The Power of Affirmations with Lee Ann Hopkins
/Lee Ann Hopkins is the Host and Fellow Traveler on the Hooray Weekly podcast that "mines the sacred and every-day for Hooray!" She is the author of You Are All That: Creating a Great Life with Affirmations, and Hooray for You: 365 Get-Up-and-Go-Go Quotes for Your Year. She recently started blogging on Medium.com so you can follow her over there. Lee Ann is the Founder of Hooray Living, a lively offering of fearless and fabulous living materials that include video, webinars, retreats and eBooks; and, lastly, she is the Head Hugger of the DC Hug Mob, a DC-area group that hugs in the public square, making the world a bit brighter one hug at a time.
She has spent her career in the helping professions as attorney, clergywoman, law professor, teacher, nonprofit executive director and counselor/coach. With this bundle of diverse and deep experience she helps individuals and communities connect with their own wisdom and gifts. She reminds us that our individual and collective purpose is to love and to teach love in all of our activities.
Here are a few of the big topics we talked about:
Lee Ann jumps right into how she was introduced to affirmations and how they’ve completely changed her life.
Are you familiar with the term negativity bias? Lee Ann explains what it is and how many of us have experienced it.
Coaxing a beautiful life out of ourselves, requires a lot of positive self-talk and cheerleading.
If you are feeling triggered by something someone says to you, take a step back and ask yourself, “Is this true?” before you allow yourself to react inwardly and outwardly.
Fear is a good thing, but sometimes it talks too much!
If you’re someone who struggles with affirmations because you feel that you’re lying to yourself, Lee Ann explains how you can overcome that.
Lee Ann describes the best way to write affirmations, to receive the desired effect.
Goals play a huge role in how Lee Ann creates her affirmations.
Lee Ann shares one of her current affirmations and why she’s chosen it. It’s a very moving part of the conversation.
Our brains do not like mental gymnastics, they want the clearest possible image we can provide. Write your affirmations accordingly.
Lee Ann helps us to understand how important it is to make sure our children focus on the positive, versus the negative, which they are most commonly drawn to.
If you begin feeling blah about your affirmations, Lee Ann provides a practice to bring back the excitement.
In Lee Ann's Voice:
“As I began daily doing my affirmations, I slowly, slowly, slowly noticed that life changed.”
“We have this negativity bias where we're scanning our minds and our worlds for all the things that can go wrong and it's really important to put something in that's positive.”
“I must say that much of the changes that I've experienced with my affirmations, is more of an internal change. That internal change is what is building a work of art for a life that is worth living.”
“I really do believe that much of my success in life has been because of this powerful positive practice that I do every single day.”
“I belong to myself, I am befriending myself. When I say "Hey, Lee Ann, I love you. I want to be your friend so that you can be a better friend, a better lover, a better partner, a better whatever to the world." I must belong to myself first.”
“Our brain is like Velcro for negative things. Which is why positive affirmations are so imperative.”
Connect with Lee Ann:
You Are All That: Creating a Great Life with Affirmations
Hooray for You: 365 Get-Up-and-Go-Go Quotes for Your Year
My personal theme for the month is CONNECTION, and I want to connect with YOU! Please shoot me an email at kelly@kellycovert.com or connect with me over on Instagram (@kellyjcovert) and let me know who you are and how you are showing up in the world this year!!