Introductions are always the hardest, but here goes nothing. Hi. My name is Chris O’Hearn I am a confidence coach and I am so excited to be in your ear….ummm that sounded weird. What I meant is I am excited to be a part of your day by you listening to the Strong Within Daily affirmation podcast.
So what are affirmations? They basically are a statement of truth. They are words strung together in an efficient manner helping you to refocus away from your negative words and stories into seeing the possibility of who you are at your fundamental core as a person. I have changed my life through affirmations, and I am looking forward to helping you change your life into the amazing beautiful existence you desire through this daily affirmation podcast. This first episode, Number zero, I will be talking about my story so you can understand that I’m not perfect, I dealt with my own demons so I could reach the more beautiful side of life. And by me showing that I’m not perfect, it will help you to see if I could change from my seemingly hopeless situation, well… then you can too. So no matter what your struggles are whether huge or small they will only be stepping stones into helping you shine into the amazing person you have always been underneath.
It is my duty to be creating an audio and written version of these daily affirmations 7 days a week for the next year. It’s a big task to tackle but I am excited to have your support while I do this. I couldn’t do it without you so thank you.
I have come to know that there’s AT LEAST… one inherent gift we have in our lives that we are supposed to share with the world…
And I want to help you find the courage to be your most authentic self so you can share that gift. You see, most people think that confidence is about looking sure, being strong when it matters, and being bullet proof as nothing will touch you. However, I want to dispel the myth that confidence is this mythological presence of being on you’re a game all the time.
One of my greatest lessons was learning about my strengths through my weakest times. I dealt with undiagnosed depression and suicidal thoughts for a good portion of my younger life. No one had a clue what I was going through as I didn’t want anyone to know my weaknesses and see me not as the perfect person I wanted to project to the world. I learned that by hiding my darkness it made me even more powerless, so I began letting people close to me know what I was dealing with and by hearing that others dealt with sadness like I had felt let me know I wasn’t as alone as I thought, it let me know that I wasn’t so different than everyone else, and it gave me the courage to see that where I was isn’t where I would end up if I chose to focus on the path I wanted to travel instead of continuing down a path that wasn’t working for me. We all are the authors of our life stories, and what we say, do, or think over and over again becomes our truths. I learned that you can turn your Titanic around by thinking differently.
So words actually…truly… saved my life. I know it sounds cliché but I knew that if I didn’t begin to do something different I would either die by my own hand in suicide from feeling depressed and miserable, or I would be dead inside emotionally over all these years of beating myself up from all the hateful things I told myself. Where most of my negativity originally stemmed from was a place of good intention, I said those mean things to myself with the idea that being harder on myself would motivate me to do better and become better, but after doing it over and over, year after year, it became a part of my subconscious, and feeling bad become to feel natural to me.
I didn’t know how to change at the time, but I knew I had been happy before, so I knew I could be happy again. I decided there was no other way except to be committed 100% to my healing. There was no other outcome than by me creating my happiness again. I didn’t know what I was doing at the time but by my feeling around for something that felt healing to me, I began creating what were called affirmations.
It was the process of beginning to love myself differently by telling a different story. Refocusing my words and thoughts away from unworthiness into thoughts of hope and possibility. It was the purposeful act of ridding my impossibility thinking into possibility thinking and ultimately… certainty thinking. It was the purposeful act of every time I said, did, or thought anything negative I became so aware of it and I ultimately began writing a new internal script to change my belief structure. You see, truth is really subjective. Our beliefs are derived from the behaviors we do, so to change the way I felt I had to overcome the power of being… overwhelmed. There was a study that said for every negative thing we say it take 5 positive things to negate that negative thought or saying. Over the years I probably had said over 100 million negative things about myself , so to change I knew I needed to say at least 500 million positive things about who I truly was. So change really occurred by redirecting my focus away from the negative untrue things I was telling myself, into stating the positive truths of who I really was.
I have seen the power of words and that they can heal people, they can inspire people, and for me personally I have felt how saying affirmations can change your life 180 degrees. Someone I respect talked about how there was a study done about how affirmations don’t work because they make people feel worse off about their situation. I think the reason they felt worse off is because they only “TRIED” thinking differently. I will hear people say I tried positive thinking and it didn’t work for me, and I will always say it’s not about TRYING but rather BECOMING. Positive thinking isn’t something you just try, it is something that becomes a part of who you are, not just a choice when you feel like it. People who know me ask, how I am happy all the time, and I tell them… I am not happy all the time, I CHOOSE to be happy. I have been on both sides of the spectrum of extreme depression and sadness to ultimate happiness, so I know the difference… and EVERY moment is that chance to choose the direction we want our lives to go. I have come to know that happiness isn’t an emotion but rather a state of being, that happiness is within us in every moment, and it’s whether you allow that normal state to thrive, or you focus on the negative and squash that normal process of your life. In my experience of working with people, and also myself, the reason people have trouble changing is not just by what they tell themselves over and over again, but they don’t commit to the outcome they desire 100%.
So while this started with my story of changing from someone who thought about killing himself everyday into someone who loves themselves more and more and doesn’t think about suicide anymore…into your story of seeing that you are the master of your universe, that you can save a sinking ship and heal yourself again, and to see that everything is possible with an efficient unwavering focus.
I believe you have a great purpose, and these affirmations are just the starting point to reminding you that words are like magic. They can either create great things or they can be destructive forces in your life. I have come to know in my life that no matter where you are, you can change right here, right now. You just have to have an unwavering commitment to healing yourself. There is no other way, except your success, and to know that you were created to be and do great things in this life. When you love yourself and do things that build yourself up, you will see that you will be building up those around you as well. You will have become a magnet for great change, shining your bright light in the world by being an example of what is truly possible.
So thanks for listening, it is my great hope that you see yourself as you truly are…an amazing creation meant to change your corner of the world by affirming the words, thoughts, and actions that align up with your most authentic…powerful… self.
So check out all my upcoming daily affirmation episodes… subscribe to the podcast if you find value in it, and please do me the favor of rating and leaving an honest comment or review so this podcast can reach the people who really need to hear it. Thank you in advance.
This is Chris O’Hearn and I am sending great energy your way as we become Strong Within together.
Music by: Basematic-Zest ft. urmymuse
