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

- 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.

? 2010 Arlene Unger, PhD. All rights reserved. This article may be reproduced “as is”, i.e. without change or fees.

Affirmation statements -we hear them spoken often by motivational speakers, authors, writers etc., but what can we personally do to harness the power of affirmations in our own lives?

Think about a time in your life when you desired to make a change – something major, like finding a new job, moving to a new city or home, or something less momentous like a New Year’s resolution to improve your overall health. Can you think of a past experience like that? Now, think about the tools that you used or steps that you took to help guide you through that transition and keep you focused on achieving your goals while making that change.

These tools in effect, involved you setting in motion a series of events to accomplish the goals you’d set out for yourself, and one of the easiest ways to achieve success is to create affirmations.

Affirmations are very easy to use and quite powerful once you get the hang of practicing this daily exercise. Affirmations keep you focused on what’s important to you and help you achieve positive transitions. Basically an affirmation is a declaration that something is already true and has come to fruition in your life in the present moment. You have to believe what you are looking to achieve or obtain has already arrived in order for ‘it’ to show up in your life.

If your desire is to create personal well-being, first choose a phrase that describes what you desire. For example, if you desire to adopt a healthier lifestyle, then your affirmation statement could say, “I feel good and look good when I live a healthy lifestyle.” Or “I enjoy the great feelings I get from exercising daily.” Short powerful statements are more focused and work much better to bring about results than long, drawn-out paragraphs.

There are some rules to follow when creating an affirmation that I’d like to share with you.

Rule # 1: The phrase must be in the present tense, such as “I feel good”, as opposed to “I will feel good” which implies that at some point in the future you ‘might’ achieve your goal. Remember to phrase your affirmation as if your desire.

Rule #2: The statement must always be written from a positive perspective, instead of a negative one. For example, you wouldn’t say “I don’t feel good when I am not healthy” as this places your health – which you are trying to change – in a negative context. Always phrase your desire/affirmation statement in a positive context and in the present tense.

Rule #3: Repeat often. After you create an affirmation, write it down on something that you can keep with you, like a notebook or card to put in your purse or wallet, or place it somewhere that you look at often throughout your day such as on your bathroom mirror or your desk at work. Make sure that you read your affirmation statements as many times during your day as possible.

Studies have shown that using the power of affirmations can lower stress and I have found this to be true in my own life. When I get clear about what I want in my life and focus on my desires with affirmations every day, I am more content and peaceful. What we focus on grows, so the more you focus your attention on your affirmations, the more likely you are to create positive changes in your life and achieve your dreams.

My favorite book on affirmations and the power of healing is Louise Hay’s, You Can Heal Your Life. In this fascinating book you can learn more about the healing power of affirmations and how you can harness them to improve your overall health and well-being. And frankly, who wouldn’t like to live a healthier, more serene life in these turbulent times?

Using the power behind affirmations can truly change your life for the better. Put this into practice this week by writing down three short affirmations about three areas you’d like to make positive changes in your life. Be sure to state your desires in the present tense and in a positive way. Practice repeating these statements as many times as you can for 7 days and see what wonderful changes reveal themselves in your life.

Inspired by her passion to support others on their own personal growth journey, Carolee Laffoon founded Affirmations To Go, a company which encourages people to create lasting personal affirmation products to carry with them daily to keep them focused on their goals, hopes and dreams. Carolee publishes a monthly newsletter “Affirmation Inspirations” to share her favorite affirmations, inspirations, and product specials. Visit Affirmations To Go and sign up to receive her newsletter as well as participate in her special monthly Affirmations product giveaway.

Broken heart, hurt and loneliness are three perfect ingredients, which, when mixed together, make our lives dull and miserable. These three things can easily take over our lives and once part of our lives we can see nothing but unhappiness. Very little do we know that we can become happy again and learn to appreciate the feeling of love again through love affirmations. A love affirmation is a simple statement that we continually say to ourselves, which, over time, can help to bring about permanent changes in our lives.

Love affirmations help us to rediscover the love we have lost. An affirmation is a thought that we have during the day which is directly linked to our sub-consciousness. These love affirmations guide our sub-consciousness into a certain direction which can either have positive or negative effective.

To bring about a change in our lives through love affirmation we first need to start thinking positively and wave a good-bye to all our negative thoughts which leads to a unhappy life in the first place. For example instead of ‘nobody loves me’ start thinking ‘everybody loves me’. The key behind reuniting with love is to start loving yourself in the first place and feel confident about you. Adopting a positive love affirmation about yourself such as ‘I was born out of love’ can be very helpful in helping you regain your self esteem after a breakup or a rough fight.

Secondly change your attitude towards others. Respect their feelings and think that everyone deserves love just like you do. Once you adopt this love affirmation, love will find you. You will no longer see life as miserable but will find it to be filled with love.

