Affirmations: Do They Truly Work, and If So, How?
- Lisa Edwards
- 3 days ago
- 8 min read
Affirmations... Some people embrace them wholeheartedly, believing in their transformative power, while others dismiss them as a trivial trend popularised by social media that has no real impact.
I was reminded of this the other day when I was watching a YouTube video and the person was saying how she gained the confidence to become the powerhouse business woman she is and she had some great advice except her take on affirmations… she was very quick to dismiss them saying that she used to use them all the time, had them on her bathroom mirror etc. but that they did nothing to help her so she stopped using affirmations and just got out there and did the things shed been too scared to do… so the affirmations worked then!
This is the misconception about affirmations, they DO absolutely work, and there is science to back this up. They just don’t work in the magic way people seem to expect from them. They don’t magic you into a confident, experienced businesswoman, they won’t magic you into anything. Nothing is going to change you overnight into the person you want to be.
Affirmations are a mindset changer. They can only change your mindset; you have to make the physical changes. But the changed mindset is what will make you want to get up and make them, the changed mindset will make you feel ready to take the next step. The changed mindset is the game changer.
‘An affirmation opens the door. It’s the beginning point on the path to change.’ - Louise Hay
If the woman on YouTube had not done the affirmations, would she have got to the stage where she felt ready to get up and make it happen? I don’t know, she may have done, but she might not have either. There is no way of really knowing.
But I do know that affirmations have helped me move from being a victim of my circumstances to being a survivor and now a person thriving in a life I could have only dreamed of once upon a time.
Everything you say to yourself, all the chatter in your mind is all affirmations. And if they are negative, they are keeping you stuck. They are stopping you from even trying to go for your goals and dreams. They are preventing you from believing you can and maybe that you are even worthy and it’s that lack of belief that is holding you back. Not your abilities, because you have everything you need to do anything you want to. If you don’t yet have the skill needed to get your dream job, you have the ability to learn it. Your internal chatter, your beliefs that you can’t are all affirmations. Every time you think the same negative thought or say the same negative thing about yourself you are reinforcing that neural pathway and making it stronger. You can’t delete or undo them it but you can over-ride it with new positive neural pathways. The brain is malleable can be changed and all you have to do is change the way you think and you can create new neural pathways, in fact every time you do something different you already are. So do it intentionally with affirmations.
If you want to experience the power of positive affirmations for yourself, here are some helpful hints to make them as powerful and effective as possible:
Word them in the positive
Words like don’t, won’t, not, no, etc are not registered when saying an affirmation, saying something like ‘I have no more debt’ is sending the message more debt to your unconscious mind which is where your beliefs are stored, more debt, more debt, more debt! Try something like this instead:
· I have more money than I need.
· I have so much money I pay all my bills with ease.
· I am delighted every time I check my bank account.
· Money comes to me easily.
Word them carefully and intentionally
Be careful how you word them, I know someone who thought about all the zeros that show up on a check for a million dollars, and kept affirming she would have all the zeros in her bank account but she forgot to put an actual number in from of the 000000’s and was surprised when she couldn’t pay for her shopping because her bank account had run down to … yes you guessed it 0.00. The guy in the movie Eat, Prey, Love kept saying he wanted an open heart and ended up having open heart surgery. Be careful what you wish for and be careful what you affirm to the universe. Don’t wish old things away, wish good things come into your life. For instance, if you hate your job, don’t affirm that you want to leave that job (could lead to being fired, redundancy etc.) Instead affirm the new job you want such as:
· I always work for and with wonderful people. I love my job.
· New job opportunities present themselves to me.
· I am so blessed that I am in my ideal job and get paid handsomely for what I do.
· Fantastic opportunities come to me today.
· I greet each morning knowing that wonderful opportunities lie ahead of me.
Always word them in the present tense
If you state your affirmation into future, that’s where it stays – in the future. It will always be just out of reach for you. For instance, if you say ‘money will come to me’ you are basically saying it will come to you some day, and some day is not today, it is someday in the future. Just like tomorrow never comes, because when it gets here it is today. The future is always in the future it can never be the present. So instead, say money come easily to me every day. Don’t say, ‘I will be successful’, say ‘I am successful’.
