When I was a kid and wanted to wake up at a certain time, I would lie in bed and say to myself “I want to wake up at 7:00” Then I would imagine myself writing the words on a blackboard. (I always loved the way it felt to write on a real slate chalkboard) I would do it in my mind, slowly feeling the soft chalk on the slate, each stroke of every letter. I would print it then write it in script. I’d do it again and again, until I fell asleep or felt it was enough. (I know some people just use an alarm clock, I have no idea why I didn’t) And I always woke up when I wanted to. I’ve tried this more recently, and it still works.
In a way, it’s just what I’m doing when I make my affirmation potholders. Except now I’m actually doing it, slowly spelling out the words, not just repeating the affirmations, but writing them again and again. So each time I’m making one I benefit from the repeated positive message, then when someone buys it, they benefit from reading it when ever they take a hot pot off the stove or a hot dish out of the oven. The idea with affirmations, of course, is that if we say it enough times we will come to believe it.
Is this what happened when I set my internal alarm clock as a kid? What if I fell asleep, writing the words “I’m not afraid to be happy” on the blackboard in my mind. Would I wake up believing it, even just for a little while. I think I’ll give it a try. I’ll let you know what happens.
( This potholder, I’m not afraid to be happy, will be for sale at the Collective Arts Winter Gallery on December 8th from 10-5 at Bean Heads in Cambridge NY for more info go here or to my Events page)
I love this potholder.
(I’ve come to think of your pot holders as thought holders.)
Oh I love that Lesley. tHought holders! THank You thank you!
I ALWAYS wake up when I plan or want to, so much so that even when I need to be somewher important, like teaching at a cello conference this weekend, and have to get up a lot earlier than usual, I do not even set the alarm as a backup just in case, any more.
Also if there is no clock around even in the middle of the night and I do not know the time, I just sort of consult myself inside, and I am never more than 3 or 4 minutes off if I check it on a clock to confirm.
I think it is like having a sense of direction, only in another sphere. And whoa nelly, I am NOT gifted in that way at all, LOL. I can get lost in my own town, going somewhere I have been before. A sense of direction would be more useful…..:)
I received the potholder yesterday.
I adore it. I will send you a pic of it hung in the studio. I never cook if I can help it anyway!
Now that you mention it Jo-Anne, I have a good sense of time too unless I’m anxious about it. Then it goes out the window. I also have a terrible sense of direction, maybe there’s a connection. I also agree with your philosophy on cooking!
Wonderful play with colors!
I loved your words this morning. And, tonight, I’m going to do just what you suggested. I’m going to imagine myself writing “I’m not afraid to be happy” on a chalkboard until I drift to sleep. So simple. But so powerful. Thanks, Maria.
As a kid, I did the same repeating over and over again as to when i would want to wake up- and it worked – for me it was because i hated waking up to an alarm clock- much more pleasant to wake up slowly on my own. These days, I tell myself what time i want to wake up – maybe twice before falling asleep – and it still works.
Wish as a child I had thought about positive affirmations in the same way.
Cool Wendy, I never met anyone who did the same thing. I love that connection, I guess it’s in us as humans.