Affirmations That Work
Affirmations introduce positive self-talk, which can impact your self-image and core beliefs. Use affirmations declarations of self-worth and strength to overcome negative thinking and self-doubt, and to drive positive change in your life and career. Affirmation are sentences aimed to affect the conscious and subconscious mind.
What Do Affirmations Do?
• They motivate
• The keep the mind focused on the goal
• They influence the subconscious mind and activate its powers
• They change the way you think and behave, and this can manifest new experiences
• They make you feel engaged, positive, and in a better state to transform your reality
Some Guidelines For Creating An Effective Affirmation
1. Affirm your wants rather than your don't wants. (affirm your obtainment of happiness rather than the avoidance of difficulties.)
2. Affirm what you want rather than what you think you should want. (you feel you should be pleasing your partner but that may not be where you want to focus your efforts.)
3. Affirm a goal you believe is realistically possible to attain, or adjust the wording so it is within the range of what you believe is realistic.
4. At the same time, affirm a goal that is a "stretch," and large enough to be engaging.
5. Keep the affirmation simple and concise.
6. Keep your affirmation sacred by keeping it private. Share with only trusted growth partners.
7. State your affirmation in present tense, as if they have already occurred and in the first person "I am, I feel, I know")
8. Keep your attention on what you CAN DO rather than what you HOPE OTHERS WILL DO.
9. Formulate an affirmation that you want to bring into reality.
10. Become deeply relaxed, and state your affirmation slowly, with conviction and with deep feeling. Repeat often.
11. Vivid imagery and mental rehearsal pair with your affirmation can heighten its effectiveness.
AFFIRMATIONS & ATTAINING YOUR GOALS: IDENTIFYING & NEUTRALIZING TAIL-ENDERS:
An affirmation may not work if it's inadvertently aim at the wrong target.
If your affirmation runs counter to a core belief, your psyche simply tags the core belief to the tail end of the stated affirmation. Ex. I am healthy" is the conscious statement, but, mentally you continue, "but I'm an emotional eater and eat to fill a void." This mental note we add on after the affirmation is called a "tail-ender". When you say the affirmation you inadvertently reinforce the tail-ender, or core belief, instead of what you are stating aloud. Often tail-enders involve a limiting self-image that instructs you that the desired state is not possible.
Think about a goal you held for a while that you have not achieved. Bring it to the front of your awareness and put it into words. Write it down. Then describe what comes to you, if anything, as you think about completing each of the following statements:
1. The thing about me that makes it impossible for me to reach this goal is.....
2. The thing about my past that makes it impossible for me to reach this goal is...
3. If there were an emotional reason for me not reaching this goal, it would be...
4. If I did reach this goal, the consequence would be...
5. In order to reach this goal, I would have to..
6. What I really want, rather than just this goal is..
7. Thinking about this goal reminds me of..
8. I would be more willing to reach this goal if first..
These statements can bring the hidden tail-ender or tail-enders into view. They may help you uncover how you plan to sabotage your goal. If your goal is important to you, you can neutralize these tail-enders. One way to neutralize is to remove the emotional charge on each tail-ender by practicing the following Tapping Technique. Complete this sequence as follows:
1. THE SET UP: Enter the Tail -Ender in the following statement:
EVEN THOUGH I (HAVE THIS)______________________, I deeply love and accept myself.
ex. Even though I eat when I am anxious, I deeply love and accept myself.
2. TAPPING SEQUENCE: Complete the following Tapping Sequence after stating the set Up
The tapping sequence is designed to restore an optimal flow of energy.
#3 Beginning of the eyebrow (inside edge of the eyebrow, just above and to one side of the nose.
#4 Sides of the eyes - on the bone bordering the outside corner of each eye.
# 5 Under the eyes- on the bone under each eye
#6 Under the nose-on the small area between the bottom of the nose and the top center of the upper lip
# 7 Under the lower lip-midway between the pint of the chin and bottom of the lower lip.
#8 K-27 points- the 2 points immediately below the "collar bone corners"
#9 Under the arm- about 4 inches beneath the armpits.
#1 Karate-chop points - in the middle of the fleshy part on the outside of either hand, between the top of the wrist bone and the base of the little finger.
3. AFFIRMATIONS: State your affirmation!
Formulate affirmations, visualizations and mental rehearsals.
**Taken from The Promise of Energy Psychology", David Feinstein, Donna Eden and Gary Craig
"Getting a New Belief Into Your Heart - As Well As Into Your Head - Will Give It The Greatest Power."- Bourne