What is Mindfulness?
The concept of mindfulness has actually been around for thousands of years. Its origins can be found in the earliest Buddhist teachings (2500 years ago). It has been used over the centuries in traditional eastern contemplative practices like Hatha Yoga and other meditation practices. Zen masters taught mindfulness to enlightened monks in the ultimate acceptance of their own existence.
However, the way we use the term here, Mindfulness should not be confused with inward focused mysticism or spirituality. Today Mindfulness not only refers to the acceptance of one’s reality but what one does with that reality. As we use it, Mindfulness is the skill of living in the moment and relating to the world in a nonjudgmental and reflexive as oppose to reactive fashion.
In recent years, science and westernization have adapted Mindfulness so that it can be cultivated daily, used without years of practice, and be compatible and useful within almost any modern human activity. Mindfulness is simply an introspective method for grounding your thoughts, emotions and behaviors in the reality you are currently experiencing, so you can stand back, observe, understand yourself more fully and take care of your needs.
The act of Mindfulness is the ability to focus your attention on your inner thoughts while letting go of past or future worries. It will take some practice to witness your thoughts popping up and then going away without self-criticism, but it can be achieved by most people without extensive training, just daily practice. For instance, just watching your breathing can have a calming effect on your mind and slowly restore your sense of well-being. When you quiet your thoughts about what you have to do and your feelings dictating what you want to do, your intuitive mind takes over. Here you gently move from dwelling on the past or future to being focused on what you are doing right at this moment. Being in this state of Mindfulness allows you to listen to your gut and discover what you truly need. Mindfulness allows you to acknowledge your feelings, witness your thoughts and redirect yourself away from distraction.
We live in era of constant upheaval and change. Actually, most of us get through life on autopilot. Our brain gets filled with restless ideas and memories that are hard to keep track of especially when we become stressed. We tend to “tune out” and just “try to get through the day.”
Everyone’s mind naturally wanders, but when you practice Mindfulness you are aware of your mind wandering and can gradually redirect it back to the present. Mindfulness allows you to gently quiet all the noise in your head. Paying attention to your breathing, tracking your thoughts, or scanning your body for tension are just few of the many ways to reduce mental chatter. With Mindful practice, you can learn to remove the tendency to jump to conclusions, make assumptions and idle judgments, and recognize that your negative or positive feelings are coming from you and not the external world around you.
Dr Marsha Linehan, founder of Evidence Based Dialectical Behavior Therapy (DBT) says we need to adopt a “Reflexive Mind” in order to cope with distress and change. Here, your mind is trained to act like Teflon, nothing sticks to it long enough to attach. Mindfulness has been shown to bring calmness and patience to those who embrace the practice. People who practice daily Mindfulness are processing life rather than analyzing its content. The ultimate state of Mindfulness is mental resiliency.
In fact Mindfulness can also help you stay focused and aware even when you are engaged in mundane activities such as driving, eating, and walking. Research has shown its positive effects on boosting the immune system, managing pain, reducing stress and cultivating personal awareness.
A beginning Mindful sequence may involve:
- Sitting in a quiet and comfortable location

October 6, 2012 By admin

- Thinking about where you are and what you are doing at this very moment

- Closing your eyes

- Allowing thoughts about what already or will happen move in an out of your consciousness with your non-judging mind and gentle persuasion

- Focusing on the sensations of breathing each breath and noticing what that does to your belly, nostrils and lungs

- Making note of every thought and feeling that comes up and then returning to your breathing to further anchor your attention

- Observing your mind but, not getting stuck on any one particular thought or feeling as your breathing becomes more natural, full and steady

- Opening your eyes and looking at something you have seen before with a fresh perspective.

What are Affirmations?

Affirmations are declarative statements about something you now know, did, or intend to do. When you use an Affirmation you are not only being aware of your thoughts, but you are taking conscious control of them. When you say, write, read or even think of an Affirmation, you are, in effect, taking steps to acknowledge what is worthwhile about you.

Studies have shown that most of our daily thoughts are negative. Working with Affirmations makes you aware of how self-defeating thoughts chip away at your creativity. Affirmations help you create a new reality and visualize what you essentially want out of life.

Negativity can threaten your health and happiness. In fact, when you are not paying attention to your thinking, you are more liable to pessimistic and not realistic or optimistic. The more you are aware of what you are actually telling yourself, the more upbeat you will sound. Using command based phraseology, keeping the Affirmation in the present tense and making it reality based offers you more reinforcement. Repeatedly telling yourself that you are, or will be, deserving, healthy, and successful, the more your positive determination will flow. You’re more likely to see a bounce in your step and a lift in your life by using daily Affirmations.

What are Mindful Affirmations?

” Mindful Affirmations ” are not just inspirational sayings. We use the term as thought provoking phrases that loosely derive from Mindfulness ideas of Dr. Jon Kabat-Zinn, who founded the medical and meditative models of Mindfulness. He came up with Eight Stations of Mindful Meditation:

- Smile

- Breathe

- Arrive

- Attend

- Find the essence

- Slow down

- Listen

- See things with a new perspective

Mindful Affirmations incorporate one or more of these active stations into each passage in order to support the Mindful notion of keeping an “open mind,” where possibilities have no limits. They are not meditations as used by Dr Zinn and others. Mindful Affirmations take ordinary Affirmations like “Your self-confidence will carry you on,” and make them more reality based so the reader can gradually acknowledge and accept the truth about their life. An example of expanding the above Affirmation into a Mindful Affirmation would be “I barely thought of my own self-worth until I saw myself going backwards in life. Letting myself go and losing all I had gained made me feel stuck and dependent. I now see how harnessing my self-esteem can help me not only find my way but, carry me through life.”

