This is the first catch-up day for the 15-Day Affirmation Challenge held in July 2014, where we practice positive affirmations for 15 days. The challenge is now over but you can do the tasks in your own time. Visit the overview page for all the challenge tasks.
Dear everyone, welcome to the first catch-up day of our 15-Day Affirmation Challenge! :D We are already at the week-one mark of the challenge!
Today’s Task
Today is the first of the two break days (the next one will be after Day 14 and before Day 15), and your task is as follows! :D
Part 1: Catch Up!
Currently behind in the challenge? Not to worry, as today is your day to catch up! :D Get up to speed on all seven affirmation tasks before we start on Day 8 tomorrow. Read the tasks, do the steps, and share your results in the comments section!
Here are the seven affirmations so far (click into each day’s posts to see the details — remember, it’s not just about saying the affirmations and singing Kumbaya, but about doing conscious self-reflection and action steps):
- Day 1 [New Beginning]: “Today is a brand new day. My past does not define me. My future is mine to create.”
- Day 2 [Self-Love]: “I love myself unconditionally.”
- Day 3 [Ability]: “I can achieve anything I want, as long as I set my heart to it.”
- Day 4 [Setbacks]: “I’ve the power to overcome any obstacle that stands in my way.”
- Day 5 [Gratitude]: “I’m grateful for everything in my life.”
- Day 6 [Self-Worth]: “I’m worthy of love, success, and happiness.”
- Day 7 [Opportunities]: “Opportunities are everywhere. It’s up to me to find (or create) them and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.”
Part 2: Share, Engage, and Interact!
If you’re up to speed, but haven’t been sharing your answers… then please, use this day to post your daily results in the discussion threads! :D
Remember, it’s the sharing where you crystallize your lessons, give others the opportunity to know you, and get to learn from other’s feedback. Your challenge experience is entirely dependent on your involvement. If you stay passive, you’ll get a passive, one-way learning experience; if you open up and share, you may find that it paves the way for something new to come. :)
Like I mentioned in Day 4’s post, share whatever you can, in a way you are comfortable with. You don’t need to share your deepest darkest secrets if you don’t feel comfortable with it! However little or much is fine; even selective sharing is okay too. The key is to just take the step forward and SHARE. The universe will reciprocate when you open yourself, because it’s a sign that you’re now ready for new (good) things to enter your life.
If you’re up to speed and have been sharing… then check out the other participants’ responses and interact with each other! Share your thoughts on their situations (be it health-, career-, romance-, or family-related), give advice if any, and most importantly, encourage them!
Here are the daily posts and the discussion threads:
- Affirmation Challenge Day 1 [New Beginning] | 72 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 2 [Self-Love] | 72 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 3 [Ability] | 77 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 4 [Setbacks] | 48 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 5 [Gratitude] | 51 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 6 [Self-Worth] | 50 Comments
- Affirmation Challenge Day 7 [Opportunities] | 31 Comments
I notice that many participants (Vivian, Educate Yourself, Santas, Samuel, Lina, VickiB, Kae, etc.) have been stepping up and actively responding to the others, and it’s really making the challenge come to live. :D To all of you (whether you’re commenting or not), THANK YOU for being a part of this. I look forward to an even more awesome Week 2 ahead. :D
Part 3: Share Your Feedback
Last but not least, given that we’ve already been through week one together, I’d love to hear your experience of the challenge so far:
- What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
- Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
- Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
- Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
Share Your Feedback!
Okay, look forward to hearing your feedback! :D
Once you’re done, proceed to Day 8 here: Affirmation Challenge Day 8 [Physical Looks]
(Image: Flower)
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Hello everyone, i havent left a comment before because i am a a few months behind everyone else starting this challange, but after reading todays page i thought i should give it ago. Its hard to pin point which is my favorite affirmation as they all make you stop and think about your life and ask yourself what you really want out of life. The affirmations that make me stop and think the most are day 1
“Today is a brand new day. My past will not define me. My future is mine to create.”
and day 7
Opportunities are everywhere. It is up to me to find (or create) them and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN.
