Positive Affirmations – Powerful Tool on How to Create and Manifest Your Own Reality (The Life You Dream of)
Using Affirmations.
Harnessing Positive Thinking
“I’m never going to be able to do this job; I’m just not smart enough.”
“Why does my boss want me to present at the trade show? I’m a terrible public speaker, and I’ll just embarrass the company.”
“I wish I could stick up for myself at work. In every meeting, I let the others walk over my ideas. I’m never going to get ahead.”
Many of us have negative thoughts like these, sometimes frequently. When we think like this, our confidence, mood and outlook can become negative, too
The problem with negative thoughts is that they can become self-fulfilling prophecies. We talk ourselves into believing that we’re not good enough. And, as a result, these thoughts drag down our personal lives, our relationships, and our careers.
But, if we deliberately do the opposite and use positive thoughts about ourselves, the effect can be just as powerful but far more helpful.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can use affirmations to drive positive change in your career, and in your life in general.
What Are Affirmations, and Do They Work?
Affirmations are positive statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts. When you repeat them often, and believe in them, you can start to make positive changes.
You might consider affirmations to be unrealistic “wishful thinking.” But try looking at positive affirmations this way: many of us do repetitive exercises to improve our physical health, and affirmations are like exercises for our mind and outlook. These positive mental repetitions can reprogram our thinking patterns so that, over time, we begin to think – and act – differently.
For example, evidence suggests that affirmations can help you to perform better at work. According to researchers, spending just a few minutes thinking about your best qualities before a high-pressure meeting – a performance review, for example – can calm your nerves, increase your confidence, and improve your chances of a successful outcome.
Self-affirmation may also help to mitigate the effects of stress. In one study, a short affirmation exercise boosted the problem-solving abilities of “chronically stressed” subjects to the same level as those with low stress.
What’s more, affirmations have been used to successfully treat people with low self-esteem, depression, and other mental health conditions. And they have been shown to stimulate the areas in our brains that make us more likely to effect positive changes in regard to our health.
This latter study suggests that a stronger sense of self-worth makes you more likely to improve your own well-being. So, for example, if you’re worried that you eat too much and don’t get enough exercise , using affirmations to remind yourself of your values can spur you on to change your behavior.
What Are Words Of Affirmation?
Positive affirmations are so much more than just feel good quotes and positive statements.
In short, positive affirmations are statements that are repeated to encourage and uplift the person speaking them.
In reality, a positive affirmation is actually part of the language of the brain.
We’ll explain more about this in the next section, but for now, let’s look at the elements that make up a positive affirmation.
3 Elements Of Successful Affirmations
Because positive affirmations are written in the language of the brain, they follow a specific formula.
If you come across a quote on the Internet or in a book that claims to be a positive affirmation, but doesn’t follow this formula, your brain won’t register the thought accurately.
It turns out, our brains are pretty strict and straightforward about their language rules.
1) Positive affirmations are always in the present tense. If you see a positive affirmation that says “I will,” “I used to” or “I’m going to,” move on. Your brain only responds to present tense statements.
2) Positive affirmations only include positive words. If you see a positive affirmation that has words like “don’t,” “can’t” or “won’t,” it’s not a statement you’ll want to repeat. It takes your brain a lot of extra work to get past negative statements and transform them into positive ones.
3) Positive affirmations are spoken as statements of fact and truth. Statements that contain words like “might” and “could” aren’t nearly as powerful as statements that contain words like “am” and “do.”
How Do You Effectively Use Affirmations?
Don’t worry, we aren’t going to get super scientific or technical here.
But there is plenty of research out there, if you’re curious.
Instead, we’re going to explain how your brain communicates.
It does so in a very specific way, and understanding this can help your positive affirmations become more effective and powerful.
Your brain is a complex and complicated network of information that is always sending and receiving thoughts and instructions at lightning speed.
Every simple action you take is really a set of complicated communications between cells called neurons.
Because of the amount of information your brain has to process every single second, it takes everything you think and say in a very literal way. When you understand how this literal communication works, you begin to see how this affects your emotions, behaviors and even physical well being.
The literal, present tense brain
The brain doesn’t communicate in future or past-tense.
Everything that happens is happening in the moment for your brain.
When you think a thought, your brain processes the information literally and prepares you for the action that should immediately follow the thought.
For example, if you think to yourself, “I’m going to have a great time on my date this weekend,” your brain essentially hears “good date” and starts firing off all the connections to make your date amazing.
The problem is, it starts firing off those connections in the moment.
You may get a boost of confidence and even start sending off some feel-good pheromones, but it will be in that moment, right then and there.