Wording used in love affirmation is of great significance. Only use words that are simple and can be easily accepted by your mind, only then will power of love affirmations work. Preferably try to use word ‘love’ when making use of a love affirmation. Something along the lines of ‘I am worth loving’ or ‘I will find my true love’ or ‘I am committed to loving …’ are all good examples of love affirmations.

Love affirmation can not only be used to find love for yourself but it is also about discovering God’s love. For example thinking ‘I will love others as extensions of my own Self, and of the love I feel from God.’ will draw you nearer to God and His universal love.

Love affirmation also helps you understand your companion and builds a strong bond between couples. Even to find romance you first need to find your inner-love which can only be achieved through love affirmation.

Love affirmation can also be used to draw ourselves closer towards nature. Learn to love nature and most importantly spend time with nature more often. Try thinking about good things such as ‘I love the smell of fresh flower’ or ‘I feel refreshed’.

To get used to love affirmation, note down any positive thought you have during the day maybe on a piece of card or whichever way is convenient to you. During initial stages of love affirmation technique we might get negative thoughts as well. Note these negative affirmations as well and at the end of each day try replacing them with something more fruitful thought. Review your affirmations twice a day to have a maximum effect of love affirmation. Initially it takes time to step out of a dark miserable world but once you succeed in taking a step nothing can stop you and with the help from repeated love affirmations you will ultimately stop at nothing but love.

Robert Watson is a certified hypnotherapist with the ABH and the NGH, and has worked with affirmations and subliminal messages for over ten years. Visit his Subliminal Messages [http://subliminal.green-machine.info] website for more information about using affirmations and subliminal messages to help you lose weight, quit smoking, have a more positive outlook and more.

Affirmations can play a key role in helping you to leverage daily the Law of Attraction (LOA) for your training for a marathon, half marathon, or other endurance race.

What is an affirmation?

The Law of Attraction essentially says, “We become what we think about.” And we attract more of the feelings and beliefs that we regularly affirm. This is the power behind affirmations.

Why should I use affirmations for endurance running or walking?

You should write and repeatedly read affirmations as an endurance runner or walker because they can focus the Law of Attraction on behaviors and beliefs that will support your racing goals.

Who is the subject of an affirmation?

You should be the subject of each of your affirmations, with the affirmation written in first-person, singular form (as in “I am…”). The reason that having you as the subject of the affirmation is ideal is that your unconscious mind has direct control over you but does not have direct control over anyone else.

How should I write each affirmation statement?

As a positive, not negative, statement: Your unconscious mind will ignore any “no” or “not” in a statement. For example, your unconscious mind will convert “I do not slow down as I approach the finish line.” to “I do slow down as I approach the finish line.”; so “I maintain my pace or speed up as I approach the finish line.” is the preferable way to write this affirmation. Another reason to write affirmations in the positive is that they feel better to say to yourself. And that single, good feeling that you attach to the statement as you say it gives it a stronger impact on your unconscious mind than would a mixed-emotions, negative statement. A third reason to write affirmations in the positive is a practical one: Positive statements tend to be shorter than negative statements. So you can write them more easily and read them more easily.

About the present, not the future: Your unconscious mind treats each statement about the present as something over which it has full control. In contrast, it treats each statement about the future as something over which it has no control. In other words, your unconscious mind operates in the present.

As if it were true, even if it is false today: Every time that you read an affirmation to yourself, you are incrementally strengthening in your unconscious mind the belief expressed by that affirmation. Given that your unconscious mind cannot distinguish between fact and fiction, you can read to yourself an affirmation that is not true today with the assurance that eventually your unconscious mind will align your life with that affirmation such that eventually the affirmation is true. In other words, an affirmation need not be true when written or read, but repeated reading of the affirmation increases the likelihood that eventually it will be true.

With specificity: Specific statements have a stronger impact than vague, general statements have on your unconscious mind. For example, “I am a five-hour marathoner.” is more valuable than “I am a fast marathoner.” as an affirmation.

How many affirmations should I have?

The number of affirmations that you have related to your endurance running or walking depends totally on you. Some people prefer to have just a few affirmations. Other people like to have lots of affirmations, including many that are re-worded versions of other affirmations.

Where should I be when I am composing my affirmations?

You should compose your affirmations at a computer in a quiet, private location. You may want to play some inspiring or gentle music while writing them. A few minutes of meditation before beginning could help your writing, too.

Ideally, each affirmation should feel as if it were an expression of your best self — as if your “higher self” were telling you what it believes you are capable of being, doing, or experiencing.

If you are stumped when you initially sit down to type affirmations into your computer, then give yourself a goal to carry around a pen and small notebook so that you record several affirmation ideas as you go about your daily life. You eventually should have enough ideas in your notebook to produce several affirmations when you return to your computer.

What are some examples of affirmations for endurance runners or walkers?

