Creating Affirmations

Affirmations can be a powerful tool to help you change your mood, state of mind and manifest the change you desire in your life. To affirm means to “make firm” Your subconscious mind accepts as’ true’ what you keep saying to yourself over and over.

In a sense we are applying an antidote to unhealthy , habitual negative messages that we have been under the spell of for a very long time. The new affirmation protects our mind from the old negative patterns and create new more positive and healthy patterns. Affirmations can reprogram the mind and has subsequent affects on brain chemistry as well. By mindfully repeating positive affirmations over and over, we are literally letting old circuits in the brain slowly die out and we replace them with new circuits that support our well being.

Affirmations work best when you can first identify the negative beliefs about yourself that is opposing the positive affirmation.

One way to recognize negative beliefs is to be mindful during the times you are most distressed or upset. At these times ask yourself , “What is the negative belief about myself, right now.” The negative belief starts with an I…Statement: “I am not good enough”, “ I am worthless”, “I can not get what I want”, “I am a failure”, “I am guilty” “I am unlovable”. Although these negative beliefs can be triggered by events and people in the present, they are most often deeply rooted to negative, traumatic experiences in the past and the way we interpreted these experiences as children. Trauma and the negative messages that are imbedded in these experiences can hijack the more thoughtful and analytic portions of the brain and make it difficult to think clearly and have a realistic perception of ourselves . Old Negative beliefs come on fast, like going from 0-100 in a moment. They arise, habitually, both consciously and unconsciously, many , many times over the years , thus becoming a permanent and unhealthy way to view yourself.

Here are some ways to create and support positive affirmation that override self limiting negative beliefs.

Carefully create your affirmation by disputing the negative belief. Find constructive, powerful words to support your statement. For example to dispute “I am not good enough” do not simply say “I am good enough”, but rather, “I am a good person & I consistently try to be the best person I can.”

Write your affirmations in your own speaking style. Write it in a way that you can trust and believe. If you write affirmations to be anything but authentic to you, you will not be able to truly feel it and are more likely to dismiss them.

It is helpful to make affirmations short and sweet and as believable as you can. If it seems unreachable at the time, add on “I am willing to” or “I have the potential to” or “I chose to”

Write affirmations in the present tense. Create the statements as if they are already so. Try not to include any negative messages or words in the affirmation. An example of a bad affirmation is “I am not a bad person, or I want to be a better person”, rather we want to say, “I am a good person” Affirmations get their energy by producing feelings, just as negative beliefs do. It is this energy and positivity which extends outward to create change. So you want the statement to be positive, realistic, and in the present tense to denote that it is not just hopeful but possible in the here and now.

Anchor the affirmation in your body. You can do this by first noticing where the negative belief is felt in your body, ex; my chest, my gut, and then when you repeat the Antidote Positive affirmation, breathe it into that part of your body that was previously felt. You are reprogramming your mind and want to anchor it into your body sense.

Write the affirmation out on index cards in bold letters, place these cards in important areas of your home and life. For instance, on the dashboard of your car, taped on the bathroom mirror where you look every morning, on your desk at work

To make affirmations a mental habit say them at the same time every day, example while you are showering, meditating, working out, waking up or going to sleep

Repeat your affirmations even in the absence of belief. It takes a while to retrain your mind and brain. Try to say the affirmations with emotion. In order to help emotionalize your statements, practice visualizing how your life might look when you actually do start believing in yourself.

Positive affirmations are very similar to visualizing a goal or saying a prayer. It is a personal statement about your best view of yourself and it creates intention to be the best you, you can be. We have a choice of where we place our attention, chose to place your attention on what can support and heal you.