This phraseology helps to evoke not only the reader’s subconscious mind, but keeps the reader focused on the key of Mindfulness, just being in the moment.

Pain is about growth and is inevitable. Unfortunately, too many of us have become addicted to suffering… but suffering is optional! Mindful Affirmations make our conscious and subconscious minds look at our pain and release our fears about the unknown. Our inner subconscious mind has the desire for change but doesn’t know just what to change or how to do it. Our outer conscious mind desires to be relaxed, in balance and accept our state of affairs. When working in concert our two minds remove expectations/accusations and allow us to gently examine our feelings, thoughts and behaviors about the past without dwelling or being judgmental.

When Mindful Affirmations are written in the first person they can help the reader not only empathize with the writer, but slowly begin to accept and validate their own pain, saying inside themselves, “I guess I am not alone.” Mindful Affirmations not only break down the reader’s self-imposed isolation but offer them options for change such as in the passage, “I now see that responding rather than reacting will build a healthy interpersonal world for myself.”

It has been my clinical experience that each time I ask a patient to read a Mindful Affirmation, they mention to me that they now see their old problem in a different way. One of the core values of Mindfulness is to be able to see yourself and the world around you with a “new set of eyes.”

The focus is on accepting, commitment and learning (refers to “ACT” therapy) a new way of living or looking at life. Mindful Affirmations help the reader’s mind stay engaged while supporting the surrender of old baggage and unfulfilled expectations.

Mindful Affirmations use positive assertions like “I feel happy,” but allow our present awareness to reinforce our declaration giving us clarity of thought to see our options. It is a coping strategy. For example, the statement “When I am stressed I make myself sit and take notice of my surroundings,” supports your inner desire to stay calm and centered rather than be overwhelmed and scattered.

The book takes Affirmations to the next level by first talking about how “I” (the reader) arrived at the state of not being able to take control, what resulted, and how “I” plan to take command of my life in the future.

Using these three components to the Affirmation not only supports the drive to do better, but plants the seed more firmly that “I” will make progress and “I” can learn from my past. Mindful Affirmations are cyclical in nature. Each time a negative feeling comes up the reader has a choice to make good or bad decisions. The truth is that we are more likely to accomplish what we set out to do, if we are keenly aware of how the past made us feel and what consequences may lie ahead.

Mindful Affirmations help you not only face reality, but look beyond it by challenging your old mental dialogue with a new perspective. Mindful Affirmations allow you to step back from life enough to examine regrets and embrace new options. Mindful Affirmations help you discover that who you really are is what keeps you alive, vital and present.

Dr Unger’s new book “Presence of Mind – Mindful Affirmations” is available at the website Store.

Real Psych Solutions ( http://www.realpsychsolutions.com ) provides Real Psychology Solutions: Practical Self-Help Materials for Mental Health and Living Well and is physically located at The Center for Empowerment in Dana Point, CA, but has a global online following. It was founded by Arlene Unger, PhD (PSY) and Stefan Unger, PhD in 2009.

Real Psych Solutions aims to provide useful and practical self-help materials based on the work of licensed mental health and medical professionals, certified lifestyle and wellness coaches and other recognized experts. We have lots of Free Materials and Resources from many Authors, as well as an online Store with valuable and insightful, but economically priced, items.

Filed Under: Affirmations Tagged With: Ability, About, Acceptance, achieved, acknowledge, Activities, Activity, Actually, adapted, Adopt, allows, Almost, Analyzing, Around, assumptions, attach, Attention, autopilot, Aware, awarenessppA, Based, Become, Beginning, Behavior, behaviors, Being, boosting, Brain, breathing, Bring, Buddhist, calming, calmness, centuries, Change, chatter, Comfortable, Coming, compatible, Concept, conclusions, Confused, constant, contemplative, Content, cultivated, cultivating, currently, Daily, dayppEveryones, Dialectical, dictating, Discover, distractionppWe, distress, Doing, Driving, dwelling, earliest, Eastern, Eating, Effect, Effects, Embrace, emotions, engaged, enlightened, Enough, Especially, Evidence, existenceppHowever, Experiencing, extensive, External, fashionppIn, feelings, filled, Focus, Focused, Found, founder, Fully, Future, gently, Going, gradually, grounding, Hatha, Human, Ideas, Immune, Inner, instance, introspective, intuitive, involvepp, inward, judgments, Learn, letting, Linehan, Listen, Living, Location, Managing, Marsha, masters, Meditation, Memories, mental, Method, Mindful, mindfulness, MindfulnessppThe, Modern, Moment, monks, Mundane, mysticism, Naturally, needsppThe, Negative, noise, nonjudgmental, Nothing, observe, oppose, Order, Origins, Other, Patience, Paying, People, Personal, popping, Positive, Practice, Practices, Present, Processing, pWhat, Quiet, rather, Reactive, Reality, Recent, Recognize, redirect, Reduce, Reducing, refers, reflexive, Relating, Remove, Research, resiliencyppIn, restless, Restore, Right, scanning, Science, selfcriticism, Sense, sequence, Should, shown, Simply, Sitting, Skill, slowly, Spirituality, Stand, State, sticks, Stress, stressed, System, Takes, Taught, teachings, Teflon, tendency, tension, Their, Therapy, Those, Thoughts, Thousands, Through, Today, Track, Tracking, Traditional, Trained, Training, Truly, Ultimate, Understand, upheaval, Useful, Walking, wandering, wanders, Watching, Wellbeing, westernization, While, Within, Without, witness, World, Worries, Years, youppDr, Yourself

Plus Size It!

