Affirmations

by Jan McDaniel

Affirmations - words that present a positive goal in simple sentences - are not meant to gloss over the pain of grief or the importance of loss. Far from it, they are coping tools that can provide strength for the moment, courage for the day, and a way to bring your goals into focus. 

Sometimes, these may take the form of prayers. Asking for Divine guidance and grace can help you center yourself and realize there is something greater than yourself and what is happening around you. Sometimes, these moments are a time of "just being." open to breathing and resting. A waiting time that allows you to heal or to move forward. After great loss, we need these times. The journey through grief and beyond it is long. It takes great strength and courage to return to life. Life that will not be the same, comfortable place it was before. 

Find a quiet place whenever you can, perhaps every day, even if it is just for a few minutes. Turn on some restful or soothing music, the kind that brings you a bit of comfort. Prepare only a little or a lot, whatever suits you. You may light a candle or surround yourself with the sweet scents of flowers or essential oils. Or you may just close your eyes. Choose a place and time during which you have no responsibilities, not while driving or caring for children, for example, though even at work you might take a break to rest for a moment or two.. 

Affirmations are goals but also comforts that you give to yourself. A gift. Choose some you find or make up your own. Repeat these as you relax and allow your subconscious mind to take in the meaning and peacefulness in your own words. You might find it helpful to repeat your affirmations in bed at night, just before you fall asleep.

Here are few to try. They are true.

• This moment is enough.
• I am okay.
• I am healing.
• I will find the path through this time.
• I am safe.
• I am warm.
• I am loved.