Since starting this challange my confidence levels have grown alot people are even starting to comment on it, but i just feel so much more positive in life and i am looking forward to the rest of the challange.
1. What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
I really like the first one – new beginnings. It’s great to remind yourself that it’s always possible to make a new start, leave behind bad habits on the day and start better ones. All you need is to want a change :)
2. Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
I generally like the whole idea of it – to take a commonly used self-help technique and turn it into something more powerful ;) I believe that if you somehow keep forgetting these simple little truths, there’s probably some deeper held beliefs that are causing this, and uncovering those is much more efficient than repeating the lines over and over. And that’s exactly what this challenge is aiming at ;)
What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
– Day 2 Affirmation [Self-Love] has been my favourite. It made
me realise how I have been looking at myself in the past and hit me whether I
still wanted to remain in the same state.
Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
– I’ve enjoyed the sharing and interactions in the comments. It made me open up and secure my affirmations in the comments and act on the change
that I have committed on
Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
– None. All challenges made me realise something hidden in myself and change for the better!
Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
– Excited to know much more about my hidden self and improving towards a positive and loving person!
I know I’m a bit late to this post, but I still wanted to offer my feedback in case it could still be relevant!
1. What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
Dang, this is a tough one! Every day I’m uncovering so much about myself that it’s hard to choose! I think I’ll need to go with “Setbacks,” however. I just uncovered so much that day. I really connected with a part of myself that felt things were possible, not just a dream. It was quite amazing really! Other tasks that really meant a lot for me were Self-worth, Self-love, and Opportunities. I’m basing my favorites on how deep I got while digging for the root cause, so I’m not sure that’s the proper way to do it ’cause theoretically any of these affirmations could be my favorite if I dig deep enough. xD
2. Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
The encouragement to dig deep to the roots and uncover the “whys” behind our actions. I think this is what provides the power behind the affirmations. And the discussions, of course!
3. Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
I may be mistaken, but I think a few of the affirmations didn’t have a step to understand the why behind the original thoughts, or really a direct follow-up to the negative. This was probably an assumed step so I wouldn’t call it a big deal, and I’m being nitpicky because I’m struggling to find something I truly dislike about the challenge. =p
4. Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
Just can’t wait to see what else I uncover about myself and what break-throughs I make!
Hi Calae, yes it is definitely still relevant — feedback, no matter when it’s posted, is always welcome and appreciated! :D
Yes, you are totally right! You know, here was my dilemma when writing the challenge tasks — I had to choose between going in and deep (but that would mean lengthy and “deep” tasks beyond what many can cope with in a day) to fitting in what’s possible to complete with a 30-minute block. I opted for the latter (but still making it as deep as possible), simply because it’s a daily challenge at the end of the day and the deep-dive stuff (going into our childhood stories and understanding the “WHY” behind our beliefs) is simply best reserved for the PE courses and personal coaching sessions.
The good thing is that you already understand how the “WHY” aspect of belief-breaking works (I believe I covered it in the How to Achieve 10/10 Self-Esteem — For Life webinar (which you took) and of course, the root cause article), so you can readily apply it whenever you come across any limiting belief. So feel free to do that in your own space, Calae, even if that step isn’t overtly spelled out in the challenge tasks!
Thanks, Celes! That totally makes sense! I wasn’t even considering the time it took when I thought about it, so it makes perfect sense that you made the decision based (at least partially) on that! I think I’ve been turning this more into a journalling challenge for myself rather than an affirmation one haha. xD
Hi Celes,
I have kept quiet for the last week or so but I have been following very closely each affirmation and doing as much as I can of the daily task. I have never blogged in my life and because I was thinking of starting blogging, the challenge has actually pushed me to jump and blog 7 days in a row! I am very grateful for finding your website and your wealth of wisdom and advice. My favourite affirmation is the one about I can do anything which really resonated with me and gave me lots of motivations to keep taking actions every day! So here I am saying hello to you and to the PE community, I love the energy and the support you give us Celes . Many thanks
7 days in a row — WOAH! Kudos to you Kalaho, and you are more than welcome to share your link here too for addition to the challenge blogroll! (I don’t recall seeing your blog link in the challenge announcement post.)
