Marilyn O’Malley, CPCC Life Coaching & Resources

Excerpt taken from The Won Thing by Peggy McColl

I once had a dentist who tried to get me to floss my teeth daily, stressing the importance of flossing and how it prevents gingivitis, which not only leads to losing your teeth but to diabetes and heart disease as well. I took her warning seriously, but somehow I kept forgetting to follow her advice since it just wasn’t my habit. Then, on my next visit, she gave me a handful of dental-floss dispensers and said, “I want you to put one out on your sink—not in the medicine cabinet, but on the sink where you can see it.

Put one in your purse, one in your car, and put the others anywhere you’ll regularly see the floss and remember to use it.” I took her advice (and her freebies), and sure enough, I almost immediately developed the habit of flossing regularly. I wasn’t able get away from the dental floss because it was always there, reminding me of my goal.

In the same way that I learned to floss habitually, I shifted from only stating affirmations when I was getting ready in the morning to repeating them often during the day. I printed them out and started putting them everywhere: in my purse, in my car, on my nightstand, by the bathroom mirror, next to my computer, and on the door of my refrigerator. At a stoplight, I’d look at the list of affirmations I kept in my car and say them aloud, generating the powerful emotions connected with these positive thoughts. I’d even pull the list out of my purse and silently read them in the waiting room at the doctor’s office. When I would open the refrigerator and gather ingredients to make a meal, there the list would be, right in my face. Each time I came across my affirmations or had a moment to glance at them, I did so. In this way, I didn’t just feel great and optimistic ten minutes during my morning routine; I felt those emotions throughout the day.

The results were amazing. You see, when I was just working with affirmations and feeling great for a small amount of time once a day, I wasn’t making a big difference in my overall emotional state. Ninety percent of the time, I was worrying, feeling bad about myself, or thinking about my problems and how awful they were, so this small amount of constructive thinking couldn’t counteract so much negative energy—no wonder they weren’t working! When I developed the habit of using these powerful statements more frequently, I was soon feeling good instead of bad 90 percent of the time.

Establishing the habit of positivity allows you to remember that you want to be in balance and that your thoughts and emotions are under your control. Soon, you’ll be noticing when your thinking turns detrimental and immediately switch to: Can I learn from what I’m feeling here? Or is this emotion the result of habitual negative thinking? If you can learn from it, great; sit with it and explore it. Otherwise, switch out of it immediately. Having experienced your ability to create a more beneficial outlook simply by changing your thoughts, you’ll know that you can do it right now by letting go of that dark feeling and bringing in joyful notions.

So while there’s no simple answer that allows everyone to create fulfillment and happiness, you, like everyone else, can discover your Won Thing. There’s a simple formula for breaking down the sometimes intimidating task of meeting your overarching goal of pleasure and contentment, and you’ll learn about it next.