Becoming ill or disabled can make it hard to stay positive. The bright side of this is that it challenges us to form stronger positivity strategies than we had before. During my battle with disease, I wrote some custom affirmations that helped me focus on healing and believe I could do it! Here were the 5 most powerful ones—and I hope this gives you ideas for your own.
I will live an overwhelmingly happy, healthy, joyful life!
Earlier this year I wrote a thought piece called “How I Finally Realized Life on Earth Is Mostly Suffering.” From age-related decline, to the fact most humans have lived in poverty, there is honestly a lot to feel sad or hopeless about even if you aren’t thinking about nonhuman animals. Losing my own health in 2022 was the last straw. There had to be a way I could look at things more optimistically.
And there is. I realize that even though optimistic thinking often turns out to be incorrect, it can inspire us to feel better and get better results than we otherwise would have. I might not have known whether I would ever fully recover from my long COVID, but why not tell myself that I would?
So, despite that part of me that wanted to feel hurt and never get my hopes up again, I started affirming exactly what I really hoped for myself: that I would go on to live an overwhelmingly happy, healthy, joyful life. The first 30 years of my life might have felt unpleasant much of the time, but who’s to say I couldn’t make the next 30 years different? I believe everybody deserves to live a life that feels ssoooo much more positive than negative. I’ll either make that come true for myself and as many around me as possible, or I’ll die trying. No longer will I hold back from my gleeful chant: I will live an overwhelmingly happy, healthy, joyful life!
I am finding a cure quickly, and I will be astonished & overjoyed at how it heals my whole body.
When what I was doing wasn’t enough, I knew there had to be something more I could do to make my condition turn around. In fact, there were probably dozens of potential remedies out there that would all make a significant difference, if only I already knew about them and had access to them. To help my mind focus on finding out whatever I needed, I came up with the above affirmation.
This one felt very powerful. Before I came up with it, I had been thinking, “I want to figure out what can make me better, but can I? Will I? How can I know if healing is even possible?”
I gifted myself these words, and I kept them at the tip of my tongue. I anticipated the surprise. I looked forward to the joy and the relief at realizing my whole body was healing. I stole those positive emotions from the theoretical future, and was able to feel just a bit more hopeful and happy in the present moment.
We are helping each other discover new things that make us super healthy!
Curiosity is a good pick-me-up from any symptoms I may be facing. It helps me stay looking forward towards the future, and attentive to the present, knowing that at any moment I could discover something new—something that would help me be healthier than I previously imagined possible. I love that we can share all the knowledge and help each other out!
This affirmation sort of took over for the previous one because I realized I might need more than one cure that would work synergistically to save me. I also liked how it helped me think of other people who were also healing, and think about how I might plant positive seeds for them even while fighting my own private battle. I didn’t have to wait till I was 100% better to try and cast light others way.
I have learned what I needed to from getting sick. I am ready to be totally better, and to devote my high energy & health to gleefully serving this world.
This affirmation implied that my sickness had come along to teach me something, rather than merely being a pointless nuisance. It built up my determination to grow and become stronger in my psychology, habits, and decisions that I had been pre-covid.
Come what may, I am a cheerful person!
Depression and anxiety have blighted my path at times, but throughout my young adult years I have manifested a cheerful spirit that I could spread to others at least part of the time. With my long covid, that ability seemed to go away for a while. I was so weak, in trouble, and fixated on survival that it was hard to find the real happiness anywhere in my body.
One day I was fed up with that and thought, “You know what? This isn’t fair. I like being cheerful. Anybody who wants to be cheerful should have the ability to be so. This is who I really am—somebody who wants to enjoy being alive for as long as I am, and who wants to delight others with my presence. This disease challenges me to find cheer even when it isn’t clear how. Come what may, I am a cheerful person!”
It often feels so much easier to worry about what we don’t want, than to feel curious and excited about what we do want. An affirmation can be any statement that reminds you of your goals, desires, and positive possibilities—and propels you to naturally act towards them. Being sick sucks and I wouldn’t wish it on literally anyone, but we might as well make the best of it and become masters at focusing on the healing for all that we wish to be real.
Also by Phoenix: I’m Grateful I Found The Medical Medium—A Note Of Hope & Caution
How To Feel Better About Your Dating History—& Future
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Photo: Jessica Delp via Unsplash