This effect is highlighted when you start to fear something that might happen in the future.
Have you ever thought about why you can have such a strong physical reaction to things you know are fake?
Take a scary movie for instance.
Your heart may pound and you might even sweat and feel dizzy.
This happens because your brain can’t tell the difference between what you’re experiencing right now and what you’re imagining you might experience in the future.
Your brain reacts to your thoughts in a very literal way, in the present moment, and prepares you for the perceived danger.
This is why it’s really important that your positive affirmations are always in the present tense.
“I will do great in my job interview,” tells your brain to set you up for success now, but not in the future.
“I am a great interviewer. I am a great employee,” strengthens the neural connections that make you feel confident, determined and prepared for your interview.
Repetition is the key to success
To understand how positive affirmations work and why they’re an excellent tool for creating the life you want to live, it’s important to understand why repetition is so important.
As you start using positive affirmations, you may feel like repeating them over and over again is a waste of time.
If the brain responds to positive, present tense statements, then why is it necessary to repeat them several times every single day?
Your brain is a creature of habit.
The processes inside your brain are set up to help you succeed.
To run efficiently, your brain strengthens its connections every time you think, feel and do.
This helps you perform tasks with less energy and more focus.
Think about driving a car or riding a bike.
It can be awkward at first, when you’re learning, but after you figure it out, it comes naturally.
This is because your brain strengthens those connections every time you repeat the action and thoughts.
Anything you want can come that naturally to you through the use of repeated positive affirmations.
What Can Positive Affirmations Help You With?
You can use positive affirmations to accomplish anything imaginable.
Most people use positive affirmations to shift their attitudes about themselves.
Confidence and self-esteem are certainly the number one reasons people use positive affirmations, but you don’t have to limit yourself to these uses.
With positive affirmations, you can:
- Manifest more money
- Attract romance
- Create positive relationships
- Lose weight
- Exercise more
By training your brain to get used to a thought, emotion or behavior, you set yourself up for success.
This success can come from any part of your life.
How Do You Write Positive Affirmations?
Though there are excellent resources that list positive affirmations, including the list featured at the end of this article, you may way to create affirmations that are specific to your situation.
Whatever it is you’re looking to achieve, attract or manifest, be sure to use the language of the brain that we spoke about earlier.
1) Make sure your affirmation only contains positive words. If your affirmation contains “don’t,” “can’t” or “won’t,” re-frame the affirmation to confirm what you’re trying to achieve.
2) Make sure your affirmation is in the present tense, even if it’s untrue. The discomfort you feel will motivate you to change.
Even if you’re not rich, repeating, “I’m wealthy. I have plenty of money,” is a great affirmation to propel you toward financial success.
3) Be relevant. If you’re creating an affirmation for a specific situation, think about the things you want to achieve.
If you want to give a great job interview, think about what that entails. Does giving a good job interview mean you’re confident, experienced, likable and successful?
Create affirmations using those qualities in the present tense. Don’t say, “I will give a great interview.” Say, “I am confident, experienced, likable and successful. Everyone notices these qualities.”
4) Repeat your affirmation. There’s no formula for how often or how many times you should repeat a positive affirmation.
Many people set a routine that works for them, like repeating the affirmation 20 times, 3 times a day.
As long as you are focused when you repeat it, and you repeat it frequently, it will be successful.
A good rule of thumb is to repeat the affirmation for at least 5 minutes, 3 times each day.
5) Empower your affirmation with physical touch. You can supercharge your affirmations by tapping on the back of your hand or gently caressing where you feel negative emotion.
For example, if you want to lose weight, think about your unhappiness with your weight.
Where do you feel it at in your body? If you feel a sinking sensation in your stomach, you can gently rub your stomach while you repeat the affirmation.
Tapping any part of your body works the same way.
This creates a muscle memory attached to the feeling and thought.
And whenever you repeat that physical action, your brain and body will remember the positive affirmation.
What is an example of a positive affirmation?
Here are a few general examples:
- I know, accept and am true to myself.
- I eat well, exercise regularly, and get plenty of rest.
- I learn from my mistakes.
- I never give up.
- I enjoy life to the fullest.
- I accept others for who they are.
- I commit to learning new things.
- I endeavor to be the best that I can be.
Do positive affirmations work with the law of attraction?
Positive affirmations are a very powerful weapon for making your life better.
But the key to a successful affirmation is – belief!
So, yes, positive affirmations do work alongside the law of attraction. After all, you have to believe in what you tell yourself
Positive Affirmation Products You Can Try:
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- 1000 list of positive affirmations in every area of your life – Click Here
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- The Positive Affirmation Collection with Nature Sounds – Read More
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