AFFORMATIONS ON HEALTH AND WELL-BEING
“[L]et whoever is in charge keep this simple question in her head (not, how can I always do this right thing myself but), how can I provide for this right thing to be always done?”
— FLORENCE NIGHTINGALE
As I’ve mentioned, ever since I first began teaching Afformations in 1997, I’ve received thousands of success stories from real people around the world who’ve used Afformations to change their lives. Here’s an amazing real-life success story from one of my readers:
Dear Noah,
From the time I was five years old, I was called obese. I would gain and lose weight but could never keep it off for longer than a year. Even when I went through chemotherapy for lymphoma, I gained weight.
I work at a counseling center that deals with addictions. The head of the center told me that I was getting too obese to work there, and that I needed to address my addiction to food.
Then a friend told me about Afformations. I read everything I could about your work and started practicing it. It works!
After I read your book cover to cover, I started doing what you teach and began to take action. I not only stopped eating foods that weren’t good for me, but I also began using Afformations just the way you teach them. And the more I kept using Afformations, the more positive and confident I became.
I am now 163 pounds lighter than I was before I started using Afformations. Afformations even led me to go for my certification in food psychology coaching because I want to help people see that if I can do it at my age, they can, too.
I believe in your work and recommend it to everyone. Thank you so much, Noah!
Cecelia
It’s true: if you don’t have your health, it doesn’t really matter what else you have. That’s why we begin the Afformations section of this book with the subject of Health and Well-Being. It’s one of the most important topics on people’s minds, yet for many remains one of the most elusive goals to achieve.
Your health and well-being are determined by a number of factors:
There’s not much you can do about the first two factors, because they were largely determined by your family of origin. However, there’s plenty you can do about the last three.
There’s not much you can do about your genetics. but there’s plenty you can do about your lifestyle choices.
For example, here’s another inspiring story that was sent to me just the other day:
Dear Noah,
Crossing the finish line of a half marathon is always exciting, but Disney’s Princess Half Marathon on February 24, 2013, was an especially sweet victory. I have been doing distance running events for years; so far, I’ve completed 5 full marathons and around 50 half marathons. What made this one so special? Did I have a personal best? Actually, it was my slowest time ever. It was because on February 1, 2013—just three weeks earlier—I had heart surgery.
I had signed up for this race several months before I found out I needed to have heart surgery. During several previous races, my heartbeat went wild, I couldn’t breathe, and I got weak and dizzy. I even collapsed at two races. It got to a point where I was in arterial fibrillation and tachycardia for days at a time. I was so scared not knowing what was going on.
I ended up in the hospital twice. An MRI of my heart revealed damage to an artery. After an accident in 1979, I was given the wrong medication and suffered cardiac arrest, and they had to revive me. That caused the initial damage. With age and the repeated demand I put on my heart with running, the artery split. Surgery was my only option.
As I was waiting for the Princess race to start, I felt more fear than I did with my first race—or even when I had heart surgery. Even though my surgeon had encouraged me to do the race, I was really scared. What if my heart wasn’t healed enough? What if I passed out again? What if I started feeling chest pain and no one was around to help me? What if I couldn’t breathe again?
At that moment, I realized that I needed to do what helped me get through heart surgery: use Afformations. I began afforming: Why is my heart so strong? Why do I feel so confident? Why do I know I will finish feeling fresh? Why do I know that I will finish one steady step after another?
It wasn’t long before I felt a surge of confidence.
Mile after mile, I repeated my Afformations. Then around mile eight, I noticed many participants begin to struggle. They asked how I could look so lively and fresh. That’s when I told them about my secret weapon—Afformations.
Soon, I had a whole group of women (and one man) laughing and repeating Afformations. I watched their bodies get stronger as they experienced renewed energy. Two miles passed before we knew it!
At the ten-mile mark, I was feeling so good and so fresh that I took off running. They came up to me after the race waving their medals and thanked me for sharing such an empowering tool. At that moment, I decided to make group Afformations a new race tradition. Thank you, Noah!
Gratefully,
Cindy
I’ve organized the Afformations in this chapter into three categories: Physical Body, Emotional Health, and Healthy Lifestyle Choices. In the Physical Body section, rather than attempting to list every possible physical ailment a person can have, I’ve given you a fill-in-the-blank template that you can use to form Afformations for any physical challenge you’re facing.
Then, in Emotional Health and Healthy Lifestyle Choices, I’ve listed Afformations to help you make better choices and get better results in these areas as well.
When you’re facing a challenge in any of these areas, simply turn to this chapter to find specific Afformations you can use, and also create your own customized Afformations for your specific needs.
Use the following Afformations as a starting point to challenge your unconscious assumptions about achieving your health, fitness, or weight-loss goals; strengthen your positive beliefs; and eliminate your negative ones. Ask away!