Affirmation Stations! The Empowerment of Family Walks with Affirmations

I was scrolling through Instagram stories mindlessly watching the time slip by. I do this sometimes when I stumbled upon a woman whose stories I love to follow. What I saw made my heart soar! I watched as Jasna Burza, her husband and two little boys biked down a path. You might be thinking, what’s the big deal people bike all the time. They were not just biking they were saying family affirmations. Each person would say out loud one affirmation like I am smart and the rest of the family would echo this statement, “I am smart.” Then it was the next person’s turn, “I am strong!” the family would echo that back.

Of course, I messaged Jasna asking if I could share this with you all! She was delighted. She told me they did this for over two hours. I never asked how this all started but that is not the point. The point is this family is creating strong, smart, brave, loving children. They were having a blast and building each other up as a family.

I remember in high school when a motivational speaker came to talk to us mentors about the importance of affirmations. This speaker brought a student up on stage. He asked him to hold his arms out and resist his push, the goal was for the teen to not have his arms go down to his sides. We watched as the teenager did this he is pretty strong so he held up fairly well but in the end, his arm did eventually go down. Then the speaker said, “Now I want you to say I can’t do it as I push down on your arm.” The teen proceeded to do this. You could tell he was trying everything in his power to stop the man from pushing his arm down but he very quickly lost and his arm was back to his side. Then he asked the teen to say he was strong and could do it. Again the teen did this. Only this time he was able to hold his arm up the whole time as the speaker tried everything he could to get the teen’s arm down.

This moment has always stuck with me. The power of your thinking physically impacts you. Now, think back to Jasna and her family. Back to the affirmations, they were making up as they biked along together. I am strong! I am brave! I am love! We are love! Think of the power of these statements and the empowerment those little boys are building together with their family.

There are times in our lives where things get hard. Take 2020 for example, it has not been easy maneuvering through these times. But we showed up for our families and ourselves. I hope this sparks the idea for family walks with a few affirmation stations. I can hear some of you saying there is no way my children will ever want to participate in that. I am asking you to try! Yes, maybe a few months ago it would not have worked but if your heart is in it your kids will feel it. This might help you feel a little bit more confident in yourself, too. We could all use a confidence boost and some family bonding. All you have to do is try, make a game out of it! Sing it to the sky, create a dance, shout it to the tops of the trees, or whisper it to the fairies. You don’t have to do 2 hours of it, just try one affirmation each and see what unfolds. You can even call it an affirmation station, periodically throughout the walk or bike ride you can call out affirmation station. That is the cue that each person will take a turn at saying something positive about themselves or the family using I or We! You can do this affirmation station once or twice or the whole time! It is up to you. Feel it out. If your children are resisting once is great! If you are feeling like they are into it try to just keep going. Go with the flow there is no right or wrong.

I am bubbling with excitement to hear how this goes with you and yours. Remember to have fun and stay in the moment! Tag me in your stories and let me know how this goes. I will just be over here rooting for you all! YOU can do it! They will love it! You will all have fun!

As Miss Frizzle always says, “take chances, make mistakes, and get messy!”

Mary-Catherine

As always feel free to tag me in your adventures. I would love to see and hear what affirmations your family creates! Tag me on Facebook or Instagram @intuitivedesignsmc