Here are examples of affirmations that are correctly worded for an endurance runner or walker:

“I always breathe aerobically when I run.”

“I shave at least one minute off my personal record in every marathon that I run.”

“I eat exactly what I need for each walk.”

“I give myself permission to run my own race.”

“I stop for water precisely when necessary at water stops while walking my half marathon.”

Why should I record my affirmations to a computer?

Typing your affirmations into a computer document gives you three benefits over handwriting them:

Typing them on a computer lets you craft them easily. The ease of editing text with a computer ensures that you can craft affirmations that are “just right” for you to repeat many times to yourself over the coming days, weeks, and months.

Typing them on a computer lets you update them easily. Having your affirmations in a computer document means that you can refine them easily to suit you better as your needs or goals change but without having to re-write your entire list of affirmations.

Typing them on a computer lets you print them in different sizes. This gives you the flexibility to make a single-page list for scheduled reviews, larger printouts of affirmations for in-your-face display in your bedroom, bathroom, or office, and a wallet-size, laminated list for on-the-go review whenever you have downtime.

How should I read my affirmations?

Always read them as if you believe them, even if they are not yet(!) true.

Always read them with an emotional intensity that will capture the attention and imagination of your unconscious mind.

Read them aloud if at all possible.

Even if you are only reading them silently in your mind, vary from session to session your pace (from a fast-talker to a slow-talker), your pitch or accent (your own voice, the voice of a favorite actor, etc.), and your volume (from a whisper to a gentle shout) — to avoid boredom and to stimulate your unconscious mind in multiple ways with the same affirmations.

When and how often should I read my affirmations?

Plan to read your affirmations several times a day but at least twice a day:

As part of a morning ritual in which you use several LOA methods to prepare you for the day ahead;

Later in the day — and perhaps as you retire to bed — to reinforce them.

If you work at home, reading your affirmations aloud during your workday may be no problem. If you work in an office, in a retail store, in a warehouse, in a factory, or otherwise with other people in your workplace, then consider using your automobile or a secluded outdoor area as your “sound booth” in which you read your affirmations aloud.

What else can I do with my affirmations besides reading them to myself?

Post individual affirmations throughout your home, in your car, or in your office so that you see and unconsciously absorb them even though you do not consciously and deliberately read them.

Record yourself saying your affirmations, mix that voice recording with different background, instrumental songs that are suitable for the targeted periods for playback (such as for running, for stretching, or for winding down at the end of the day), and play the appropriate mixed recordings at least twice a day — such as while training for an endurance race, while driving, while in the shower, or while completing indoor or outdoor chores.

Kirk Mahoney, Ph.D., loves to walk and run, and his SpryFeet.com website provides practical research for runners and walkers. By going to http://www.SpryFeet.com/Reports/, you can get his FREE “Pace Tables for Runners and Walkers” special report, letting you look up paces needed to complete several different race distances within given durations and for different micro-level-pacing methods.

(c) Copyright – Kirk Mahoney, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved Worldwide.

Affirmations are simply positive, or affirmative, statements of truth. The tricky part is that the truth of the affirmation need not be a “present reality;” it can be a future reality you truly wish to create. By declaring this future reality in positive, definite terms, you are tasking your conscious and unconscious mind with finding this new reality. It is important to consider that, when your prayer is answered, it will be now; so, the proper way to “declare a thing” and make it so is to offer thanks NOW – in this moment – for your desired reality as if it had already happened. Your emotional guidance system will seek to recreate the experience of being happy for having achieved this particular goal; and it is likely to do it by bringing that goal to fruition.

Life is a continuous series of changing circumstances. Our thoughts help us make sense of this ever-changing landscape; and they help guide us from one event to another along this path to future “now’s.” Along the way to your future, you are continuously asked to offer thought as a way of generating your future realities. Change happens with or without your input; but you can create affirmative change with affirmative thought. Consider the following words from two great teachers of this path of positive thought and affirmative action:

“Be the change you seek to create in the world.” – Gandhi

“Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” – Jesus

“Declare a thing and it is so.” – Jesus

“As a man thinketh, so is he.” – Jesus

“Our thoughts become our words as they become our beliefs; our beliefs become our actions as they become our habits. Our habits become our values as our values become our destiny.” – Gandhi

“Whatsoever you desire, when you stand in prayer – believing – will be given unto you.” – Jesus

Believing in a thing is affirming it – it makes it firm, or physical. As you think about a thing which has sparked your interest or curiosity, or which has become desirable to you, your thoughts will naturally want to return there. As you think of a new thing, you will begin to notice that new thing in your world where you haven’t noticed it before. You will also begin to look in new places, read new books and magazines, and perhaps begin doing research or study in this new area of thought. As you give more attention and thought-energy to these ideas, you will develop mental imagery and additional ideas.

