People often ask me what are affirmations and how do they work? The dictionary definition is the action or process of affirming something or being affirmed.
Whether you know it or not, you are always creating positive or negative affirmations every day. If you are not aware of this, you are probably repeating negative affirmations repeatedly throughout the day. When you say something to yourself out loud or in your mind, if you repeat it often enough, your subconscious can’t tell the difference between imagined or real and will soon take the negatives as truth.
For example, if we want to be successful, we don’t want to say things like, “I don’t want to be a failure.” The subconscious mind will act on the word “failure,” ignoring the word “don’t,” and realizing the undesired result. If thoughts of worry, fear, or anger start to take up too much space in your mind, it will affect you in real-world ways. Let’s say you tell yourself often, “Im so stupid.” It not only manifests in your mind but also your physical and spiritual well-being. It can affect your confidence and self-esteem. You are eventually turning into a self-fulfilling prophecy. You will start to see confirmation that proves your negative thinking is true. Think of your brain like a computer hard drive. When it gets full, the computer slows down, simple tasks become hard soon; if you don’t remove those old files, clean them up, it becomes unworkable. When we constantly repeat negative mantras, filling our subconscious with negativity, we become like that computer hard drive. Remove the negative program with the optimistic program to help keep us in an optimal state of being.
There has been excellent research done in the last twenty years that show positive affirmations can change the way you think and act. Please don’t take my word for it. One 2016 study showed 326 cancer survivors reported that participants with higher optimism reported better health, greater happiness, hopefulness, and a lower likelihood of cognitive impairment.
Researchers have shown during an MRI that repeating affirmations positively affects the reward centers of our brain.
Pretty cool stuff, right?
Some things to remember if you are writing your own affirmations, Keep them positive if you put a negative in the affirmation, the subconscious will focus on that, negating the positive part and ignore the positive.
How to create powerful affirmations:
- Start with the words “I am.” It brings power to your declaration
- If you are creating your future, don’t be afraid to phrase it as it’s already manifested itself.
- Keep the goal in the present tense.
- State it in the positive. Affirm what you want, not what you don’t want.
- Keep it simple
- Make it specific and straightforward.
- Incorporate an action word ending with –ing.
- Include at least one compelling emotion or feeling word. (I feel, I am enjoying, etc.).
Here are some simple examples:
- “I am in control of my life.”
- “I am the author of my own story. I say how it goes.”
- ” I am enjoying the beach in Hawaii.”
- ” I am always creating the relationship of my dreams.”
Using powerful positive affirmations is a great tool to transform negative thought patterns leaving you able to experience being in a positive state of mind. Like anything, it takes practice and some repetition. Guided hypnosis and meditation affirmations are a highly effective way to get your brain into an alpha state. Alpha is when your brain wave activity slows down to between 7 and 14 HZ; you are said to be in an alpha state. It is considered a “relaxed” state of mind that allows you to be more receptive, open, creative, and less critical of the information you are taking in. From my experience, everyone can get into a light state of trance. Some people take a little longer than others, and that’s okay. You can go at your own pace. You can’t win a game if you don’t get on the field and play. Have fun with this; you will be surprised how addicting this whole process is. Enjoy the journey and see you on the other side. You can also create new affirmations for just about any feeling you want in your life, like confidence, abundance, love, and so much more.