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Affirmations are probably the easiest and most effective method – compared to the effort involved – known to influence the conscious mind. Many of the world’s most intelligent experts and philosophers have used, and are using this technique, which has been handed down over thousands of years, in various guises such as mantras and prayers. The difference today, because of the now more wide spread knowledge of this technique, is that people from all walks of life are using them to meet people, win tournaments, heal disease and close business deals.
Affirmations are quite simple by their very nature, as all they really are is simple statements repeated regularly to yourself, whether silently or aloud, and practical to you at the time. You can do them anywhere, you decide upon a statement that represents what you want to have happen to you, and then you simply repeat it to yourself over and over again.
As an example, let’s say you find yourself in a familiar situation which normally upsets you and leaves you worn out and stressed, when actually you would prefer to be relaxed and unworried by it, this would be the exact time when using a positive affirmation would be beneficial to you, and in this situation a good example of an affirmation you would repeat to yourself to help change the situation could be ” I feel calm and relaxed, I feel calm and relaxed, I feel calm and relaxed”. Now at this point it is important that you don’t try to force yourself to feel calm and relaxed, just make sure that you keep repeating the affirmation to yourself for approx 5 minutes. Another quick example of a positive use of affirmations would be prior to attending an important business meeting that you would like to go well; this time you would begin affirming to yourself a few minutes beforehand with something like this “It’s going to be a great meeting, It’s going to be a great meeting.”
So Exactly What are You Doing When You do Affirmations?
When you use affirmations you are influencing, directly, the very thoughts that are occurring at any one specific time in your mind. As your mind can only hold one thought at a time, an affirmation works by cramming your mind and filling it with thoughts that support your goal. It’s quite clever really; in a simple way the words are suggesting to your mind what it should be thinking, so if you are affirming ” It’s going to be a great meeting ” then your mind naturally begins thinking related thoughts about it being a great meeting. It really is quite simple really, but the technique can be remarkably effective in helping you achieve the results you are looking for.
How do You Know if You are Doing it Right?
Well it’s all in the words you choose, they must be POSITIVE not negative, and, as gratitude forms part of the whole attraction process, you should include words that also convey this. For example, I use the following terminology to start all of my affirmations, taught by a great mentor of mine, Bob Proctor (from The Secret, Movie) no matter what I am affirming ” I am so Happy and Grateful now”. These words you will notice also use another important aspect of affirmations, they must always be in the present tense, as if you already have whatever it is happen. So if for example you have a money affirmation to bring more financial abundance into your life you could say ” I am so Happy and Grateful Now That Money is Attracted to me and I am attracted to money” or, for more opportunities to appear to you, you could say ” I am so Happy and Grateful Now That New Opportunities are Presented to me From Multiple Sources on a Continuous Basis”
You actually don’t even need to believe what you are affirming! This mistake can have a counter effect and nullify the effects. I know of many people who have used affirmations unsuccessfully mainly because they were trying to force themselves to believe. By the way, don’t get me wrong, if you DO believe what you are affirming, this will only serve to enhance, but if you don’t, then that’s OK too. You don’t have to force anything; by the process of repetition your mind will pick up the content of your affirmations and will therefore allow the correct thoughts into your consciousness.
You must also keep your affirmations reasonably short and to the point, easy to say and easy to repeat over and over again. I try to keep my affirmations to a maximum of 25 words, sometimes a lot less. Even 2 or 3 words can sometimes be an effective affirmation, short statements like ” I have tremendous success always” or ” I achieve record sales ” I have seen affirmations that were a full page long. There’s absolutely no chance that you can repeat an affirmation of that length in an effective manner, and I have found with people who have affirmations which are too long, soon tire of the repetition and the affirmation soon fizzles out. So the lesson here is, make it short and make it easy to say and repeat.
Also be very careful that you do not use your affirmations in a careless way that means they may work against you, for example statements like ” I’ll never get it done” I’ll never do it” I always lose” are all affirmations that you can easily find yourself repeating to yourself without even realizing it, so watch out for these.
