Affirmations Part 1: Creating a mental environment

I first met Terry McBride, speaker and author of The Hell I Can’t, several years ago at my place of worship, New Thought Unity Center. He told his powerful story of how he went from a healthy 22-year-old to being physically crippled with a deadly E. coli bacteria that was eating away at his spine and flesh.

Doctors told him it was incurable, that he’d never walk again and would always have the infection. So began the hellish nightmare of 27 surgeries that Terry would endure throughout the next 11 years.

Yet, despite a colostomy, months of total confinement in a body cast and  constant pain, Terry refused to accept their ‘living death sentence’ and held to his belief that a full recovery was possible. The medical world’s possibilities exhausted, Terry began to explore philosophies and theologies from around the world on a quest to regain his health and reclaim his life.

When I later had a recurrence of breast cancer, we gave Terry a call. Although he didn’t know me, he agreed to help and became my spiritual coach for many months. Terry helped me replace negative, fearful thoughts with positive, empowering ones. It was difficult at first, but over time, it became more automatic.

I called Terry last week to share with you about affirmations and healing. This is Part 1 in a series:

As I began to explore the concept of affirmations, I learned it was more than saying a statement for two minutes in the morning; it was about beginning to watch what was I thinking about and drawing upon all day long. One of the first things I did when I was lying in my hospital bed was to set up what I call a “negative monitor.”

When my mind began to think negatively, I would notice it and call it to my attention. If I could stop my negative thinking early,  it was easier to turn it around.

Practicing affirmations is really the process of choosing your mental environment. It becomes the foundation for taking charge of your mind and the information you put into it. What movies are you watching? What do you talk about when you go to lunch with somebody? What books do you read?  

I found that most of the input I had in my life was negative. Newspapers, TV and radio news are about problems and what’s not working. Choosing the kind of things I was putting in mind is what helped me get well and overcome insurmountable obstacles. It was the foundation of everything I did.

Tomorrow Terry will explore getting started with affirmations. For more information about Terry, visit http://www.terrymcbride.net/.