The imagery and new ideas you experience, while giving thought to your new desire, will make you feel a certain way. If the feelings are positive, your desire will grow; if your feelings are negative the desire may also grow, but it will likely grow into that which you are afraid of. If your thoughts are positive, and they excite you, you will probably begin speaking about them, as we think and talk about those things which most interest us. These thoughts and words will then stimulate actions and behaviors. Affirmative thoughts inspire affirmative action. Inspired action seems to be effortless and always creates positive change and new realities.

Just imagine that you are programming a computer; you wouldn’t tell the computer all the things you don’t want it to do. You simply tell the computer – in a language it understands – what you want it to do; and then you tell it to do it. Your mind and body operate in much the same way; so, your self-talk – which is actually a type of self-programming – should always be affirmations of what you want to happen. Your programs should always be positive, affirmative, direct, and specific; but you should keep in mind that this is a process – and part of the process is exercising patience and a peaceful countenance. You may not master this immediately; so relax, and be of good cheer.

By thinking and speaking affirmative words, we can generate an affirmative mood, or disposition; an affirmative disposition is one which is free from stress. This state of mind and body is a healing state. Positive thoughts do not stress us out; that’s because they do not cause or stimulate the release of the harmful stress hormones which we experience as “bad feelings.” The way we phrase our words and intentions has a lot to do with the way our subconscious hears, interprets, and acts on those thoughts we hold so important that we took the time and energy to turn them into words. When you turn a desire into words, it is one step closer to becoming a physical reality.

Imagine that you are ordering dinner and you tell the waitress what NOT to bring you. Do you know what you will get for dinner? Some people say that affirmations are not useful or effective because they affirm the lack of the thing you are affirming. In these cases, semantics are everything; re-framing your negative desires into positive affirmations may take some time and thought, but it is worth it. A declaration of what you do not want is really a “negation,” and not an “affirmation.”

By saying, “I don’t want to be sick,” or “God, please take away my illness,” you are focusing on the fact that you are sick, or have an illness; and you are trying to negate it by thinking about it. This does not work. Though you may heal; it will be through natural processes that you could have sped up with an affirmation instead of slowing down with a negation. “Thank you, God, for giving me this wonderful health and strength so I can go for a walk!” is a much better prayer for restoring health and wellness than those listed above.

To create health, wellness, happiness, success, and prosperity, in all areas of your life, begin thinking positively and affirmatively. Think creatively and optimistically if you wish to create a new reality. Express gratitude in your affirmations; and try to feel the feeling of gratitude in your heart as you imagine the happy, new reality you wish to create. Continue to affirm only those things you wish to experience in your life, body, and experience. Below are a few examples of affirmative prayers for health, prosperity, etc; they will give you an idea of how effective thinkers effectively create using effective, affirmative thought. Affirmations need only contain gratitude, joy, and a positive intention.

Try generating a new attitude in the areas where you have problems or suffering. Consider re-framing your focus on the most positive statement you could make about the conditions you wish to experience. “A man must first assume those characteristics he wishes to possess.” Some people say, “Fake it until you make it;” but repeating affirmations will help you choose a more positive track for your thoughts. Try some of the following affirmative thoughts and see how they feel to you; say them out loud and hear how they make you feel:

If you are ill and thinking, “God I feel miserable!” try thinking:

Health – “Thank you, God, for giving me health and strength so that I might live fully and be a model of health and joy to others. Thank you for giving me the strength, courage, and willingness, to do the things that enrich and empower me…”

If you are in turmoil and chaos and thinking, “I’m going to kill someone if these people don’t get off my back!” or “I don’t know what to do! I’m so afraid and worried…” try thinking:

Peace – “Thank you, God, for giving me peace. Thank you for giving me faith and trust and for quieting my mind so that I might rest and hear more clearly your will…”

If you are experiencing relationship problems, instead of thinking, “God I am married to such a _________!!! I can’t stand this anymore!” try thinking:

Relationships – “Thank you, God, for giving me the love and wisdom to see you in all your creation and to love all creation and all living things unconditionally. Love and harmony are alive and well in all my relationships.”

If you are experiencing weight issues and you hate what you see in the mirror, try thinking:

Weight Loss – “I am happy and peaceful here and now. I am safe and loved and create my own peace, security, and nourishment from the power from within me. I am free; and I release the past and others to be free now.”

If you are having financial difficulties, instead of thinking about debt, or a pile of bills, try thinking:

Prosperity – “My good returns to me now in an avalanche of abundance; thank you, God, for prospering me in all my ways. Only good comes to me; and there is always more than enough to share.”

If you can’t seem to make things work out, and you’re thinking, “Why can’t I ever catch a break?” try thinking:

Success – “Thank you, God, for growing my good thoughts now. I give thanks for the wonderful insights and ideas which I have been given and are now coming to light. Thank you for all things going my way, favoring me with your blessings, and for benefiting all as your grace now benefits me. “

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen.”

