How to “pass” the past. In 12 steps.
By -see

Step 7: Affirm.

af·firm
əˈfərm/
verb
1.
state as a fact; assert strongly and publicly.

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I am bigger and better than I used to be.
I am stronger than I once was.
I am no longer trapped in the cage of my past.
I am free from who I used to be.
I have changed my ways for the better.
I am open to possibility for me.
I believe in trust and faith and hope, for the good, for me!
I am aware of how fortunate I am to be me.
I know that I can, should, and will, succeed at my goals.
I believe in love, relationship, and communication, for me.
I open myself up to the realization of my dreams, now.
I am learning and working to be a great:
Son, Brother, Father, Friend, Uncle, Nephew, Cousin, Associate, and Person.
I am SAFE, SECURE, and SIGNIFICANT in my own skin!
I am proud of who I am.
I believe in me!
I understand and undertake the responsibility of service, compassion, and generosity towards others that is required of me as I do what I aspire to and grow and develop at it.
I am supportive of what and who I believe in.
I am responsible for my actions, thoughts, and words.
I am accountable to my responsibilities.
I am consistent in my thoughts, actions, and words.
I am exercising for better health and fitness for me.
I am able to follow-up and follow-through in order to complete tasks that I set out to do and that are assigned to me.
I am able to provide the stability and lifestyle that is necessary for me and my family.
I have effectively let go of the past that haunted me and I now live free of the torments and trouble it once caused; I celebrate and honor that which is good to remember and was necessary for my peace of mind; I trust the process.

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Those are some of my daily affirmations that I announce to myself. I have a dry erase board where I have also written a personal daily affirmation to myself that I read as often as I need to so that I am reminded of my pronunciations, proclamations, and declarations. This is a part of my process that I had long overlooked. I had said “positive” things to myself all the time. I had thought positively most of the time. But often I only spoke the reality. So I spoke a great deal of the pain and the hurt and the bitterness that my past was for me. There was a sense of hope in my conversation but I always remembered and stayed reminded of all of the “bad” stuff that was unhealthy and negative towards my desired outcome. So many of my previous affirmations were open ended suggestions that I just spoke on but they were not spoken to me. So just as quickly as I spoke something positive into the atmosphere/universe I had contradicted it with a feeling or emotion rooted in the very opposite of that idea. My true and honest feelings were still trapped in the cage of my past. That is where my pain was and that is where I thought my answers were. All I assumed that I had in the present was questions and the hurt of that pain. My affirmations were always towards a hope of what I could one day have, they were not facts, they were fantasies. They were what I had longed for but they were trapped away in a cage of the future that I found myself further and further away from.

This step is about being able to envision and visualize YOUR expectations, dreams, desires, and goals, NOW. This step is about being able to announce and identify with the YOU that YOU are very capable of achieving. This step is about developing a method and practice of speaking into and over YOURSELF the facts that YOU boldly desire for YOU and the world around YOU. It is time to face the world with an attitude of certainty and objectivity that promotes YOU to act in the regard of YOUR best interest. This step is about speaking a language that not everyone will recognize, consequently YOU will either have to translate it (not always good nor convenient) or transfer to a place where YOUR words are recognized and spoken! YOU have to surround YOURSELF with environments and individuals who are prone to not just believe in YOU but who also believe YOU! YOU need the support system of support. Support that meets the necessary requirements and needs that YOU must have so that YOU maintain the momentum and motivation that keeps YOU going.

What YOU affirm, YOU will acquire! There is a definite relation between openminded-ness and opportunity. If YOU open YOURSELF up to possibility then YOU are giving possibility the permission to meet and grant YOUR wishes and requests. YOU can not accomplish this being stuck or stymied by the past. The past is the exact opposite of the future so if YOUR memories spend a great deal of energy there (behind YOU) it is impossible for them to be where YOU are (right in front of YOU) or where YOU want to be (ahead of YOU)! YOU don’t have to affirm the past, the past happened, just acknowledge and accept it as it is. YOU affirm YOUR present in order to set the tone and temperature for the atmosphere that YOU imagine and inspire through YOUR work towards it. YOU affirm YOUR openness and energy to the future that is guaranteed through the value of YOUR now! Affirmations are the finite products of thinking that build the inner confidence that motors the reflexive notions of habit and action that create the lifestyle and opinions of YOU that YOU hold as ignition for YOUR process. What YOU affirm is what YOU accept.

This step will serve YOU well throughout YOUR life as YOU begin and maintain the progress in pursuit of the promise that is what YOU are to be. This step changes YOU from the outside in and then resonates from the inside out. This step will determine how others perceive YOU before YOU ever get a chance to explain or express any intention to them. Because subconsciously YOU embody YOUR affirmations and by default YOU communicate them, creating the ideas and incidents that implement the character and reputation that YOU are eventually known for. YOU are what YOU say YOU are, even when YOU don’t know what YOU are saying. What YOU may be speaking as a “reality” is often creating what is “real” for YOU. YOUR language that may be an honest commentary on YOUR situation affirms and attracts that exact situation into YOUR life by attracting people and places that recognize those words. That is why YOU must create the world YOU desire by speaking the words YOU desire. Instituting habits that produce what YOU really want and forcing YOURSELF to routinely check YOUR language so that YOU maintain the energy is key to this step specifically, but the entire process especially.

Affirmation will take commitment. It will take discipline. It will take practice. And it will take YOU where YOU want to be, wherever YOU say that is!

YOUR last words can destroy YOUR past words…
If YOU say so.

-see

©2014 Cornelious “See” Flowers
-@seethepoet