To build a bit on my last blog post, there are no limitations to what adjectives or nouns that we can use in the "formula": "here, __________" and "here, I am ____________". In that post, I gave examples of affirmations that I just so happened to be using for myself, yesterday, when I made that post.
The best thing to do is to use the adjectives/ nouns that feel like the right fit for you, whether it be the characteristics that feel the truest (is there any hint of truth when you say the words "here, I am strong"?) or the ones that you most desire to exhibit or strengthen.
For me, the list of characteristics that I desire, in noun form, include things like strength, security, stability, peace, love, joy, confidence, compassion, health, healing, happiness, gratitude, courage, intelligence, etc. Whether we choose to use the noun form of a word or its respective adjective form (example: using the noun "strength" or its adjective "strong") really just comes down to taste and personal preference.
It might sound funny to say "here, I am strength", but if that feels more meaningful or true to think or say than "here, I am strong", then that's likely the better option to go with. It all comes down to what feels right - what feels the most true.
You may find that it's better to opt for leaving out the "here" altogether, for the very same reason (example: instead of saying "here, strong", say "strong"). Does what you're saying resonate with you? Does it feel true? That should be the main focus when it comes to this practice.
This searching for truth shouldn't happen "in the head", but rather within one's heart. What you find in your head (your thoughts/ beliefs) are those concepts that affirm your current self-image, and these are the very self-concepts that leave you in your present state of seeking out relief to begin with! They are the biggest contributors to one's own suffering.
What we find when we shift our focus away from thoughts, into the feeling/ emotion/ intuition "center" (area near the heart - what I referred to as the "heart space" in the earlier post), is that we effectively detach from those often debilitating thought patterns and self-beliefs, many, perhaps even most, of which we may not even be conscious of occurring. Moreover, it's through this more subtle, and far reaching (into one's own psyche) mechanism of exploring the intuitive/ feeling side of one's own consciousness that the deepest, most meaningful changes of perception can happen.
The goal here isn't to try to convince our own heart that we are the characteristics that we're repeating. Rather, it's to guide our attention to finding any desired characteristic, by holding our focus on that area (away from thoughts/ beliefs, in the intuitive/ feeling space of one's consciousness) long enough to discover that it's ACTUALLY there, already present, inside of us.
We don't have to manufacture anything! We simply have to discover the thing that we seek, kind of like mining for a precious metal, only the "precious metal" in this case is the characteristic(s) that we aim to discover/ develop/ strengthen.
So, we DON'T have to CONVINCE ourselves that we're emotionally strong, we simply have to STOP buying into the notion that we aren't (by getting out of our own head) and FIND THE ACTUAL TRUTH that emotional strength naturally lies within our center, a layer deeper than any opposing self-beliefs can ever reach!
Any thought or belief that states otherwise is no more than a plant with shallow roots. The core of who we are is the very dirt from which those roots form and the plants grow. The foundation of what makes us who we are is MUCH deeper, and FAR MORE STABLE than any thoughts or beliefs that can EVER take root within us!
This is the MOST IMPORTANT POINT to understand.
I repeat, we, all of us, all humans, are BEYOND THE REACH of thoughts/ beliefs. That's to say, they don't reach all the way down to the foundation of who we are - at our core - not even close. Thus, we are much MORE than our beliefs - we are the foundation out of which thoughts can arise and, over time, contribute to the growth of beliefs (some of which take deeper root than others, but all of which fail to overtake the truth of who we really are, at our core). Again, just like planting a seed that grows roots and then becomes a plant. We are the DIRT, not the seeds, nor the roots, nor the plants!
It's for this very reason that "coming back to center" is so integral to one's own psychological health. The fact of the matter is that a lot of what we take to be fact is utter bullshit, and this is particularly true of what we tend to think about ourselves. This "coming back to center" is our consciousness' "reset" button - it's way to expose the bullshit (shine "light" on the "darkness") and to re-align with the truth. It helps us to see the plants for what they really are, putting us into the position of pulling them out from the dirt, roots and all.
This is a meditative practice that essentially boils down to being a SELF-REMINDER. We're only guiding where the search goes, digging with our own curiosity, into the "dirt" (depths of our own consciousness), not trying to manufacture anything, just mining for treasure that's already there. This is an "awakening" tool!
No "fake it til you make it" is necessary, here. Don't fake it. FIND it! It's already there, ya goof!
Sometimes we just forget how great we really are and how wonderful it is to be our true selves. It's okay. It happens. Years of being conditioned by society tends to do that to people. But now it's time to shed some light on the truth.
It's time to awaken greatness and joyful being!