By the way, thank you SO MUCH for taking the time to jump out and write this comment. You really made me feel appreciated (Day 5: Gratitude!!!) and reinforce to me the reason why I started this challenge. Thank you!!!
What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
It’s hard to choose a favorite. All of them are so good really. So very needed. However, just in terms of the impact it had on me, if I’d to choose one, I would go with the day 4 affirmation of “I’ve the power to overcome any obstacles that stand in my way”. This affirmation made me take a relook at what I’d aimed for after day 3’s affirmation – “I can achieve anything I want as long as I set my heart to it”. After day 3 I’d set a goal for myself – to exercise everyday for at least 30 minutes, in the mornings. It was only after day 4’s affirmation though that I found the real root-cause that was preventing me from implementing my day 3’s plans. So it’s not really the affirmation that’s my favorite. But it’s the fact that it led me to discover that one needs to root-cause non-happening goals to a point where you discover the real obstacle(s) that are preventing you from taking the steps.
Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
I love the way you’re formulating affirmations and then making us think through your insightful questions. It sets a right tone of analytical thinking, which should go beyond the challenge for the participants. It will help them realize how they too could approach problems. And just the practice of saying something positive each morning is so valuable. It refocuses one’s perspective to what’s really important now. So yes, I love your questions, the way you formulate them, the way they teach us how we could attempt tackling problems.
Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
There’s nothing I dislike. One thing that could be added is to ask the participants about the previous day’s results. That would bring in a nice accountability. Just for the participants to say if they took the actions they’d decided on the previous day, and how did it go. The thought of having to share the results may egg on more participants to act.
Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
The whole journey this week has been very helpful. Thank you for creating such a wonderful platform. And thank you for putting in so much effort into coming up these wonderful affirmations and a beautifully guided, step by step way of transforming them into actions.
What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
1. What is your favorite affirmation?
The one about opportunities was the most productive for me, as I quickly acted on the steps that I needed to take to create better quality of life. I intend to repeat the first week’s affirmations with quality of life as a focus.
The one I repeat most frequently is from Day 1: Today is a new day. My past does not define me.
2. Anything you like that you want to see continue?
I like the action steps, where you “put feet under them.” I didn’t post about it but in the one about obstacles, as soon as I began to write about obstacles, I also began to see things that I could do to overcome them. If I had just repeated the affirmation, I would probably not have recognized that there were things I could do!
3. Anything that you don’t like that you want to see changed?
The timing of the posts. They came progressively later, each one a bit later than the previous one — the first one arrived in my email box at 3:22 am CDT and the one for day 8 arrived at 7:07 pm. You have said that you will be shifting the time that the posts go out by half a day, so maybe that will address the problem.
4. Any thoughts as you prepare for week 2 ahead?
I am going to try something that a therapist recommended. She had me write an affirmation over and over, and then my reaction to the statement. Like this:
I can overcome any obstacle. Easier said than done.
I can overcome any obstacle. Like hell.
I can overcome any obstacle. If I have the resources.
—
I can overcome any obstacle. It takes thought and ingenuity.
I can overcome any obstacle. I can overcome any obstacle.
This gets to the emotions and self talk that support our negative beliefs so that we can overcome them.
Hi VickiB! Thanks for taking time to leave your feedback!
On the timing of the posts, it’s kind of a catch-22 as I found it challenging to post any subsequent tasks less than 24 hours before the previous one especially if there have been few responses (suggesting that few have gotten to the task) and also because I always design the challenges based on how everyone is doing at the moment. I already have a whole list of tasks and ideal challenge design planned out, but I still design the challenge dynamically based on how everyone is doing now). It was tough to decide on the best task to set for the next one when there were only a small handful of responses for the initial set of tasks in Week 1 about 24 hours after each was posted.
And then there were other issues like my newsletter service not working for the tasks in between, which led to Days 6 and 7 being received later than posted.
