How Positive Affirmations Can Make You a Happy Mama!

I am beyond excited to finally get my gorgeous friend Amy Taylor-Kabbaz on the blog for you!

Happy Mama is her little place on the internet where she has created a sacred space of positive energy and support for mums. Amy’s newest project is Happy Mama Affirmation Cards and she is sharing with us today how they worked for her.

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What we think we create – we know that right?

Everyone from Oprah to Gwyneth Paltrow has been telling us for years that the key to a happy, fulfilled and ‘best life’ is positive thoughts and gratitude. Start your day with a positive thought and end your day with gratitude and you’re all set.

Easy, right?

If you’re anything like me, and the hundreds of other Mamas I connect with everyday, this is not as simple as it seems. Babies, kids, deadlines, smart phones, school drop offs, housework, exercise… it can get pretty overwhelming – and if we were to tap into what we were actually thinking at any given time, it will most likely sound a little something like this…

“Oh my god, is that the time? How did that happen? I haven’t even got to my to-do list yet. What is that on the floor? Are you kidding me! Why can’t they ever pick up after themselves. Does being a mother automatically make me a cleaner? Oh no – I have to clean before the family BBQ on the weekend. When am I going to do that? What am I going to cook? I really need to make something healthy. Maybe one of those new raw food recipes I saw… Is that the baby awake already? Great! Now I’ll never get to sit down.”

And that’s all in the span of three minutes.

I know because this has been my thinking too.

While it’s all very well and good for the likes of Ms Winfrey to tell us to focus on the good, she’s not the one raising a family while trying to find a way to still be a healthy, happy and amazing woman.

So is there to way to make it more easy to focus on the positive? How do you change your thoughts when you’re tired, frazzled and frantic?

You simply start with one thought a day.

Just one.

Pam Grout, the super inspiring author of the current New York Times best-selling book ‘E-Squared’ says training our brains to focus on the positive is similar to toilet training a dog. Whenever you find the dog attempting to pee behind the couch, you pick it up, take it outside, and show it the nice big tree. And then repeat. Eventually, the dog will realize the tree is a much nicer place to pee and automatically go straight there.

Your brain works the same way.

For years and years now, your thoughts have been the untrained puppy – doing what it likes, where it likes. Now, with a little commitment and perseverance, you can retrain your brain to follow a new path.

It’s as simple as picking that puppy-thought up and putting it where you want it to be. Over and over. Create a new pathway for your thoughts. Create a new habit.

We know about this toilet-training business – we’re Mamas!

But what’s the new thought you want to focus on?

When I first started connecting with my thoughts on this motherhood journey, it was pretty easy to see where I was going wrong. Figuring out what I should think about instead was not so easy!

After six years of trial and error however, I’ve realized that the simpliest way to connect with yourself, change your thoughts and actually start loving this time in your life is to keep it simple. Choose an affirmation that works for you on the day, and just repeat that whenever you can. Start in the shower, and go from there.

I’m the perfect mother to my children.

There’s always enough time in my day.

I am calm, confident and happy.

I am freaking amazing!

Whatever works for you. And whenever you catch that little puppy behind the couch again, repeat.

Pretty soon, your mind has discovered that outside near that big shady tree in the beautiful afternoon sunshine is so much nicer than the dark corners of your loungeroom – and starts going there all by itself.

Can it be that simple? It can. And once you start, you will be amazed at how your world transforms.

Like it did for me.

Amy’s Happy Mama Affirmation Cards are a collection of the 50 affirmations that have helped her turn her world around and become a Happy Mama over the past six years. Beautifully designed and made, these cards can help you focus on one positive thought a day. 

About Amy:

Amy Taylor-Kabbaz is a writer, broadcaster and mother to three young children. After more than a decade covering breaking news and current affairs for ABC radio around the country, her ‘traditional’ career took an unexpected turn after the birth of her first daughter. When Amy found herself lost, overwhelmed and diagnosed with a thyroid condition, she decided to use her years of research skills to find out everything she could about looking after herself as a new Mum.

Six years later, and two more babies, she now runs the successful website for new  Mums – Happy Mama – a site which inspires Mamas to put their health, dreams and self-care first while raising their families.

Amy also has a regular column in Nature and Health Magazine, is a regular contributor to Wellbeing Magazine and various parenting magazines, and appears on ABC radio around the country discussing parenting and wellbeing.