August 7, 2012 By admin

Plus Size It!

Nowadays, shopping is an activity that some people enjoy while others consider it a chore. Why? Simply because of the variety offered in the clothing department. There is also another challenge: sizes. With the fashion displayed in magazines, boutiques and suggested by designers during fashion shows, one thing has become more and more obvious: fashion is focusing on thin figures and is more limited in plus sizes.

Plus size clothing stores are the meeting the needs of an increasing patronage shopping for plus size clothing. Why? It is simply because of the lack of specialized boutiques and stores in plus sizes. In short, the production does not meet the demand.

So, to meet the needs of plus size women, the internet has open its doors to online plus size clothing stores which offers quite a few benefits to their customers. Which are these benefits? Allow me to share them with you.

First, you can shop in the comfort of your home while browsing and relaxing at the same time. Over are the hours lost in search of a clothing item because of the distance and rarity of boutiques offering plus sizes. Especially, in department stores that pride themselves in offering the smallest sizes in plus size fashion which of course is also limited in plus size patterns.

Second, you find variety, quality, designer brands and much more at your fingertips. Over is the time when you use to settle for something else than what you needed or according to your desires. Use your mouse, not your feet and enjoy viewing the selections offered by online plus size clothing stores.

Third, often you have to either try quite a few plus size items before completing your purchase if you are not sure of your size or if the sizes are different. For example, a 3X may be different than a L in plus sizes or a 42 so you feel obliged to try it out in a small, hot, uncomfortable changing room. Why not shop online and look at the sizing charts they offer to both compare different sizing types and measurement as well as how to take them if necessary. Also, you can see what sizes are available right away in each one of the plus size patterns that are offered online.

Fourth, it is easy to compare prices and you can do it rapidly. Contrary to the people’s opinion, purchasing plus size clothing online is not always expensive. Like in 3-D boutiques, prices differ a lot. Some boutiques will offer you great deals and prices while other will charge for the quality, the name brand or the unique plus size patterns.

Finally, you can do you shopping at your own convenience. Time, distance, exhaustive searches and avoiding the “sales pitches” of sales clerks are now a thing of the past. You can now meet your needs by browsing, finding and purchasing what you want, at the right price and the quality that you want. Just…plus size it!

Plus Size It!

Looking for more information on shopping for plus sizes on line? Read this article and I also invite you to find more ideas, tips and inventory on my site: http://plus-sizes.findoutnow.org

Content About : Plus Size It! Article

Filed Under: Plus Size Tagged With: desires, displayed, either, Especially, fingertips, focusing, obvious, patterns, suggested, viewing

Powerful Affirmations are a constructive and time-tested way to creating real change that lasts, but unless you have crafted your affirmations correctly to cater for your needs and desires, over time you may not experience the change or results you were looking for. You might have other great methods for making positive change such as goal lists, dream cards, vision boards etc. Though affirmations are by far the ultimate tool to add to your self-growth toolbox. Affirmations take on the role of aligning your desires with your personal beliefs.
When they do become in harmony with one another, manifesting your goals and dreams become virtually effortless. Using affirmations correctly is crucial to making them effective and aligning yourself. If you’re not using them correctly or you feel your affirmations are not working for you could be striking a misalignment. For example. You may have a list of affirmations that you have come up with that you want to start working with in your life. If you find when you are saying your affirmations that you don’t truly believe it, then this can cause misalignment. An easy way to identify a misalignment towards particular affirmations is to take your attention into how you feel when you say them. Is there any feeling of inner conflict or inadequacy? Any uncomfortable feeling in your stomach or chest that disagrees with what you’re saying? If you feel this in any way, this is where you’re causing the misalignment.
You’re saying the Affirmations but your subconscious doesn’t agree or want to believe it yet. Affirmations work tremendously well, as for my own experiences. It’s just a matter of crafting and wording them well. When creating your first set of powerful positive affirmations, there is a simple but one powerful formula you can use. First, identify what’s bothering you and what you want to change. There could be a few you come up with to do with your finances, your health or relationships. The second step is to identify the exact opposite of what you don’t want. For example financial freedom or toned body. Finally, find a word or phrase that sums up its opposite quality. Keep it general and add the words “I am” at the start of the phrase. For a complete example. If you feel you are struggling financially, you may often think ‘poor’ thoughts, sometimes without being aware. Well the opposite of ‘poor’ is clearly ‘wealth’.
So you would make an affirmation where you’re saying “I am wealth”. Once you come up with a few powerful and positive affirmations, it’s important you test them out. When you test your affirmations make sure you feel good and satisfied about yourself. Keep an eye out for any discomfort or inadequacy. It’s sometimes only a matter of changing and searching for the right words till you find something that you are comfortable with. You will know when you’ve found the right word, when you feel comfortable saying your affirmation and it feels true to you. So, referring back to our example. If you say “I am rich” and the word ‘rich’ just doesn’t feel right or bothers in any way, this word is probably not suitable and clashes with you in some way. Try changing it up a little like “I am comfortable and secure in my finances” or “I am financially independent”. Sculpture your affirmations to any area of your life.
Make them powerful and satisfying. If you feel uplifted and smile when you say them, you’ve got it. You can craft affirmations towards anything of material and spiritual, and are very effective. Once you’ve compiled your set of tested affirmations and are happy with them. Get into practice saying them twice a day, but at least once a day. The best time is in the morning just after waking up. This is a great time because your mind is not fully active yet. Between sleep and waking your brain is in Alpha mode, it’s relaxed and you can conduct your affirmations before your thoughts start getting too busy and any kind of negative thought starts. If you are to do it twice a day, which is recommended, especially when you’re first starting out with your affirmations, repeat it like mantra at certain times throughout your day.
Preferably when you’re not to occupied, like when you’re on a break or even whilst driving. Repeating your powerful positive affirmations daily will set your tone, making it set like cement into your mind. The power behind the simple words “I am” can transform your life. You will notice after time that your default way of thinking has altered and any previous conditioning or thoughts about yourself or life has gradually diminished. When you start to notice the difference in your thinking, and notice you are thinking more positively this is a sign that you’re affirmations are working. You’ve aligned your desires with your beliefs. You will start to manifest new and better things out of your new thought patterns. You now have ingrained within your mind, a more dominant positive thinking pattern, with repeated use of powerful positive affirmations.

