Yesterday, we talked about what we are thankful for in every single day of our lives.  I got to thinking about this “attitude of gratitude” and I remembered the idea of practicing affirmations to sort of “fake it ’til you make it”. 

Basically, I would venture to assume that practicing affirmations can lead you to success in whatever field you are practicing.  Not only would you live in the present with joy, but you would succeed with your dreams by practicing gratitude for your future success.

I also remember a wise man saying “You don’t do things for what you’ll get out of it.  You do them for who you will become!”  If you’ve been following me for very long, you know that’s an Elliott Hulse quote.

So in all respect to reality, you may not be successful.

…at least not on your first attempt.  But if you dedicate yourself to a mission and practice gratitude, you will find that you are growing into a different person through the challenges and tribulation.

So what does this mean?  Why would we practice affirmations?

While I can’t say that you should do something, I can offer up my own experience because(although it is limited) it’s all I have at the moment.  I mentioned in yesterday’s post, where I listed 5 things I am thankful for(click here to read the post), that I am mostly thankful for the experiences I have gained in this past year alone.  I am 21 and so far 2015 has been the best year of my life.

..not because it was easy!  Because it was hard.  I went through a lot of problems this year, faced a lot of adversity, cut off a lot of harmful relationships, and began a journey of self-improvement.  This year was the best year of my life thus far because of the all of the challenges that I had to overcome, so that I could become someone new.

..and throughout this whole year, I couldn’t have had as many small victories if I had not practiced positive affirmation.  I constantly told myself I would succeed at any small SMART goal I had, and I did!  As I said, this year has been all about self-improvement and I am a lot healthier, stronger, happier, and wiser than I was a year ago.

..and while I’ve done so well this year, I have to remember that we all have humble beginnings.  I am still certainly not where I want to be in any of my long term goals, but I am working to achieve them.  2 quotes come to mind as I think about this journey, or change, that we should all attempt to go through as we constantly affirm that we will succeed:

• One is supposedly a Native American quote.  I’ve seen it on Facebook several times and when I looked it up, I couldn’t find who actually said it, but here it is

• I also want to mention a Bible verse, Matthew 26:24, as it seems to be implying the same thing.  It’s interesting how two completely different cultures stressed the same sentiment.

My point is you could challenge yourself so that you can grow and be the type of person you would be proud of, and to guarantee your success you could practice affirmations.   Thanks for reading and my challenge for you today is to not only think of 5 things you are thankful for,

but also 5 things you will be thankful for when you succeed at whatever your goal may be.  Whether they’re materialistic things or a better character, I’m interested in reading your responses.