Moving forward for Week 2 though, I plan to post each task daily, at around the same time, regardless of the responses. I hope everyone will be up to speed then and will be able to participate in the daily tasks daily as they are posted; if not it doesn’t matter, I figure that everyone can/will do the tasks in their own time, whenever they can.
My favourite affirmations are the ones on goals and achieving: Day 3 (Ability): “I can achieve anything I want, as long as I set my heart to it” and Day 7 (Opportunities): Opportunities are everywhere. It’s up to me to find (or create) them and MAKE THINGS HAPPEN. ” I like them because sometimes you get down and it’s hard to keep going, so using these affirmations can help. :)
I also like Day 5 (Gratitude): “I’m grateful for everything in my life” because I’ve found that gratitude does help you to feel better.
Hi Aatiya! All your comments (be it via a guest account via Google or via Disqus) automatically get filtered into the SPAM folder, regardless of what you post. So whenever your comment appears on PE website, it’s because I’ve shifted it back to the “approved” folder. It’s quite strange — let’s see how it works out when you try using Twitter. Perhaps you can also consider using a different browser now, just to see if it works.
My favorite affirmation so far is “I’ve the power to overcome any obstacle that stands in my way”. Mostly because I am currently dealing with a huge obstacle that is impacting my entire life to its core. I get so overwhelmed by this obstacle that I contemplate drastic destructive measures at times. The inspirational material on this site help to keep me focused on overcoming rather than succumbing.
I like the format of the challenge, and the only thing I would change is the focus on signing up. I would prefer that there be no sign-up at all, and that whoever wants to read and comment is free to do so in the same manner as a non-challenge blog entry/article. I like the recaps with a list of all items and links back to each item.
Susan, that is really, really inspiring to me. Thank you so much for sharing, and whatever that huge obstacle is, I hope you will be able to work through it soon. The PE community is behind you in full support!
I don’t know if this is applicable to the obstacle too (since I don’t know what it is), but one thing I do that helps me with overwhelming issues is that I create an action plan for each obstacle, break down that obstacle into small little parts, and then identify steps I can take to address the first part. And then I ignore everything else about the obstacle and simply focus on the immediate action steps. This helps me to focus on taking action and making progress as opposed to feeling anxious (to no avail); it also helps me to maintain my sanity if the problem is too large to deal with at the moment!
1.
What is your favorite
affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
I am worthy of
love, success and happiness. I have problem on the self worth. This one deed
help a lot. All the actions come from how we relate the world, unless I have
mindset that I am worth love, success and happiness, I won’t be able to
live/enjoy in love, success and happiness.
2.
Anything you like about the
challenge that you want to see continue?
I like the daily
practice, which force me to do daily reflection. I also love the interaction
with each other, which make the session even more powerful.
3.
Anything you don’t like that
you want changed?
Can Celes post
the challenge in 9pm (before 10pm also is fine) Asia
time, since I only do the challenge in my evening time. If not, I will catch up
the following day.
4.
Any thoughts as you prepare for
week two ahead?
Blocked my
calendar for the daily challenge. I am also excited to put all puzzles together
to see the big picture. I am wondering where I will be, no matter where I will
arrive, I do enjoy this journey! Thanks to everyone for sharing and encouragement.
http://blog.sina.com.cn/s/blog_a2fd0f5f0102ux8m.html
Hi Vivian! Let me see what I can do about that.
I’ll explain why the challenges are coming up in late night Asian time and wee morning hours. Part of the reason is because during day time, I’m typically out (with Ken) running errands for our new home (sourcing for furniture, buying various house items, electrical applicances, buying bathroom supplies, getting issues fixed for our house moving, etc.). Since some shops only open till 6pm while others open till 10pm, I need to do those in the day. Or say if I have coaching in the day (I’m working with several clients now), I won’t be out but will instead be preparing for / doing the coaching along with other admin/website work.
And then when I return home, I have a quiet four to five hour block where I read through the comments, reply to as many as I can, decide on the next affirmation based on everyone’s “state” (I have a list of affirmations prepared for the challenge before I announced it, but I always design every challenge dynamically based on the participants’ progress as I shared in Day 3’s post), source for the “perfect” image for the affirmation wallpaper, then write the task. So that’s why the post ends up coming up after bedtime for most people in Asia!
