my daily affirmation (revised)
° I love only what happens. I respond thoughtfully and objectively—without exaggeration, aggression, or agenda—externally and internally. Objective. Calm.
(one of a few revisions)
I can’t be sure my daily affirmation is helpful. Feels like a good bet.
To me, a couple hundred positive words said thoughtfully and out loud once daily seems like a good way to start the day. These are an evolving set of thoughts and words. Experience and reflection influence the changes.
When we were surprised to have no running water in my city for a few days recently, I added it to my gratitude line along with electricity and good people. When I noticed how ridiculously annoyed I was with a Wordle score, I added it there too.
I hope some of these thoughts are helpful to you. Use what you like and revise things to make it more personal to you.
My most-of-the-time routine—
Wake, clean up the mouth, make coffee, go to my desk, pause, smile (thinking of Mr. Roarke, “Smiles, everyone. Smiles.”1), and say—
Today, I stay in now — with all there is to enjoy and experience.
Engaged. Attentive. Curious. Feeling. Catching as many nows as possible.
I can think. I can see. I can hear—eat—taste—smell—walk—talk—feel and enjoy. I have running water, electricity, and good people in my life. So lucky I can be sad about getting a 4 or more playing Wordle. I’m thankful. I rest with that. I feel it.
This line is an attempt to appreciate these wonderful things I often forget I’m so lucky to have.
I try to pause on each point and recognize the truth of having that point. Some things allow me to absorb them literally while others need a moment of reflection. For example, when I say I can see, I might look out my window at the trees and sky and acknowledge my sight for a brief moment. When I say I can smell, I might smell my coffee. Because I’m rarely walking or eating during this time, those points get shorter reflection.
Wordle is word game I play almost daily, sharing results by text with a few friends. It elicits some fun commentary.
I’m healthy. Everything in my body is working wonderfully, repairing itself continually.
While rarely completely true with my years lived, I’m hopeful this is a better thing to tell myself rather than whining about my this or that pain.2 If my eyes were bleeding, I’d go to the hospital screaming that things aren’t working well and everyone should stop and help me because I’m the most important person in the world.
Today, I release the results, my concern for the results, and produce. To produce is to work and release the work—with no ego.
I can only do my work as well as I can and then adapt if it doesn’t land well. I often need to remind myself of this to keep a good working momentum. The no-ego piece is a big challenge. Because again, I’m the most important person in the world.
I’m the person I want to be—loving, working, appropriately patient3, resilient, appreciative—an inspiration, not a drain.
I practice peace. I practice gratitude. I practice kindness—with others and myself.
I make people smile.
My attention is on doing meaningful, helpful, and creative work that many people value and enjoy. It pays well and the pay grows.
Money comes to me easily and big—chunks—and I use it well.
Not really the case as often as I’d like, but as with the health statement, I’m hopeful it’s karmically helpful in the long run.
The word chunks makes me smile. It’s pronounced, chawnks—family thing. Something about including money in my affirmation bothers me a little but bills need to be paid.
I trust work. It brings good luck and I am very lucky.
Today, I lose as few nows as possible to things that don’t matter and I get back to now the second I realize my attention drifts to what’s not useful.
Exactly what I want is exactly what should be and exactly what I experience.
I love only what happens. I respond thoughtfully and objectively—without exaggeration, aggression, or agenda—externally and internally. Objective. Calm.
Marcus Aurelius said in Meditations, “To love only what happens, what was destined. No greater harmony.” This is the Stoic practice of Amor Fati (Love of Fate).
It’s not a statement of resignation. It’s a way of thinking about all things that happen, good and bad, as necessary and beneficial to the big picture. It helps me minimize the drama in my head and stay focused on now.
The response without exaggeration, aggression, and agenda idea is to remind me to minimize my ego and lower the temperature where I can—externally and internally.
1000 minutes to enjoy.4 Let’s go.
Then I step into my Morning Pages.
Keeping it fresh…
Is a challenge for me. Just like any creeds, prayers, or mantras, you say them without paying attention and you can go numb to the message.
I find taking it relatively slow and practicing reflection/mindfulness/focus to be helpful. Because I’m open to revision, I seem to pay attention to the thoughts even more and lines evolve.
I also occasionally repeat a few of the lines during the day—the primary gratitude words, the get back to now thoughts, and loving only what happens reminders.
The redundancy throughout is meant to further reinforce the thoughts. It’s intended—deliberate 😉
Some things will stick with you forever. That line from an old TV show (Fantasy Island) is one of those for me. It puts a smile on my face. It meant freedom (because it was my bedtime and my parents weren’t paying attention).
Emerson said, “If you have not slept, or if you have slept, or if you have headache, or sciatica, or leprosy, or thunder-stroke, I beseech you by all angels to hold your peace, and not pollute the morning ... Love the day.” I like that.
A sense of urgency is a good thing.
° I think you have one time around. And I don’t know what’s going to be in existence in six months or a year. So, I think that you’re here on earth to make some kind of a contribution … I’m impatient. I suppose I would hope everybody would be impatient.”
Bobby Kennedy | US senator | 1925 - 1968
1440 minutes in a day. Sleep 7 hours and 20 minutes (440 minutes) and you’ve got 1000 minutes to put into your waking life. That number’s not precise. I’ve usually been awake for 10 - 20 minutes before affirmation time or I might sleep a little more or less. I like “1000 minutes to enjoy” over “Maybe I’ve got 984 or 1013 minutes to enjoy.”
Good stuff...I may steal a line or two...