a call yesterday with Robin Banks, who I just love this guy. He raises my energy levels and his mantra is I am brilliant and bright, I'm a radiant being of light. And he says that to himself every single day I'm brilliant and bright, I'm a radiant beating of light.

Jason Shelfer 13:00

Yeah, so, and I think what one of the big things is is fill the space with that Like, have it just always on repeat, and that way you don't have the time or the mental capacity to hear or be aware of anything else that you might want to say Like this isn't working out for me, Like even if you say things always work in my favor and there's always a beautiful lesson to be gained.

Jana Shelfer 13:26

I know for me, I like to sing song words and when I am out for my gratitude walk, I start doing them to a cadence because my wheels start going over the sidewalk, yeah, and it starts kind of going and it's almost like a heartbeat, yeah, and. And so I started saying God, speak to me, through me, for me, by me, be me, see me forever. I am yours.

Jana Shelfer 13:57

Like I just start.

Jana Shelfer 13:58

I just start making these little rhymes and poems in my head, and the more that I say them, the more they become who I am, and it's almost like my subconscious mind starts saying them automatically. And then, when I am on autopilot which we are- A lot of times. Often, often more than not.

Jason Shelfer 14:24

Even when you set your intention and then you put your attention on your intention, you will land in autopilot, and that's one of the other things about taking a break every now and then we're not talking about but we start training our brain to go there we start training our brain to just automatically go there and I find myself.

Jana Shelfer 14:42

just God speaks to me, through me, for me, by me, be me, see me forever. I am yours.

Jason Shelfer 14:49

The other day you asked me to play an uplifting song when we were driving in the car. Yes, yes, yes, and that's kind of one of those other things on there. So when we're listening to songs that are, they have the words, the lyrics that are destructive or the lyrics that are I'm a creep.

Jana Shelfer 15:07

I know, and that's the other thing is, I became very aware of the music I was listening to, and you know that song. I'm an idiot, I'm a creep. I listened to that for I don't know how long during my blue period and no wonder I was feeling so down and out and in the gutter. Listen to the lyrics of that song.

Jason Shelfer 15:27

And we listen to songs like In a Heartbreak or something like that, that bring the emotion and the feeling to expand on the feeling that we're in which is funny.

Embracing Fearlessness in Relationships

Jana Shelfer 15:38

Listen to that song. She drives me crazy. Don't listen to that song. Yeah, I mean, all of a sudden you'll be mad at your spouse.

Jason Shelfer 15:48

Look out, cause here I come there you go.

Jana Shelfer 15:50

Now there's one.

Jason Shelfer 15:51

And I'm marching on to the beat I drum. I'm not scared to be seen. I make no apologies. This is me.

Jana Shelfer 15:59

Ooh, ooh, ooh. Yes, that's the one we want, ones that make us fearless and fierce. Whoa, now, fierce, there's a word that has resonance for me Whoa. So that's just a couple little tips when you're picking affirmations or words that really speak to you.

Jason Shelfer 16:22

Yeah, just really listen to the words that you say out loud and words that you say inside your head. And when we talk about relationships, it could not be more true, because you affirm other people through your thoughts as well. Awesome.

Jana Shelfer 16:36

I think we'll end there. Thank you for listening and just keep Living Lucky®, bye-bye.

Jana Shelfer 16:43

If the idea of living lucky appeals to you, visit us at www. livinglucky. com.