The other, as important, reason is because I prefer to write the next task after I’ve read some participant responses, because it gives me an idea of how everyone is doing and from there I can then decide the next affirmation task. Since some participants are busy while others are in different timezones, responses typically only come up in late evening Singapore, which then leads the next post to come up in about the wee hours of the morning.
Apologies about this, but I guess a good side of this is that you get to see/do the task after some participants have shared their responses! I’ll try to write/post the tasks earlier if possible for the remainder of the challenge.
I was expecting Day 8, however was pleasantly surprised to see today’s post!
My favorite affirmation so far has been “I can achieve anything I want, as long as I set my heart to it. This affirmation is so empowering! The moment I read this affirmation I am filled with so much energy. The fact that I can achieve anything feels me with a sense of great pride for myself.
My second best affirmation is “I’ve the power to overcome any obstacle that stands in my way.” It resonates with me very much. Whenever we are set out on goals the first thing we are going to encounter are obstacles and the above statements affirms that, Yes I am capable of overcoming every obstacle that hits my way.
I have a few suggestions which I have personally used and found them to be effective regarding affirmations
1. The efficacy of affirmations doubles when it’s done the first thing in the morning just after you get out of bed (before brushing your teeth and freshening up)
2. As soon as you wake up just lie down and relax the whole body
3. Repeat them 20-22 times slowly in your mind. Better still if you mumble it.
I like the fact that the whole affirmation challenge works very well for those who are out to achieve certain goals in their lives. Unlike the kindness challenge which you held earlier this one seems to be more effective in pushing us to grow.
I really wish if anytime you are going to do challenges in future that you incorporate a task based on use of affirmations (as a side task perhaps even if it’s not the main part of challenge) since these beautiful statements are so very effective.
Also I feel the need to make few challenges really short term (say 7- 10 days) for people who really busy. I believe that would entail more participation.
Specific goal oriented challenges such as fitness challenge, increase the revenue challenge, meditation challenge, release the emotional baggage challenge would be much appreciated.
I am very excited for the upcoming week. Earlier (for your past challenges) I used to sign up and would complete few days’ tasks and leave. But that’s not the case for this one! I am so excited and curious to check up each day’s task that I end up checking your site several times a day!
Wish you all the best Celes! You are touching lives of so many people which is the noblest thing to do!! And it’s really my privilege to have found you and your blog!!!
Hi Aatiya, thanks so much for your well-thought-out and generous comment!!! :D You’ve raised some valid points, so I’m going to attend to them one at a time.
Yes! I’ve already announced at the end of Day 7’s post about today’s “break” post, and also I mentioned in original challenge announcement that there will be two break days. The next one will be between Days 14 and 15! :D
Because affirmations deal with the inner world (reversing deeply rooted beliefs) and everyone’s life situation is different (some people are dealing with weight challenges, some dealing with romance, some dealing with career, etc.), I thought it’d be better to design the challenge based on the (a) breaking of a common belief among all of us, and then (b) personal identification of action steps that YOU want to work on based on your situation. (As per the action-step-identification step that has been in almost all the daily affirmation tasks.) I believe these will be more effective since they come from yourself and are personalized to your life situations! The challenge then becomes very personalized, practical, and action-driven, since it’s all about reflecting on our current life situations and taking action to create positive change based on what we’re going through now.
On the other hand, for action-driven challenges like Live a Better Life in 30 Days Program and Kindness Challenge, I’m able to design common action steps for everyone to work together on, since it’s about achieving a common objective (e.g. for 30DLBL it’s to live a directed, purposeful and accomplished life, while for Kindness Challenge it’s to cultivate and practise kindness).
Originally the challenges in PE started off as 30 days (back in 2010), and then they became 21 days (in about 2011) and in the past 3 years they became condensed to 14 days. (The core foundational challenges 30DLBL and 30BBM will always remain as 30 days because of the breadth and depth needed, and are available for purchase and self-administration at PE Courses.)