– Muhammad Ali

Pete Koerner, author of The Belief Formula

http://www.ExploreExpandEvolve.com

Affirmations can be used to improve practically any area of your life. It does not matter if the situation is a simple one or if it is absolutely critical, affirmations can be of great use. However many people who have used affirmations do not get the full benefit from them and even go as far as to claim they do not work. This is simply because they have not learned how powerful affirmations really are, how to use them to their fullest and why creating your own affirmations is so important.

What are affirmations used for?

Affirmations can be used in many areas of your life, for instance if you are going to an interview and you are feeling nervous you can use an affirmation like “I can do this, I will be a hit, I am a winner or I will succeed” to help you calm down and boost your moral and confidence. Affirmations can also be used to change your beliefs about something. Lets say you have the belief that there are no good men around anymore, you could use an affirmation like “I am open to the idea that there is a good man out there for me.” This will help you to change your belief about men. There are countless ways for you to use affirmations in your life.

Why write your own affirmations?

There are literally thousands of websites online offering you lists of affirmations that are supposed to change your life and although the affirmations are often powerful in of themselves, they often do not help the user for one simple reason. They are not specific to the users situation and beliefs. Here’s an example, suppose you are not happy about your body any you want to change the way you think about your body. So you choose an affirmation from a pre-written list that says, “I am beautiful and I love my body.”

Although this may be a good affirmation it is likely to be useless for anyone who is truly unhappy with his or her body. This is because if you have a negative belief and you try to change it by stating the direct opposite the first thing your mind will do is resist the positive statement as it is simply to big a jump from one end of the spectrum to the other. This is why it is so important to learn how to write affirmations that are specific and fully directed towards your needs.

Instead of trying to convince your mind of a fact that is directly opposite to what you believe, instead you would write an affirmation that is hopeful, positive and opens your mind to accepting a new belief. The affirmation could be something like, “I am making healthy choices to improve my body” or “little by little I am changing the way I look” or “I am open to the idea of reaching my perfect weight.”

When you soften your affirmations you receive less resistance and therefore stand a much greater chance of actually changing your beliefs and improving the negative self-talk. Then as your self-image improves you can make your affirmations even more powerful. The most important thing to remember when using affirmations is to focus on how the affirmation you are using makes you feel. If when you state the affirmation you feel tension or resistance to the words then the affirmation is too far away from your present belief and needs to be softened. Also when you do this you should include hopeful words and statements like “I intent to, I am moving towards, I am reaching for, and I am open to.”

Following these simple tips will help you to write powerful focused affirmations that will change your life and you will also be more in-tune with your feelings which will in turn help you to recognize when an affirmation is right for you and when it is not.

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Affirmations are simply statements that we make to ourselves; it’s our self-talk. You use affirmations all the time, whether you’re doing so intentionally or unintentionally. If you make a mistake and you think to yourself, “I’m always making mistakes, I never do anything right”, you’ve just made a negative affirmation. If instead you make a mistake and you think to yourself, “That’s OK, I have the ability to correct this”, you’ve just made a positive affirmation.

Your self-talk has an enormous impact on your conscious and subconscious minds. By repeating positive affirmations you can reprogram your thought patterns. Creating new thought patterns will allow you to begin to change your underlying beliefs and the way that you think and feel about yourself, others, and your place in the world. In this way, you can improve your life dramatically through the use of daily positive affirmations.

Choosing Your Affirmations

Shakti Gawain, author of Creative Visualization, offers the following advice for choosing your affirmations:

o Always phrase your affirmations in the present tense, as if it already exists. Say “I enjoy being at my ideal weight” instead of saying “I will reach my ideal weight.”

o Affirm what you want, not what you don’t want. Instead of saying “I am no longer a procrastinator”, say “I always get things done on time.”

o Don’t simply go through your affirmations by rote; add positive feelings and emotions to your affirmations.

o Choose affirmations that feel right for you. If you come across an affirmation that you like but you would feel more comfortable changing a couple of words, go right ahead.

Use Three Different Pronouns

A technique that you can apply to make your affirmations more effective is to write down the same affirmation using different pronouns. For example, if you want to affirm that you’re surrounded by positive people who want the best for you, you can write down the following three affirmations (in this example your name is Joan):

o I am surrounded by positive people who want the best for me.

o Joan, you are surrounded by positive people who want the best for you.

o Joan is surrounded by positive people who want the best for her.

When you say affirmations in the second and third person it’s as if someone else is talking to you or about you. Your internal critic is less apt to interject a negative comment if it thinks someone else is making these positive affirmations about you.

Affirmations Can Be General or Specific

Affirmations can be general or they can be very specific. Some examples of general affirmations are the following:

o Abundance is all around me.

o Abundance is my birthright.

o There is more than enough for all.