So remember that anybody can create affirmations and use them effectively throughout the day to help accomplish the things that they want. They can be said anywhere, in the doctor’s waiting room, in a traffic jam, they don’t need to be believed, all you have to do is repeat them. I repeat my affirmations 5 times per day, however this is my personal preference which works well for me, but if I was to recommend a minimum I would say 3 times per day, first thing when you get out of bed in the morning – this sets the tone for the rest of the day – secondly, at lunch time – this helps to re-motivate you when typically you might be flagging – and thirdly just before you go to sleep – this is when your subconscious mind is in its most receptive state. Two or three minutes is all you need, start doing this now and commit to repeating every day and you will be amazed at how quickly you will begin to produce a noticeable affect.
Affirmation is a very powerful tool that can be used to change the mindset of a person. It can transform negative and destructive thoughts to positive and beneficial ones. But in order to affect the subconscious, affirmations should follow this guideline.
Present form
The first thing to remember is that the positive affirmation must be in the present form. As long as man desires a particular action and achieve a particular goal, then there will always be a need to influence the subconscious mind. And if you want to make your affirmation effective, there is no better time to start than “now”.
Belief that the desire is already a reality
Another tip to developing good affirmation is a belief that what you aim for and what you wish to do is something that has already been accomplished. Experts believe that people saying “I am becoming happy” is more effective as this conveys the message that you are already seeing the positive results of your affirmations.
Positive
The affirmation must be positive and veers away from any negative note. Creating an affirmation with the words “I am safe” is believed to be more effective than saying the words “I am not scared”. The presence of the negative word “not” may affect your attitude and behavior negatively. Thus, experts suggest that there is no better way to use a positive affirmation by staying positive all the time. It is also believed that the word “scared” may grab your attention more and make you think about the negative thought of not being safe often
Everyday language
It is best to come up with an affirmation that fits your language style. It means that you must draft one that uses common words or terms characteristic of the language that you normally use. One important element of positive affirmation is repetition. One cannot repeat a statement which is not common or easy to utter. Instead of including difficult words, it is best for you to keep your affirmation simple and brief so that it is easily absorbed by the subconscious. Difficult words may be pleasant and attractive to hear but the very purpose of a good affirmation is not to impress anyone but rather to help you easily utter it, remember it, and practice it everyday. An action is expected to be the end-point of an affirmation. A simple understanding and verbalization of the affirmation would lead to the desired action.
Avoid using too many words
The affirmation must consist of simple words and it must be phrased simply. A complicated phrasing would make it difficult for you to utter the affirmation repetitively. The principle of affirmation lies on the basic tenet that the subconscious mind must be exposed to the repeated affirmation so that this portion of the mind will be a venue from which the desire will come from.
Your affirmation must be specific and shows the exact action or reaction you are aiming to achieve. It may convey a particular feeling that you want to feel like a longing to feel happy, or to feel energetic, active, or feel in love. It may also be in the form of a specific action like your desire to pass an examination, find the right person, or it can even be as simple as reaching a certain destination safely.
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The dictionary description is:
af-fir-ma-tion [af-er-mey-shun]
1. The act or an instance of affirming; state of being affirmed.
2. the assertion that something exists or is true.
3. something that is affirmed; a statement or proposition that is declared to be true.
4. confirmation or ratification of the truth or validity of a prior judgment, decision, etc.
Thoughts repeated regularly and systematically sink into the subconscious mind and become habitual. Affirmations as these are called are used by many children and adults to create lasting changes in their lives. Finding the right affirmations to use is much more effective if it is in your own words and way of thinking. It is important that your affirmations are written in your own words since the subconscious will react better to your own thoughts than to the thoughts of someone else. It is easy to understand that you probably would not trust anyone more than you trust yourself. Start by taking notice of what you want to change in yourself. Write down on paper your thoughts, desires, and feelings that you may wish to improve upon.
How to use affirmations
When wording your affirmation, you need to use words and phrases for your affirmations in a positive manner rather than a negative manner. As an example, if you wanted to quit smoking, you would not want an affirmation such as “Cigarette smoking makes me sick” because you will in turn cause yourself to get sick. It is better to phrase affirmations like “I am a non-smoker” or “I am healthy and dislike the smell and taste of cigarette smoke” thereby instructing your subconscious to see a different you. When your subconscious sees yourself different, you will become different. Whatever the subconscious mind believes, the conscious mind becomes.
It is important to choose your words wisely. You do not want to use phrases like “I want” because no change will take place since your subconscious is already there. In other words, affirmations worded with “I want” simply are a statement of what “you want”, this only affirms that you will always want whichever it is your affirmations are presenting. You must see yourself as a different you by visualizing what it is you would like to accomplish. Use words like “I am” or “I have”, this allows your subconscious to visualize and believe you are already what you wish to become instead of what you want to become.
