Every morning I get a text message from The Cosmic RX with a new affirmation for the day.
“Good morning!
Today our affirmation is ‘I dwell in the mysticism of my breath and the stardust of my bones. I am magic embodied.’”
“Good morning!
Today our affirmation is ‘Vitality, joy, and prosperity enter my life in harmonious ways.’”
“Good morning!
Today our affirmation is ‘I am a bad b*tch with a good heart. I have the courage to live a life full of meaning, magic, and cash money. I am bold, I am beautiful, I am brave enough to leave my comfort zone for my cosmic zone.”
And so on.
They’re great. I love them. It’s a simple thing, one thing I can count on and it’s finding those uplifting messages in the morning - or even throughout the day when I need them.
There’s a power in affirmations, in positive statements and words, that isn’t new. Words, phrases, and the way we speak to each other and ourselves are all hugely important. I’m certainly not going to tell anyone how an unkind word can change everything in an instant. It’s one of the things we learn in kindergarten - think before we speak - even if it doesn’t always work out. If we listen to them enough, see them enough, speak them enough, they can become real - good or bad. Too much negative self-talk can actually rewire our brain, making it easier and easier to keep it up, to lean on self-deprecation, rather than encouragement.
Positive affirmations are everywhere, too. A person can trip over them if they’re not careful. There are lists everywhere. Signs, phrases, on canvases, in artwork, on stationary. There are so many generic ones that sometimes it can even feel like they lose all meaning. “You belong.” “I am healthy and well.” “I make things happen for myself.” “I can do hard things.”
These are all great, but unless you tailor them to yourself, they’re all just good words.
Harnessing the power of words isn’t a new concept either. It’s all energy and manifestation, isn’t it? Prayer or spells, words and ways. It’s the power of “The Secret” - speak it into existence and it’ll come to you. It’s unrecognizable, old as time itself. Words can speak fear into the hearts of humans, or heal souls. Maybe that’s giving them too much credit, because there’s also nothing worse than hearing “cheer up!” or “get over it!”
Then I think about books, and songs, and poetry, and how much those words have swayed our hearts and minds. How much power they’ve given to me, to others.
Even this blog was an attempt to try and harness that power. It’s no secret that writing has always felt like the one superpower I had - that I knew how to wield words, shape and move them like magic. That books have nourished me and I’ve tried to work that magic in the world. I had hoped that writing, and writing consistently as much as I could, would bring whatever career to me through this that I was trying to achieve. Being a writer.
(“But Jordan, you’re a writer because you write, not because you get paid for it,” my inner voice whispers).
So here I am, trying to manifest my own magic with an affirmation.
I want to write a book. I will write a book. I will finish the first draft of this book this year.
There. I’ve written it into existence. Publicly, out in the open. Now you all know so you can keep me accountable.
Writing a book has always been a dream of mine, and I haven’t ever been able to finish a story longer than twenty pages. And maybe then when I finish that one thing, I can learn how to finish other things I want to write.
So here’s another affirmation: I will achieve that dream this year, one step at a time.
(One mission at a time.)
Even if that step is a first draft. A terrible thing that is just there to get the characters and ideas into one place. It doesn’t have to be good, I don’t have to edit it, I can even just word vomit as much as I can. A wild thing, that is tamed in revisions.
Books all start with one word, one sentence, one paragraph, one page. One chapter. One draft.
Sometimes they start with a declaration, with an idea and a commitment.
It won’t happen if I just keep it to myself, honestly. Because I know myself, and I know I need more encouragement than just the one inside my head. Even if I write it down (hahaha), and don’t show it to anyone, it’ll just sit there. Maybe that’s ADHD, maybe that’s me just needing outside validation (which… I guess is the same as the ADHD problem).
Maybe it’s even like writing lines when you were punished, except this time it’s not a punishment. Just need to write it over and over, every where, until it loses all meaning.
I am magic, made of stardust, and I can and I will achieve one of my dreams this year.
One word, one line, one paragraph, one page at a time.