July 22, 2012 By admin

The affect of powerful positive thinking can have on your life is tremendous! The Law of Attraction responds to every thought we have, be it positive or negative. Did you know that out of our negative thoughts and emotions we attract negative circumstances? Isn’t it time you eliminate unwanted thought patterns and subconscious beliefs all together? Get my “Finally Getting What You Want” e-course and discover step-by-step how to recognize and eliminate habitual mind patterns that keep you from getting to where you want to be, and how to tap into the Law of Attraction and put your manifestation into higher gear! http://FinallyGettingWhatYouWant.com.

Filed Under: Affirmations Tagged With: About, Active, affirmation, Affirmations, affirmationsp, After, agree, aligned, aligning, Alpha, altered, Another, Anything, Attention, Aware, Because, Become, Before, Behind, Being, beliefs, beliefsppWhen, Believe, Better, Between, Boards, bothering, bothers, Brain, Break, Cards, cater, Cause, Causing, cement, certain, Change, Changing, chest, clashes, clearly, Comfortable, compiled, Complete, conditioning, conduct, Conflict, constructive, Correctly, Could, craft, crafted, crafting, Creating, Crucial, Daily, dayppPreferably, default, desires, Difference, diminished, disagrees, discomfort, Doesnt, Dominant, Dream, Dreams, Driving, Effective, effortless, Especially, Exact, example, Experience, Experiences, Feeling, Feels, Finally, Finances, Financial, Financially, First, Formula, Found, Freedom, Fully, General, Getting, Goals, gradually, Great, Happy, Harmony, Health, Identify, Important, inadequacy, Independent, ingrained, Inner, lasts, Least, lifeppMake, Lists, Little, Looking, Making, Manifest, Manifesting, mantra, Material, Matter, Methods, Might, misalignment, misalignmentppYoure, morning, Needs, Negative, Notice, occupied, Often, opposite, Other, particular, Pattern, patterns, Personal, phrase, Positive, positively, Power, Powerful, pPowerful, Practice, previous, Probably, Quality, Recommended, referring, Relationships, Relaxed, repeat, repeated, repeating, Results, Right, satisfied, satisfying, saying, sculpture, Searching, Second, Secure, selfgrowth, Simple, Sleep, Smile, Something, Sometimes, Spiritual, Start, Starting, Starts, stomach, Striking, struggling, subconscious, Suitable, Tested, There, Things, Think, Thinking, though, Thought, Thoughts, Throughout, Times, timetested, toned, toolbox, towards, Transform, tremendously, Truly, twice, Ultimate, uncomfortable, unless, uplifted, Using, virtually, Vision, waking, Wealth, wealthppSo, Whats, Where, Which, Whilst, Within, Without, wording, Words, Working, Would, Youre, Yourself, Youve