Use general affirmations to “set the stage”. Once you’ve established clear, well-defined goals for yourself you can create specific affirmations to help keep you focused on your goals and to strengthen your belief in your ability to reach your goals. For example, if your goal is to lose 10 pounds in the next three months by exercising, your affirmations could be the following:

o I now jog for 40 minutes, 4 times a week.

o Jogging helps me to lose weight and makes me healthy and fit.

o I am now lifting weights 3 times a week.

o I enjoy going to the gym and lifting weights.

o I am getting excellent results from jogging and weight lifting, and it shows.

o Every day I am getting fitter and fitter.

o I now weigh X amount of pounds (your target weight).

o People comment on how much thinner I am and how good I look.

You Have to Be Able to Believe Your Affirmations

Whenever you choose to change anything in your life, you’re choosing to move out of your present comfort zone. We should always strive to grow and expand our definition of ourselves and of what we are capable of. However, you have to make sure that your affirmations are not so far off from where you are at the moment that there’s no way you can get yourself to believe what you’re affirming.

If you don’t believe the affirmations you’re saying to yourself, then you need to start with a less ambitious affirmation and gradually make your affirmations bigger and bigger. For example, if you currently make $3,000.00 a month, it may be difficult for you to believe “I am now making $50,000.00 a month”. However, you can probably believe the following affirmation: “I am now making $4,500.00, or more, a month”. As you move forward and begin to see results you can progressively increase this number until you do feel comfortable affirming that you make over half a million dollars a year.

Repeat Your Affirmations Often

There is much power in repetition. Positive affirmations are not something that you do once in a while, instead, you should expose your mind to the affirmations that you choose for yourself as often as possible. In the words of Robert Collier: “Constant repetition carries conviction.”

Write down your affirmations and place them where you can refer to them often (you can even carry them around in your wallet). You can say them out loud to yourself every morning when you wake up and at night before going to bed, or you can set aside a few minutes each day to scribble them on a sheet of paper several times to help reinforce the message in your mind.

Taping the affirmations in your own voice and listening to the tape while you’re relaxing-or, even better, meditating– has had extraordinary effects for countless people. Louise Hay, author of the International bestseller “You Can Heal Your Life”, recommends that you sing or chant your affirmations. Some people leave a CD with positive affirmations playing softly in the background while they sleep at night.

In addition, there are several programs that allow affirmations to flash on and off on your computer screen unobtrusively, helping to program these affirmations into your subconscious.

Affirmation Bath

Practitioners who offer healing workshops often use a technique called “affirmation bath”. Basically, several people stand around one person and they all begin saying positive affirmations directed toward that person. The person is “engulfed” by positive messages from others. You can try this technique if you can find several like-minded people to participate in this exercise with you.

Release Any Negative Feelings That Arise

Negative feelings can act as self-imposed stop signs to getting what you want in life. If you feel any discomfort, self-doubt, fear, anger, and so on when saying your affirmations, you need to let go or release these negative feelings. One way to do this is by using the Sedona Method. As stated before, you have to add positive feelings and emotions to your affirmations, and if negative feelings are getting in the way, you need to be able to let go of them.

Your self-talk can either prevent you from getting what you want in life, or it can be a powerful catalyst for creating the life you’ve always wanted. Create a daily practice of using positive affirmations to help motivate, support, and inspire you to go after your dreams.

Written by Marelisa Fábrega who blogs at http://abundance-blog.marelisa-online.com

Want to make your positive affirmations pop to life? Want your dreams to come true? There is one secret that can help you.

Practicing positive affirmations on a regular basis can help you attain what you want in life, but there are a couple of techniques that you can employ to really make your use of affirmations much more effective. But, there is one technique that stands above the rest. We’ll get to that technique in just a bit.

First, try to do the affirmations that you have chosen on a regular basis. If you can do positive affirmations on a daily basis they will begin to embed themselves into your psyche. Repetition then is one key to making your affirmations more effective.

Another is the way the affirmations themselves are phrased. There are a couple of effective methods. One is to phrase them in the present tense. For instance, “I am getting more confident every day.”

However, with this method you want to make sure the affirmation is not too unrealistic. In other words you don’t want to repeat, “I am a millionaire” when you aren’t. Your conscious mind might come back with “yeah right who are you kidding.” This could render these affirmations useless. So, make them believable and say something to the effect that you are on the way to getting there. Like, “I am attracting a million dollars into my life,” or “I do what it takes to become a millionaire.”

Another technique is called the question or afformation method. Afformation refers to the way the affirmation is formed hence the term affomation. Simply phrase the affirmation as a question and your mind, both conscious and unconscious will try to to find a way to make it become a reality.

For example, the phrase, “Why do I have so many lucrative opportunities come my way?” This question should cause you to start seeing more and more opportunities flow into your life. Or how about, “Why am I getting more and more attractive?” Not only will your mind attempt to answer the questions but you should also find that it may prompt you to do things to prove the questions true. Within that statement lies the heart of the 1 secret to making your affirmations come to life that I was talking about earlier. We’ll get to that in a second.

