The Power of Affirmations

Today I am posting a short piece from Lou Tice at the Pacific Institute on affirmations since the new group will be turning in their first monthly tomorrow. I strongly encourage each of you to sign up for Lou's daily email (I know it's another thing to add to the list, but it is totally worth it, in my opinion). He sends out a *brief* message on a range of topics mostly related to living an awesome and fulfilling life. Please try it and let me know what you think. I tend to post some of Lou's stuff that coincides with McNair happenings and topics at hand, like the one for today! I have personally found Lou’s advice to be very helpful through the years…

Here is the link to sign up - you can always unsubscribe if you find that you aren't into it.

http://www.pacificinstitute.co.uk/pages/productsWinnersCircle.asp

"Power of Affirmations"

One of the things that I talk about a great deal in my work at The Pacific Institute is the power of affirmations. You know, some communication systems, like those used by the armed forces, use the word "affirmative" instead of "yes." And that is what an affirmation is: saying "yes" to something. In a formal debate, the side that upholds the truth of the proposition is called the "affirmative side." So when you make an affirmation, you are saying, "Yes, I believe in the truth of this."

Affirmations, combined with visualizations or mental images, are a highly effective way of moving into new situations without anxiety. They can also help you achieve goals of every conceivable kind. Many professional athletes use affirmation and visualization along with practice to help them play at peak form more often. I remember a javelin thrower some time ago who had just surpassed his personal best record. He said, "It feels like déjà vu. I have seen myself do this so many times before in my mind."

You see, his subconscious didn't know the difference between a vividly imagined throw and the real thing. So he was training his body to throw perfectly with his mind. And it was no surprise when he finally did throw perfectly. The same is true for you and whatever you want to do. If you rehearse the future over and over in your mind and see yourself performing perfectly, you will be dramatically increasing your chances of bringing that future easily and free-flowingly into reality.

--Lou Tice, The Pacific Institute

Funny Stuff to Sustain You

This will be brief. Do you ever feel alone in your struggle to reach lofty goals? If you do feel alone, look around. Typically there are others right along side you struggling as well. Sometimes these shared struggles can seem lighter if you can laugh about the insanity of it all. The same is with the craziness of grad school, you have to laugh to avoid letting it consume you. Stay strong!!

In order to promote humor, please check out the following link to Piled Higher and Deeper (Ph.D.)

http://www.phdcomics.com/comics/aboutcomics.html

Happy reading!

Hello, hello, hello, is there anybody in here?

Ok, it is challenge time. I really want to know what you all are thinking. What is on your minds? Do you feel confident that the McNair program will be a positive force in your lives? Do you feel overwhelmed? What can we do to help? The challenge is this. Please consider posting on our blog and share your experiences. Lynn wants me to post on our blog weekly but I am wondering if anyone reads these heartfelt words. Let me know you are out there.

Since I am at a loss of what to say this week, and I am feeling like I might be shouting into a vacant abyss, I am going to leave you with the lyrics to a song that helped me at a time in my life when I felt all my efforts to make a difference in the world were for naught. In fact, there was a time that I was told that nothing I did to help others, no sacrifice I made, would change anything for anyone and I began to question whether my efforts were pointless. The world was the way it was and the actions of one person would do nothing to make it better.

The Change

One hand reaches out
And pulls a lost soul from harm
While a thousand more go unspoken for
They say what good have you done
By saving just this one
It's like whispering a prayer
In the fury of a storm
And I hear them saying you'll never change things
And no matter what you do it's still the same thing
But it's not the world that I am changing
I do this so this world will know
That it will not change me
This heart
Still believes
That love and mercy still exist
While all the hatreds rage and so many say
That love is all but pointless in madness such as this
It's like trying to stop a fire
With the moisture from a kiss

And I hear them saying...

Ok, I know it is a country song, but I love most all music (rock, classical, r&b, some rap, Hindi, Salsa...) and if you close yourself off from a particular genre you can miss some really neat messages. The message of this song helped to renew my passion to make a difference tempered with the realization that the influence one individual has on any problem may be small, however, a passion to make a difference can prevent you from becoming part of the problem, or worse yet, ignorant of the problem.