If you have already read any materials related to Law of Attraction, you will understand that one of the main purposes for using affirmations is to strengthen our belief system so that we can harness the power of subconscious mind to attract and manifest what we want in our life.
You may start thinking, yes I did start to affirm what I want, but it just doesn’t seem to happen as things just don’t go according to plan and seem worse than before.
In this article, we will explore 5 main reasons why your affirmation doesn’t work:
1. Verbal instead of mind reading – During the time when we are working with an affirmation, we may be just using our mind to read from the material, such as an affirmation book or affirmation card. If that’s the case, our mind will just simply read and observe it, so it doesn’t have enough energy to hold the intention and it will not be able to create a solid belief and programming. The best way is to affirm it out loud verbally. Sound is form of vibration and when we use our voice, it creates a higher frequency, thus it helps to strengthen the belief, so your subconscious mind thinks you are quite serious and mean what you are saying.
2. Don’t be greedy – sometimes we just want everything in one go, especially when it comes to affirmations. Our ego may think, ‘the more affirmations we read, the better it will go!’ But do you know, when we are reading a list of affirmations, we tend to lose focus of which affirmation we are actually focusing on? Because of this, the mind is not able to register the affirmation since it has already become confused. To counteract this, why not just pick 1 affirmation and focus on it with all your energy and enthusiasm? I would suggest that affirmations are done at least twice a day for 5 to 10 minutes every time.
3. Lack of perseverance – affirmations mean we keep on affirming what we want so that it becomes a part of the positive belief in our mind. But, most of the time we tend to lose focus and become distracted by external factors such as work challenges or relationship issues, so it is very important to set your own time and focus on the affirmation everyday without letting external challenges beat you. From the scientific and metaphysic point of view, if we keep on doing the same affirmation for 21 days, it will form a positive habit and programme within our subconscious mind, so why not set yourself a goal, do it for 21 days and also show your faith to God?
4. Lack of Feeling and Emotion – How we are feeling when we are doing our affirmation work directly affects their efficiency. If you are affirming but feeling a fear of lack or you are doing affirmations for the sake of affirming then your affirmations are not likely to work the way you want them too. Our feelings and emotions serve as the “lubricant” for affirmations so if we charge up the affirmation with positive feelings of love, joy and enthusiasm, your manifestation power will be significantly magnified. It is the same process in reverse if you affirm with emptiness or coldness, the feeling will eventually block the manifestation process and your affirmations will not work.
5. Too focused on Positive beliefs – Our subconscious mind is full of a mixture of positive and limiting beliefs that may cause inner conflict. For example, we belief we want abundance, yet we also believe we don’t deserve it. This issue is known as having dual-beliefs. So these two beliefs actually counteract the other, with the end result of nothing being achieved. When we want to cultivate positive beliefs we have to be willing to be honest with ourselves to see if we have any negative and limiting beliefs that may block the “new” positive belief that we are trying to cultivate from being manifested? To do this, create a list of negative beliefs that you may have and clear them from your subconscious mind through affirmation work. By doing this, your new and positive affirmations are able to function easily and effectively.

July 12, 2012 By admin

http://www.abundancebelief.com

Filed Under: Affirmations Tagged With: Abundance, According, achieved, Actually, Affects, affirm, affirmation, Affirmations, affirming, Already, Article, Attract, Attraction, Because, Become, becomes, beforeppIn, Being, belief, beliefs, beliefsa, Believe, Better, Block, Cause, Challenges, Charge, Clear, coldness, Comes, Conflict, Confused, counteract, Create, creates, Cultivate, Deserve, directly, distracted, Doesnt, Doing, dualbeliefs, During, Easily, effectivelyp, Efficiency, Emotion, emotions, emptiness, Energy, Enough, enthusiasm, Especially, eventually, Every, Everyday, Everything, example, Explore, External, Factors, Faith, Feeling, feelings, Focus, Focused, focusing, frequency, Function, Godpp4, greedy, Habit, happen, Harness, Having, Helps, Higher, Honest, hrefhttpwwwabundancebeliefcomcategorychartsattractionlist, Important, Inner, Instead, intention, Issue, Issues, Known, Least, letting, lifeppYou, likely, limiting, lubricant, magnified, Manifest, manifestation, manifested, Material, Materials, metaphysic, Minutes, mixture, Negative, Nothing, observe, Other, Ourselves, perseverance, Point, Positive, Power, Process, programme, programming, Purposes, Quite, Reading, Reasons, Register, Related, Relationship, relnofollow, result, Reverse, sayingpp2, Scientific, Serious, Serve, Significantly, Simply, since, Solid, Sometimes, Sound, Start, strengthen, subconscious, suggest, System, targetnew, thats, Their, These, Things, Think, Thinking, thinks, Through, timepp3, Trying, twice, Understand, Using, Verbal, verbally, Vibration, Voice, Which, Willing, Within, Without, Working, workpp1, workpp5, worse, Would, Yourself