You also want to inject emotion when you are doing your affirmations. If you can incorporate an element of emotion into the positive affirmations themselves they will become much more powerful and beneficial. How do you inject emotion into your daily routine?

Prior to doing your daily affirmations put yourself into a positive emotional state. Relax and think back to a time when you were happy or had accomplished something great. Get into that powerful positive state and then start your affirmations. Transfer those emotionally charged feelings of success to the affirmation process. This will give you increased confidence that you can accomplish or achieve whatever it is you dream of or desire.

To recap.

1.Do your affirmations on a daily basis, even at the same time if you can.

2.Phrase them in a believable manner.

3.Transfer powerful positive emotion to the process.

But what is the one secret to really make your affirmations pop to life?

It’s simple but often overlooked. You need to take action on what you are affirming. Just take action. Taking action on what you want to attact or accomplish is simply being proactive. You can let the universe do its thing as you send out your powerful desires and wishes while you sit back and let the vibrations manifest. But, what if the universe decides to take awhile? Or a long while? Why not greatly multiply your chances of success for realizing your dreams by actually taking action on what you want to attract?

For instance, say you’re affirming that you are becoming more attractive everyday. That act in and of itself could get you to feel better about yourself and radiate more confidence which in turn will make you more attractive to others. But, why not speed up the process by exercising, eating healthier foods, taking care of your grooming, hair, teeth, etc.? Then your inner confidence will soar as your outer appearance changes for the better. This cycle will feed on itself creating a positive loop of power as your affirmations not only leave you feeling good but actually spur you to take actions to change your life for the better.

And, again you can actually incorporate that philosophy of taking action into the affirmations. For example, here are several that use the philosophy of taking action.

1.I make it a habit to research different ways to make money.

2.How can I make more money?

3.What can I do to make my job more interesting?

4.I eat healthy foods everyday.

To sum up, make it a habit to take an action everyday on what you affirm and you could soon see your affirmations pop to life!

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As people begin to realize the importance and value of our thoughts in creating the life we desire (or the life we have, but would like to change), affirmations can be instrumental in re-training ourselves in how to think. Before we begin thinking, we start out a relatively clean slate. 

As we pick up beliefs and ways of thinking throughout life we begin to think that who we think we are is who we actually are.  This is not the absolute truth.  In actuality, we are much more than we could ever imagine and the negative stuff we have picked up along the way is something we can part with, because it’s not our true essence.

The purpose of affirmations is to affirm the truth and desires about ourselves and our circumstances. What can happen as we begin to focus on what we want and actually verbalize those desires in the form of affirmations, is the stuff that gets in our way will let itself be known.  This is the stuff that life has caused us to believe is really us. 

Are affirmations a way to circumvent reality?  Some people use them that way, but clearly intentional use will yield the truth every time: affirmations only affirm what is really inside.  It just needs some affirmation to be fully realized, inside and out.

When people view an affirmation as a band-aid to a problem, the problem they are referring to is the stuff that has stopped you from feeling that the affirmation is true, through and through. Affirmations are most useful when put into practice as a tool to help one get to know him or herself better through clarifying wants and determining unhelpful thoughts and patterns so they can be released.  That ensures the affirmation is healing the cause and not being used as a band-aid.

Your True Self knows you are totally lovable and loving, that you have every resource available to you (even if it is in a different form than you may expect), and that you can make your life into what you want it to be. However, your ego or inner critic, will tell you otherwise.

Practicing affirmations deserves your full attention.  It is of great value to bring affirmations into your life to invite the stuff blocking your way to come up and show you where you can let go and let your True Self shine through. All you need to do is make a simple commitment to yourself: I will be open to be with what is coming up.

You do not always need to know exactly what the issue is that is presenting itself, or the root cause. If it does show itself to you, that is fine. If not, the feeling can still be tended to.

When uncomfortable feelings or thought patterns rise to the surface, much like bubbles coming up from an underwater spring, allow yourself to be with them. Take a few deep breaths and refrain from giving them names (if they don’t have a script running already) or getting involved in the story that goes with them. Ask your feeling or thought what they are about if you desire. Know that acknowledging the uncomfortable feeling will help it dissolve. Do not push against it for that is what has kept it with you to this point. 

If you find yourself resisting feeling negative emotion simply remember that it is okay to feel what you feel!  Dealing with painful or stressful emotions or thoughts can be well handled through first allowing yourself to feel them by deeply breathing and following your breath into your body while imagining it cleansing and honoring the emotion, and second, seeking out some techniques to assist if they persist. Working through emotions can be achieved through a coaching session as well.