Positive affirmations can enhance any area of your life, from improving health, skills, success, relationships and more to conquering bad habits like unhealthy eating habits, aggressive tempers and attitudes, biting nails, bed wetting, drug addictions, or lack of attention and motivation. There are many resources available to help those who find creating affirmations to be difficult. Affirmations can be found on the Internet or in books. Remember to try and use any outside suggestions only as an example and maybe rephrase it in your own words. Thoughts and phrases should come from words within your terms of speaking. If you wish to improve your health, you can find hundreds of examples on the Internet that reflect healthy aspects. Though if for instance you were to find some health affirmations worded in a manner that you would not typically speak, you need to re-write that affirmation into your own words so that you comprehend what your affirmation means. Your subconscious will work faster with affirmations spoken in your terms of speaking faster than that of someone else’s if you do not fully understand it. An example of this could be the legal terminology that most attorneys use, most of us can read it and somewhat understand it, but the lawyers are the ones that can pick it apart and know exactly what it is exclaiming to in ways we probably never imagined. If your mind does not fully comprehend the meaning of the affirmations you are feeding it, your process will not take effect as fast.
How long before you see results
It can take approximately 20 days to create a lasting change but can start taking affect on your behavior a lot sooner where you can notice yourself actually beginning to change in the way you have expressed through your affirmations. It does matter how you use the affirmations too, if you only use your affirmations during the day instead at night like suggested, it may take longer to take affect. Using a recorder or an affirmation unit such as the Mindmaster at night can allow you to create the change subconsciously without the common distractions one normally endures during the day with normal everyday life. Whether it is distractions with traffic, kids, work, cellphones, animals, you name it, they take away from the effectiveness of repeating your affirmations. You could also possibly take time out of your day to go somewhere that is maybe free of these distractions, but that is sometimes a luxury that many of us don’t have. It also takes away from getting other things done too. However, when you are sleeping you have no distractions and the subconscious mind receives everything you tell it. Since your subconscious never sleeps, it is even more receptive to receiving and retaining messages because any doubt and disbelief, which are conscious barriers, are dissolved while you are sleeping, allowing your subconscious image to be changed more effectively.
Affirmations and children
Affirmations though not as widely used as they are for adults can be used with children to help them overcome obstacles that they face with growing up. Fears of the dark, fears of the potty, eating habits, aggressive behaviors, controlling emotions, improving skills and confidence. There are many uses just like with adults that can help your child as well. They should be able to utilize all available tolls that they can when growing up, this shapes them into who they will become later in life. Using affirmations with a child can be a bit different from the way we may use them as adults. Adults have the ability to remember they need to repeat their affirmations where kids usually lack the ability to remember the simplest things they were just told to do. This is where targeting the subconscious mind works best. Much like how adults use recorders, there is a product on the market that is designed for children to repeat their affirmation back to them at night while they sleep on a timed program so it is not in a continuous loop. It has been proven to work successfully with speaking toddlers guided by their parents directive. If you are having problems with potty training for instance, children have stopped wetting the bed in as little as a week, for good and all on their own. This not only helps give the child a sense of accomplishment but also self confidence and belief that they can achieve their goals.
Some Simple Affirmation Examples Are:
* I am a great salesperson who is confident in my abilities to succeed.
* I am productive and a success in all that I do.
* I am efficient and stress-free.
* I am a non-smoker and in control of my health and wellness.
* I eat healthy and can control my weight by avoiding unhealthy choices.
* I have abundant energy to do all the daily activities in my life.
* My body is healthy and free of pain.
* I love learning and excel in school.
* I am capable of waking up at night to go to the bathroom so I won’t wet the bed.
* The dark does not scare me.
* My strength is in forgiveness to those who have hurt me.
* I am worthy of love. The more I love, the more love is returned to me.
* I am a creative person with lots of good ideas.
* I have a terrific golf swing.
* I love my body and it loves me.
* I have a kind personality and strong self-esteem.
* I spend money wisely and am rewarded for the work that I do.
* I am powerful in my life!
* I love the life I live!
* I CAN CHANGE ANY ASPECT OF MY LIFE!
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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”.
This positive affirmations article was written by Roy Thomsitt, owner and part author of the Routes To Self Improvement website.
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