Everyday people use positive affirmation statements to correct bad habits, stop smoking, or become more confident to attract the opposite sex. But did you know there’s a right way and wrong way to use affirmations?
Used in the right way, affirmations can be a key component to helping you replace limiting beliefs and habits, that hold you back from living a fulfilling and happy life. If used in the wrong way, the likelihood of successful results goes down dramatically.
Here are 5 common mistakes people make when using positive affirmations:
1. They use future tense – Affirmation statements are more effective if they are used in the present tense. Instead of starting phrases with “I will” or “I might,” it’s better to start your affirmations with phrases like “I can” or “I am.” That simple switching of words shifts your focus to the ‘feeling’ of having or experiencing something now, rather than projecting into the future.
2. They exclude using “I” – you’ve probably seen this technique used in movies, when the character repeats an affirmation in front of a mirror. They’ll say something like, “You are a confident person inside and out.” Think how much more powerful this would be if they said, “I am a confident person inside and out.” Using “I” instead of “you” helps to internalize it even more.
3. They focus on too many affirmations at one time – Applying too many affirmations at one time has diminishing effects. Especially for anyone who’s new to using positive affirmations. Too many affirmations can be too much stimulus for your system, which can result in the feeling of being overwhelmed. Instead, focus on one or two, get those down, then move on to more. Think one affirmation at a time.
4. They don’t practice often enough – Repetition is key when forming new habits, or new ways of thinking, which is what you’re doing when you’re using affirmations. At a bare minimum affirmation statements should be performed once a day. If you want the best results, perform your affirmation first thing when you wake up, a couple of times throughout the day, and once immediately before going to sleep.
5. They get stuck when creating affirmations – With information basically at your fingertips in today’s age, it’s easier than ever to come up with that perfect affirmation. You’ll come across plenty of sites that list affirmations, if you do a search online. Pick one or two. Use them as is, or modify them to fit your needs, and move on. The point is to move in the direction of what you want, which is positive change.
Using positive affirmations in the right way can result in a life full of fun and enjoyment. Avoid the mistakes most people make with affirmation statements, and you’ve won half the battle.

May 23, 2012 By admin

Here’s a list of positive affirmations you can use to jump-start your progress. Take a look at them over at: http://www.harmonicthinking.com/list-of-positive-affirmations-6-simple-affirmations-that-add-years-to-your-life/

Filed Under: Affirmations Tagged With: Across, affirmation, Affirmations, Affirmationsppstrong1, affirmationsppUsed, Affirmationsstrong, Anyone, Applying, Attract, Avoid, basically, battlep, Become, Before, Being, beliefs, Better, changeppstrongUsing, Character, Common, Component, confident, Correct, couple, Creating, diminishing, direction, Doing, dramaticallyppHere, Easier, Effective, Effects, enjoyment, enoughstrong, Especially, exclude, Experiencing, Feeling, fingertips, First, Focus, Forming, Front, Fulfilling, Future, futureppstrong2, Going, Habits, Happy, Having, Helping, Helps, immediately, Information, Inside, Instead, internalize, Istrong, likelihood, limiting, Living, Might, minimum, Mirror, Mistakes, Modify, moreppstrong3, Movies, Needs, Often, Online, opposite, overwhelmed, People, Perfect, perform, Performed, Person, pEveryday, Phrases, Plenty, Point, Positive, Powerful, Practice, Present, Probably, projecting, rather, repeats, repetition, Replace, result, Results, Right, Search, Shifts, Should, Simple, Sites, sleepppstrong5, Smoking, Something, Start, Starting, statements, stimulus, Stuck, Successful, switching, System, Technique, tense, tensestrong, Theres, Theyll, Thing, Think, Thinking, Those, Throughout, timeppstrong4, Times, timestrong, Todays, Using, waystrong, Which, Words, Would, Wrong, Youll, Youre, Youve

Affirmations have been used to help adults deal with many of life’s difficulties. From improving confidence and self-esteem to helping with weight loss and smoking cessation, psychiatrists and psychologists have long known the benefit of saying positive affirmations and of reminding yourself, not only of your goals, but of what it takes to reach those goals.
There have been fewer studies on affirmations used with children, but those that have been done have noted some very positive results, especially with children with autism and Attention Deficit Disorder.
What are Affirmations?
Affirmations are simply statements you make to yourself, usually in your thoughts, though they can be said out loud, as well. Affirmations are used to remind yourself of:
• What you are trying to accomplish

April 10, 2012 By admin

• How to accomplish your goals

• That you should not be afraid

• To have confidence in yourself

Affirmations can be used in many different ways, but all of these are designed to offer words of encouragement. Affirmations can be a big help to people who have difficulty in social situations, because they can be repeated over and over during the situations that cause discomfort without others knowing.

Many people fill their heads with negative thoughts about themselves and their abilities. Affirmations are designed to replace those negative thoughts with ones that are positive and motivating.

Affirmations for Children with Special Needs

At first, you may find it difficult to get your kids to understand affirmations, and to remember to use them. But, once they begin to understand how and when to say them, children are often much better with affirmations than adults, because they don’t feel silly in using them.

Children with Autism

Autism is a neurological disorder that affects socialization and communication. It is a spectrum disorder that affects roughly 0.6 percent of the population. It is far more prevalent in males than females.

Children with autism tend to repeat phrases naturally. When you can teach an autistic child to use affirmations as their repetitive responses, they can begin to integrate the meanings of their affirmations into their daily lives.

The right affirmations can be very helpful for the social situations that tend to overwhelm autistic children. They can learn to remind themselves that “everything is ok” during situations that tend to make them feel stress.

As they get older, children with autism often face self-esteem issues, as they begin to notice that they don’t fit in with groups of their peers. In these situations, affirmations can also be used to help autistic children feel better about themselves.

With autistic children, it’s often a good idea to start with CD’s of affirmation set to music, rather than trying to “teach” your child affirmations like you would teach them the alphabet. As your child listens to affirmations that are appropriate for him, he will likely pick them up on his own.

Children with Attention Deficit Disorder

Children with Attention Deficit Disorder can use positive affirmations to help improve self-esteem, too. However, another area where affirmations can really help kids with ADD is in the area of focus.

