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!