I think 14 days is probably the bare minimum I want to go, because it takes a fair amount of work to design the challenges and especially rally people together in the initiative, and having a short project together (say 10 days) doesn’t really make the process worthwhile. (For example, before the launch of any challenge, I always need to post it a week before, get the graphic banner designed, and rally everyone in my networks, then after that I need to do 1-2 more pushes/reminders before the challenge officially launches. The work needed is same regardless of the challenge length.)
The other more important reason is that I believe in making deep, transformational challenges, so I try to stay away from touch-and-go approaches. A 7-day challenge can be brief and gives me the time to scrap the surface but not go down to the real core of things. (E.g., I imagine the first couple of days will be to warm everyone up, and then days 3-5 allows for a deep dive, but then we’ll have to quickly wrap things up by days 6-7.)
Also I feel that for those who are really interested in the challenge, they will naturally make time for it; for those who aren’t, they will always be too busy be it for a 5-day or 7-day challenge. One key observation point is that actually most of the dropouts don’t happen at days 7-8, but rather days 1-2. This has always been the case for past challenges (30 days, 21 days, etc.), and which is why I know that having a shorter challenge (beyond two weeks) isn’t really the “make-or-break” factor with regards to participation.
BUT!! All that said, I will take to heart your suggestion for shorter challenges (or rather, in consideration of people with highly busy schedules), and see how I can work out something in the future. The result may be simpler or briefer tasks (but then the issue of lack of depth will come up again), a challenge with a task for two days, or something. I’ll have to think about this.
Thank you for your suggestions, Aatiya! :D The first three have been done before actually, and you can find them here:
1) 21-Day Fitness Challenge
2) 21-Day Meditation Challenge
3) Million Dollar Challenge
(You can find all past challenges at the bottom of the archives page.)
With the exception of MDC where I’d direct everyone to my one-stop The Passive Income System course instead, I’m open to reconducting past challenges, if there’s enough demand for them. So just keep your suggestions coming!
Releasing emotional baggage — I’ll take note of that! I contemplated between a “Let Go Challenge” and “Affirmation Challenge” for this July challenge, and went with the latter since the former is more specific and may not be relevant to some.
Oh I’m so happy to hear that!! :D Thank you so much for all your sharing and participation so far. I’m really excited seeing your responses each day, though I apologize that I haven’t been having the chance to respond to your Week 1’s posts. I look forward to doing so for Week 2.
PS: Your comments keep ending up in SPAM and I don’t know why! I’ve also checked my filters and there isn’t any filter I know of that’s wrongly filtering your comments to spam. No worries, I’ll just check the spam folder more regularly and approve your comments whenever I see them!
Do you face this same issue when commenting using disqus on other sites? (IF you do so?)
Thank you so much for your kind words. No, I don’t face any issue with Disqus on other sites. This is the first time I have encountered the problem. In fact I had mentioned the problem in a separate comment for today’s post. I believe that’s also has disappeared.Will try using it via Twitter account to see how it works.
My fave affirmation:
7. Opportunities are everywhere. It’s up to me to find (or create) them and make things happen.
It’s helped me to see that I can make things happen for myself..
I would like to see more affirmation practices focusing on relationships – cutting the dead wood and making them sparkly and new again.
Thank you Celes x
Hi Hanna! :D Week 2 will be focused on different areas of our life (I’ll be talking about this in Day 8’s introduction), so yes, there will be one that’s focused on love/romance. Stay tuned! :D
What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
Self Love & Gratitude. It impressed me a lot.
Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
Yes I have to continue all 15 days affirmations through out my lifetime.
3. Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
No, nothing.
4. Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
I reviewed myself today to be better. I expect “15 or 30 Days of Building Intimate Romance Relationship”
Ohhh that sounds like a great idea!! :D Are you planning to practise that starting from today?
If you’re going to design that, Celes, I have a list of things to do everyday that really do build the relationship.
1. Say I love you. Every day. More than once a day. And not in a sexual context.
2. Make the other person laugh. Every day.
3. Compliment them every day, and not always for the same thing. Because it’s great to hear that someone appreciates a certain characteristic but it’s better to hear that there are a lot of things they appreciate! Look for things to say something positive about, especially personal qualities rather than appearance.