Of course, children with ADD, often have difficulty accomplishing tasks because they easily lose concentration. By using affirmations that remind them of “why they’re where they are” or “what they are trying to accomplish,” they may be able to redirect themselves back to the task at hand when they lose focus.

When using focus affirmations with children with ADD, it is critical that the child understands and agrees with the purpose of the affirmations and how they’re being used. The child will find much more success in using affirmations if he comes up with what to say and when to say it, than if parents simply “prescribe” phrases like, “It’s time to finish my homework” to their kids.

Choosing Affirmations

Your therapist, psychologist or doctor can help you to determine the most appropriate times for using affirmations with your child, and the most appropriate affirmations to use. Or, you can, as mentioned above, choose affirmation CD’s for your child. If your child is receiving play or occupational therapy, the therapist can begin to incorporate them into the therapy first, to help the child become acquainted with affirmations. Then, they can be added into more areas of life.

If you find that your child responds well to affirmations in general, you will likely find many applications for them. And, as your child sees improvement in his self-esteem and success at navigating tasks or social situations, he may add more of them to his daily routines on his own. You may find it quite amazing when you see your child begin to use affirmations of his own creation to manage difficult situations. But, this simple technique has definitely had a wonderful impact on many people’s ability to improve the way they see themselves and the way they manage the tasks and situations they face each day.

Listen to how affirmations can help your child with any learning disability such as autism, Down syndrome, or any other special need by visiting http://www.4yourchildssuccess.com.

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One of the terms you may have come across in your reading or listening about positive thinking is “positive affirmations”; but what is a positive affirmation?
An affirmation, according to a dictionary definition, is a statement asserting the existence or the truth of something. In self improvement, affirmations can be used in silent, verbal, or written communication with yourself. This is normally done in the form of a positive affirmation, a communication to your subconscious that a certain truth already exists; a truth that relates to you personally, and whose realization is beneficial to your personal well being.
You could say that the use of positive affirmations is a form of autosuggestion, or even self hypnosis. However, if you want to make practical use of affirmations in improving any aspect of your life, then none of that really matters. The fact is that using positive affirmations is simple to do, and the technique can be applied in different ways and at different times to suit your life style. While it helps to have some understanding of the mental processes that might take place, and of expert interpretations of what affirmations actually are in the spectrum of self development, it is not essential.
What Aspects of Self Improvement Can Positive Affirmations Be Applied To?
The answer to the question raised in the heading could be answered in one word: “any”. Positive affirmations can be applied to any aspect of your personal life you wish to improve, so if you are considering self improvement in any form, whether to career success, business success, improved health, or the removal of bad habits, then positive affirmations should be considered part of your armoury.
When Should You Use Positive Affirmations?
With positive affirmations, you are making positive statements to your subconscious, with the expectation that your subconscious mind will absorb those affirmations and treat them as reality. Repeated often and firmly enough, those statements should become the reality of your conscious mind and the physical work around you.
As with any form of communicating with your inner self, such as with meditation, the ideal time to make use of positive affirmations is when you can set aside a period and a place where you can get peace and quiet, sufficient to relax totally without interruption. Those who are already experienced in meditation will find it easy to achieve the ideal conditions for using positive affirmations. In fact, integrating your affirmations into your meditation sessions is a practical option worth considering, especially if you are pressed for time.
However, as with meditation, the ideal is not always easy to fit into your busy life, so you may need to compromise. Here are some suggestions on how to build in positive affirmations into your:
1. I find positive affirmations effective at night time, just before sleep. Once you have mastered the skill of not falling asleep too quickly, when you have gone to bed for the night is a good time to fit in some positive affirmations. As you relax and unwind, start mentally going through the positive affirmations you want to feed to your subconscious mind.
If you sleep alone, or have an understanding partner, then you can say the affirmations out loud also. If not, instead of just thinking of each affirmation as you say it, hear yourself saying it so you get the benefit of the sound without having to make any noise to disturb your partner.
You can repeat your affirmations any time you want. It is a mental process, so as long as you are conscious, it can be done. Any spare minute alone can be utilized for positive affirmations, or you can even repeat them mentally when you are in the company of others, such as on the bus or train to work. What is important is that you repeat the affirmations regularly.
Other Tips For Self Improvement Through Positive Affirmations
You can increase the likelihood of positive affirmations working for you by adopting some or all of the following tips:
1. At the same time as you are repeating your affirmations, incorporate visualisation to accompany each affirmation. For example, if your affirmation is “I am a successful manager with my current employer”, then visualize yourself actually performing that role in your work environment.
2. Write down your affirmations, and leave them in places where they act as a reminder, such as pinning them up by the mirror in the bathroom, or on a Post-It on your work desk.
3. Repeat your positive affirmations daily.
4. Make the affirmations as detailed as possible, so that your subconscious is left in no doubt what you mean. For your example, if your affirmation is “I am living in a new house” it is very vague. A new house could be in an undesirable neighbourhood in a part of the country, or world, you would no want to live. Be more precise, and add details of the type of house, key features, and location.
5. Make use of the present tense, as the example I give in 4. above. “I am” is far more convincing that “I will be”, “I will” or “I might”.
Those are just five additional suggestions to help you get the most out of using positive affirmations as a route to self improvement. There are many more tips that may help you, but in time and with practice, you will find what suits you best, and come up with your own “tips”.

