Affirmation Walking

“Mindfulness” never worked for me, so I leveraged this technique to gain control over my thoughts at a time when I felt I had very little.

At the start of my self-development journey, I felt I had little control over my thoughts.

I had always heard that quieting your mind had its benefits.

I knew that having a calm, quiet mind gave you more focus and made you more centered, could reduce fearfulness and anxiety.

But it seemed so far out of reach that I wrote it off as something I could never have.

I always felt like those people must not have had as much to think about as I did.

In some ways, I thought that all my mental activity somehow made me more intelligent than people who weren’t analyzing and re-analyzing… and analyzing how much they analyzed… like I was.

But in reality, it was not intelligent at all.

Most of it was a waste of time and energy, forcing me to glimpse life from a distance, through heavy filters of negative interpretations and expectations.

Allowing my mind to run wild came at the expense of not being able to experience life in the present moment.

Nights were where I would really pay the price.

Countless hours and nights were spent not being able to sleep at all because my mind was always wandering and analyzing.

I wanted a way to stop.

I wanted control of my thoughts and my mind.

The Method:

In 2018, I read a book by Bryan Tracy, “Maximum Achievement,” which referenced the “Crowding Out” principle.

It is based on the idea that subconsciously, our brain can process millions of data at a time, but consciously, we can only focus on about 4–8 pieces of data simultaneously.

I realized that being aware of my inner dialogue meant it was happening consciously. So, I wanted to test this “Crowding Out” principle and see if it would work for me.

My results were very encouraging.

After about 2 to 3 weeks of this activity and a few similar exercises (I will also share), I had made significant progress in gaining control of my spiraling thoughts.

The Exercise:

1. Create or use a short affirmation that is positive and empowering. (For me, it was, “I am happy. I am healthy. I am wealthy.”)
2. Go outside for a walk, and try to match up your footsteps to the words of your Affirmation as you say it in your head. For the example above, I tried to time each footfall to coincide with the last word in the sentence.

While doing this, remember the goal is to give your mind 4–8 pieces of positive data to focus on, to get your mind off of the run-away trains of thought, which can often be energy-draining, negative, and disempowering.

So, while doing this activity, I would:

1. Focus on the words of my Affirmation.
2. Focus on matching up the words to footsteps.
3. Focus on the sound of my feet as I stepped on the ground.
4. Focus on the positive aspects of my view as I walked outside (sun, flowers, grass, trees, architecture, etc.)
5. Focus on the weather.
6. Focus on my body and its ability to move, breathe, and be alive.

The Results:

I was rarely able to focus on all 6 of these things simultaneously. So, concentrating on the above six thoughts while walking and saying my Affirmation was enough to be effective.

If you have an extensive focus, you may have to add a few more data points to focus on during your walk to effectively Crowd Out”, the negative, uncontrolled inner dialogue.

If you feel your walking route has nothing positive to focus on… then focus on the negatives, but focus on them intentionally.

Intentional negative self-talk is more empowering than unintentional negative self-talk because it still places you in control of your thoughts.

And that is the whole point of this activity.

To forcefully take control of your thoughts for a few minutes or seconds during a walk, at first.

If you continue doing this activity for a while and have more success redirecting mental dialogue, you will begin to prove to yourself that you do have control over your mind.

With enough practice, you should be able to use your new mental dialogue control to redirect negative self-talk that crops up throughout the day in other situations as well.

If you have trouble controlling your inner self-talk like I did, try this exercise, and let me know how it goes!