Add Positive Energy and Emotions
Use words that invoke emotions. When you feel good you raise your vibration, when you raise your vibration, you are radiating positive energy, which strengthens your affirmation. When you feel good you need fewer repetitions to ingrain something into your mind. I read an article that stated that ‘It takes approx. 400 repetitions to create a new synapse in the brain. Or 20-40 reps if you are having fun.’ If you are having fun, you feel good and experience positive emotions which raise your vibration. So, say them out loud, have fun with them, sat them and mean them, visualise them until you find yourself smiling and feeling good, then keep going you are in the process of changing your mindset!
· I am so grateful…
· I feel so confident every time I…
· I love being so…
· I enjoy the…
· It feels so amazing to…
Use powerful words to create command statements
Use words that leave no doubt that this is non-negotiable. You are not asking for something you are stating that this is happening… now! So, no ‘I wants’, ‘I’d likes’ or ‘It would be good ifs’.
· I feel good knowing that…
· I have the power to…
· I am…
· I give myself permission to…
· I embrace…
· I am so grateful that…
· I completely…
· I am so deserving of…
· I always…
· I am confident in…
· I can…
· I know that….
· I enjoy…
Keep them short and to the point
Add some empowering words yes, but you don’t want full paragraphs to recite. Some where between 2 and 10-20 max words for each affirmation. Any more and it maybe best broken up into two shorter ones to make them more powerful and less of a mouthful. For instance ‘I can’ is just two words but recited just before you do something you are nervous about doing can empower you to go out there and do it. Repeating ‘I’m strong’ when you have to hold it together to get through a tough situation can carry you through it. It’s not the amount of words that matter it’s the content of the sentence, does it empower you? Is it concise? Is it clear? These are the questions you need to ask yourself when choosing your affirmations.
Be specific with your intentions
The more specific you are the easier it will be to get what you want from the affirmations. Spend time thinking about what you want, then break it down into specifics. Think about what it looks like, and then write out affirmation that support them.
Instead of | Try saying |
· I get a pay rise | · I earn xxxx per week’ |
· I am successful | · I have many well paying and satisfied clients |
· I am an author | · I am the author of popular and well-liked books |
· I am rich | · I have xxxxxxxxx in my bank account |
· I lose weight easily | · I feel amazing now I am at my healthy weight of xxxx |
· I have lots of followers on social media | · People love my content and engage daily |
· I am a good salesperson | · I am an expert in closing the deal quickly and efficiently, allowing me to help more and more clients. |
· I am respected | · People value and respect me and my contributions. |
Repetition is absolutely key
If you tell yourself once that you are a multi-millionaire, you will straight away know that it isn’t true. You will dismiss it as a nice idea but a silly dream because it is not true. But say it over and over, say it and feel it, visualise the money as you say it… repeat, repeat, repeat, morning, noon and night. Don’t give it up. Listen to them subliminally, say them out loud, say them in your mind as you make a cup of coffee at work, say them as you look in the mirror. Feel the words, feel how good you will feel when you have millions in the bank. As your mindset begins to change, ideas on how you can earn that money start to come to you, and opportunities for you begin to present themselves to you.
It’s the repetition of affirmation that leads to belief. And once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to happen. - Muhammad Ali
Whatever it is you want to change in your life it all begins with your mindset, your beliefs and your attitude. Every time you try to make changes before you have changed your mindset you fail or give up after just a day or two, it may be longer but you still end up giving up or getting disheartened and drift back to your old ways. Change your mindset first and you will be able to stay on track and make progress towards your goals and dreams. You have the ability to do anything your mind can dream up what you don’t have is the belief that you do.
You can spend two years chasing your dreams and never get anywhere. Why? Because your mindset is at odds with what you are doing. You are chasing something that your mind is telling you will never succeed at. If you are telling yourself you can’t, it doesn’t matter what you do, you won’t be able to do it successfully. You will spend those two years chasing your tail, getting nowhere.
This is why diets often fail, and people struggle to give up smoking, drinking, and other bad habits. They believe themselves to be incapable of doing it.
The world as we have created it is a process of our thinking. It cannot be changed without changing our thinking. – Albert Einstein
Change your mindset, and you will change your life.
I hope you enjoyed reading ‘Affirmations: Do They Truly Work, and If So, How?’ if you did you may enjoy
Drop in to my Etsy store Positive Life by Design for great printables to help you on your journey.
Komentarze