Hey VickiB, great suggestions! I think that’s an idea that Vasantha is planning for herself (hopefully she gets to read your ideas because they’re great); I doubt I’ll have a challenge targeted at romantic relationships per se though because it can be quite niche and I wouldn’t want the singles to feel alienated. However, a self-love challenge may be possible, sometime down the road.
So shall i expect ” Self Love Challenge ” very soon by you? Eagerly expecting …
Hi Vasantha! No promises, but even if there were one, it would be a year from now given the rate of past challenges. There are other projects which I’m eager to get to including working on new videos for Celes.tv and doing re-runs / conducting new courses for PE Courses, and they’ll probably be keeping me busy for a good half a year or so.
Thanks Celes !!!
Thank YOU Vasantha for being a part of PE!! :D
These suggestions work for self-love too! If I look in the mirror and say I love you to myself — it’s an affirmation of self love.
If I compliment myself, it promotes self love. Just thinking, “I am good at this” is an affirmation of my ability. And if we say nice things about ourselves in the presence of others, that can be quite powerful. It takes courage as we are socialized against “bragging” and may fear that people will disagree with our statements.
Finding something to laugh about every day promotes pleasure and enjoyment. We like to be around people who make us feel good — and that includes ourselves.
My suggestions can also apply to friendships. You may not be someone who says that you love your friend, but you can express positive emotions — “I always enjoy spending time with you.”
1. What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
My favorite affirmation is that of day 5, “I am grateful for everything in my life,” because I really believe in the power of gratitude. It definitely changes the way you see things and life in general. I’ve been keeping a gratitude journal for about 2 years and it has made a world of a difference in my life.
2. Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
The interaction between participants! I feel so humbled and happy that so many people take the time to offer me feedback, encouragement, suggestions, etc. And I’m doing my best to provide the same support where I feel I can add something of value to a participant’s comment.
3. Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
Nope. I like the challenge as it is.
4. Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
This challenge has opened my eyes and now I can see clearly that whatever limitations I’ve perceived in my life before were mostly self-imposed. A positive mindset isn’t wishful thinking; it really helps you move forward.
You’re 100% right, Lina! And that’s provided if it’s coupled with conscious self-reflection and action planning (and of course action taking, whereby the onus is on all participants to do those actions following what they wrote). This is what makes this challenge different from simply chanting affirmations every day — we’re here to transform beliefs and then take the step forward to create change, whereas many do just the former and then ignore the latter, leading to status quo.
What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
I honestly like all of them and re-read the affirmations daily.
2. Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
Yes I want to do this again, next time I will start on Day 1. I want to do it again with my own goals with 15 days challenge first then 30 days challenge.
3. Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
I don’t want to change anything.
4. Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
I like the review, a time for me reflect. I was expecting Day 8.
Hey Educate Yourself, thanks so much for your awesome participation so far! It’s really great having you in the challenge — if I am to use a metaphor, it’s like you’re this angel of light that suddenly swooped into the challenge some three days ago and have been shining light upon everyone here! I love your responses so much and I love all the encouragement you’ve been giving to the other participants, of your own accord and in your own time and space! It’s really hard for me to believe that you are in your early 20s (? I assume, since you said you are studying engineering now); you feel like you should be older because you’re so conscious and self-aware!
Lol I am not in my early 20s but late 20s. I am on my way to be 28 soon.
I am not use to this. I feel guilty but thanks for your kind words! I failed my whole life, I was always a disappointed to my parents. I was and still is the rebel, the stubborn, the crazy, the weird. I am not used to great words that’s why I feel guilty now. I feel I don’t deserve them. But I will accept them anyways.
Late 20s is young all the same! :D I recently turned 30 last month.
You know, I could have never known that you didn’t use to be like this because it feels like it (your energy, positivity, empathy toward others) comes so naturally. Even more kudos to you if your path used to be different; it shows how you have consciously worked on yourself to be who/where you are today.