February 19, 2012 By admin

This positive affirmations article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self Improvement website.

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Five categories of affirmations support you in manifesting powerful change. These five categories or types of affirmations have emerged from my consulting work with clients and workshop participants. You may work with affirmations in every category concurrently, or you may focus on a different category each day or each week. It is important that affirmations you select resonate with you, that is, that they feel natural and appropriate. In order to experience this resonance, you may need to change words in the ones listed here as examples, or let these inspire you to create ones you prefer, or develop your own from scratch.
Popular Affirmations
Many popular affirmations are beautiful, indeed, they are quite extraordinary! However, if you do not believe them, they are useless or even counterproductive. If you say an affirmation you do not believe, saying it repeatedly will not make you believe it. Actually, the repetition can build up greater resistance to believing it. Consider this example: Sam feels powerless. He has had many experiences that he can point to that justify his feelings and his belief in his own powerlessness and unworthiness. Saying “I am powerful” is less likely to erase his feelings of powerlessness than to prompt an emphatic reaction, such as, “Oh, no, I’m not!” If Sam does not deal with the resistance, he carries it with him as he lives his life.
An empowering process emerges by using these five categories of affirmations in a systematic way to assist you in embracing an affirmation that you desire to believe but do not. If you have an intention and a desire to say and believe “I am powerful,” start by releasing powerlessness, open to the possibility of being powerful, affirm an intention and readiness to live in your power, claim your power, and let the idea of powerfulness integrate into your life.
Following are the five categories of affirmations described briefly with a few examples of each type.
Releasing/Cleansing Affirmations
The purpose of Releasing and/or Cleansing Affirmations is to let go of unwanted and unneeded stuff. Especially, they help you let go of resistance. They allow you to purify your system. These affirmations stimulate the release of toxins such as negative thought forms, repressed or suppressed emotions, old memories, negative bonds with others, karma, dark consensus reality, illusions of all types.
Examples:
I give myself permission to release toxicity from every level of my energy field.

February 12, 2012 By admin

I rescind outdated vows of poverty, celibacy, struggle, silence, and unworthiness.

I release resistance.

I let go of old programs that keep me stuck in old patterns.

I let go of everything I do not want or need for my highest good.

Receiving/Accepting Affirmations

The purpose of Receiving and/or Accepting Affirmations is to open to allow something to be. They allow us to receive goodness from the Universe. They neutralize the misqualification of energy; that is, they can reverse illness or other density. In addition, they help us shift the attention from disempowering actions such as, “getting” or “taking” to more freeing concepts such as, “receiving” and “allowing” and “accepting.”

Examples:

I open to the gifts of the Universe.

I allow abundance to flow through me.

I accept support when I need it.

Dear God, please let me know what to do in a way that I can understand.

I accept peace and joy in all aspects of my life.

Being/Intending Affirmations

The purpose of Being and/or Intending Affirmations is to ground your purpose, especially your higher purpose. These affirmations enhance conscious awareness of your intention about something or about your mission in life. In addition, these affirmations can deepen your understanding of your reason for being and/or acting generally or in a specific situation. They can be used to enhance any and all actions that follow.

Examples:

I know that this is for the highest good of all concerned.

I deepen my awareness of the consciousness from which actions spring.

I live my mission.

My intention is to live free from struggle, fear, and hopelessness.

I remember.

Acting/Claiming Affirmations

The purpose of Acting and/or Claiming Affirmations is to bring something into manifestation or to direct the energy of your intention to appropriate manifestation. These affirmations bring into the physical experience those ideas that you hold in your mind and/or heart. In addition, these affirmations help you to claim your power and establish boundaries in relationships.

Examples:

I act with high intention and purposeful awareness.

I step into the world to live my mission in every word and action.

I demand my good right now.

I make every act an act of love (or freedom or mastery or hope, etc.).

I am powerful. I am worthy. I am loveable. I am free.

Integrating/Embodying Affirmations

The purpose of Integrating and/or Embodying Affirmations is to allow the energy and meaning of the affirmations to merge with your consciousness. Affirmations and ideas that do not resonate, drop away. Integrating/Embodying Affirmations support us in knowing more deeply — integrating — what we have learned rather than introducing new information.

Examples:

I integrate trust into every aspect of my life.

I breathe love into my job, my body, my relationships.

Yes to Life!

Today is an opportunity for peace.

I breathe in abundance, letting my whole body feel its energy.

Affirmations as Lifestyle

As you work more and more with intentional affirmations — written, spoken, read, chanted, meditated upon — you will make them part of your lifestyle. Affirmations are already working for (or against!) you. It is your job to select the ones you want to live by. Remember, you are already using affirmations every time you think or speak! If your current affirmations are disempowering, you can intentionally change them to ones that you choose to live by.

? 1993-2006 Marshall House. Jeanie Marshall, Empowerment Consultant and Coach, produces Guided Meditations on CD albums and MP3 downloads and writes extensively on subjects related to personal development and empowerment. She is the author of the well-known DailyAffirm Process available free to the Internet, subscribe join-dailyaffirm@lyris.dundee.net
http://www.dailyaffirm.com

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