To get started with affirmations, it is as easy as bringing to mind some statements that on some level you know to be true or you would like to feel the truth of such as: I love me. I am perfect, whole, and worth of goodness. I am financially free. Begin by saying and writing these statements to yourself at least 5 times per day, 10-20 will have a more profound effect. This is the power of changing your thoughts with deliberate action.

As you progress, remember the importance of allowing whatever is standing in your way to come up and dissolve. It may also be helpful to ask yourself questions about your affirmations such as

How would it be possible for me to be financially free?

Why do I love myself?

What about me is perfect and whole?

It is initially natural to question one’s self so use your mind to your advantage in this manner!

Affirmations are not a band-aid.  They are an affirmation of who you truly are and what you can truly do with your life when you learn to believe them.  To believe something you must think it over and over again.

Using affirmations is helpful along any journey to self-love and conscious creation of your life.  It is important to realize that creating affirmations with clear intention is a learned skill.  Start with affirmations that are just out of your belief, but you think may be true. For instance, if saying I love me to yourself feels funny, but sort of true you can stretch it to include other affirmatve statements like I love me and I am fun to be around or I am open to loving myself and I am learning to like myself.

To help yourself get out of your own way, be gentle with yourself as you change and grow and modify your affirmations as necessary.  If an affirmation does not feel good, change it!  Use affirmations daily and often for as long as you desire and know that many people use them for months to feel and notice a substantial change.  We create our thought patterns that are not helpful and use them for decades.  To re-train ourselves it takes some time as well.  Perseverance pays off!

When saying an affirmation to yourself get centered first, take a deep breath, and connect with the feeling of your affirmation, believing it to be true.  In combination with becoming aware of what stands in your way and a commitment to unite with your true self, affirmations are a great tool to discover the true you!

Amy offers tools to assist you in awakening to the true you… Awareness, coaching, and healing through exercises, energy healing, phone/email appointments, classes, and workshops. http://www.innatewholeness.com

Repeating affirmations is a self-talk method that has a powerful affect on everyone’s life. Affirmations are effective, because the mind regards often-repeated thoughts and phrases as commands, and starts looking for ways to manifest them in our lives. The mind does not make distinctions between negative and positive self-talk, and treats them both in the same way.

You can use self-talk to your advantage, if you know how. You can fill your mind with positive thoughts, and channel its power toward achievement and success. You can do so by repeating affirmations, instead of occupying the mind with useless or negative thinking.

Affirmations are a powerful mental programming technique, which is not appreciated enough and is not well understood. There is a lot of information available on this subject nowadays, but few really know how to use it correctly, and fewer even try. To some, it seems just as a useless and impractical theory, but when well understood, it puts wonderful and powerful tools into your hands.

Affirm means to “make firm”. By affirming, you make a positive statement that your goal is already accomplished. An affirmation that is often repeated gets into the subconscious mind, which then uses it enormous power to find ways to make the affirmation come true.

We reap whatever our conscious mind sows onto the subconscious mind. Through affirmations we shape ourselves and our lives, according to the image that the words of the affirmation create, be it good or bad.

Give affirmations a try. You have nothing to lose, but only to gain. Try them for a couple of months and see if your life improves.

In order to use affirmations, some basic knowledge is required.

1. The subconscious mind does not recognize the future tense. When you use affirmations, you should always speak using the present tense. You want to achieve your goal now, not in some indefinable future time. Affirm by using phrases, which imply that what you want to happen is happening in your life right now. For example, if your goal is to find a job, don’t say, “I will have a job”, but say, “I have a well paying and wonderful job, which I love and enjoy”.

2. Affirmations need to be positive and made up of positive words.

3. Affirmations should be specific. Tell your mind exactly what it is that you want.

4. It is advisable to keep the affirmations short and easy to remember.

5. You should also include feelings. You should feel that the affirmation is true. Feelings and emotions are the life force of your words. You have to believe what you are saying. You have to convince your mind that the affirmation is true. This is very important if you want to obtain results.

6. You may repeat affirmations at any time you want or at special times during the day. Immediately after waking up and before falling asleep are two very appropriate times, as at these times it is easier to get to the subconscious mind.

7. You may affirm aloud, mentally or by writing down the affirmations.

These are just basic instructions, but they will surely bring you results, if you follow them sincerely.

If you wish to reap the full value of the power of affirmations, you can find further guidance, advice and affirmations at the website http://www.SuccessConsciousness.com, and more detailed information in the book Affirmations – Words of Power.

Remez Sasson writes and teaches about self improvement, positive thinking, creative visualization, motivation, success, mind power, spiritual growth and meditation. He has been studying and practicing these subjects for many years.

Remez Sasson is the author of several books, among which are, “Will power and self discipline”, “Visualize and achieve”, and “Affirmations – words of power” and is the publisher of the ezine “Consciousness and Success”.

Visit his website: http://www.SuccessConsciousness.com, where he shares his experiences and knowledge through his articles and books!