And I will continue to shower you with “great” words simply because you deserve them and you ARE them!!! :)
Hi there,
I had a similar idea, to go over the challenge one more time when it will be officially over. All my favorite materials suggest re-reading, re-listening or re-doing them. And that’s a very good advice. This way, not only I am reminded of the wisdom that the material carries, but also develop greater understanding about new concepts and by repetition they start to form new believes and new thinking habits. Which is actually the reason why I read them at first place. 15 days twice would make full 30 day cycle, that is known as time required to establish new routines, habits, believes, by exercising them daily. I was planning to do this in more depth and alone, but if anybody here including Celes accepts the challenge once more, I am in.
What is your favorite affirmation out of the seven affirmations so far? Why?
I found every challenge useful for me. They all helped me to point out some weak points in myself that I need to work on. Somehow, I felt that by every new day it was much easier to reflect about my experience and the impact of challenges also grew day by day. I can definitely say that my favorite challenge so far was on day 6. You can hear that I am referring to every day as a challenge rather that affirmation and I will explain you shortly why.
Anything you like about the challenge that you want to see continue?
I love that each challenge is well structured, always consisting of 4 easy to follow steps and additional questions or examples to help us realize how wide variety of situations can apply to the task. I also appreciate that experience from Celes personal life or couching is shared. Seeing you putting yourself out there gives me courage to do the same. Actually it does not apply only to this challenge, in my own life, since I started following up PE I have found it much easier to share even very personal information with others, because I saw how important it is both for myself and those around me.
Anything you don’t like that you want changed?
I have nothing negative to say about the content. One thing that is confusing me a little, probably also because I sign up later and tried to catch up, was that I never really knew when the new challenge will come out and if, for example, day 8 applies for Sunday or Monday. I usually discovered challenges in afternoon, and I was not sure if the challenge applies for that remaining day or should I start it the next day. There is no issue here, just I would prefer if I could devote one full day for each task, so that I can read it while waking up, think about it throughout my day, and come back to you at the evening, to sum up my thoughts ( which is already possible in one evening advance). As we are here from the different parts of the world it is impossible to fix the time suitable for everybody. I will then just post however I see fit, but it might show up there later.
Any thoughts as you prepare for week two ahead?
I have noticed that through the challenge, what takes most time and effort is pointing out that one or few things that we should work on each day. I am quite self aware, but even through its not that easy to always recognize the problem and the weight it has on my life. I am referring to each day and task as a challenge rather than affirmation, because for me it turns out more on overcoming the negative part, neutralizing it, letting it go than working on actually building up the positive one. On day 6 I caught myself that I am not fully doing my tasks when I copied some extra affirmations for self esteem. By having seen in front of me exactly the sentences that I want to be true in my life, by reading them out load with emotion, I felt that something is transforming in me and that all of this is possible for me. I hadn’t paid enough attention to the affirmations themselves. I have been neglecting the positive aspect of this journey and focused more on neutralizing the negative patterns in me and thanks to this revision day I had a chance to notice my mistake. One the other half of this journey I will try to make the best out of each day and further refer to them as “affirmations”.
Good luck everybody!
Sincerely, SI
Wait,what, day 8 applies for Sunday or Monday? I got it on Tuesday!
Hey Vicki! Valid question. The catch-up day is technically for Monday while Day 8 is for Tuesday. However, as I ended up giving about two days for the catch-up day to ensure that everyone is up to speed first, the catch-up day is for Monday and Tuesday. And since I’m assigning two days for Day 8 so that everyone has ample time to do the task and catch-up (as mentioned in Day 8’s post), Day 8 is for Wednesday and Thursday.
Day 9 is for Friday, but will be posted earlier on Thursday evening so that everyone in Asia will get to do it when they wake up on Friday. Since U.S. is half a day behind Asia in terms of timezone, those in U.S. will receive the task on Thursday morning. So for those in U.S., it will seem as if Day 9 is for Thursday, Day 10 is for Friday, and so on.
I target to post every task on a daily basis now up until the challenge ends. There’ll be a second catch-up day after Day 14. Hopefully this clears up any confusion!
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