Allow me to share a potentially life-changing idea with you — whether you know it or not, you are using and living up to your affirmations every single day!
How is that possible you might ask?
Here’s how — as you go through life, you are constantly affirming your own thoughts and beliefs.
Most of us have thoughts and also what is called self-talk or self-chatter.
Throughout each day, we consciously and unconsciously tell ourselves things based on your belief systems.
In other words, when you have unhelpful or destructive belief-systems, your self-talk will re-affirming negative thoughts rather than positive ones.
What this means for you is that your self-talk is either reinforcing or destroying your thoughts or beliefs, which in turn is either building or suffocating your life.
Your beliefs fuel your self-talk which in turn feeds back into your beliefs, affirming your belief-system.
It could be a vicious cycle if built on the wrong foundation.
The question is how can we use positive affirmations (forms of self-talk) to reinforce our belief-systems, and thus life, positively.
That is what this post is about.
Think about this for a moment …
How many times in a day do you tell yourself how stupid you are for forgetting something, or how fat you are when your favourite jeans feel tight?
You don’t need to do this aloud or verbally. Feeling it or thinking it are enough.
Negative thinking reinforces an internal belief that we’ll never be able to change ourselves and that we’re destined to continue repeating our self-destructive behaviours.
When we re-affirm our negative thoughts, we enter into a vicious cycle that leads to even more negative thinking.
It feeds on itself.
But, imagine how different your life would be if you began using affirmations to reinforce the positive!
Affirmations can work wonders if you use them properly.
By making a few simple adjustments in the way you phrase your self-talk, you can begin using this powerful technique to change your thinking and change your life.
Your subconscious mind accepts things on a very literal basis, so for affirmations to work effectively, you need to follow a simple formula.
You can follow these few tips to create positive affirmations that can change your life for the better:
1. Your subconscious needs to know you’re doing something now, not in the future.
For example, if you state an affirmation as something you want to change, such as “I will quit smoking,” your subconscious cannot distinguish what you mean by “I will.”
It has no sense of planning for the future. In fact, your subconscious mind will accept what you tell it, even if the behaviour has not yet happened, that’s why you should state your affirmation as if it’s already a fact.
- “I am free from the desire to smoke” is an effective affirmation and will begin to program your subconscious mind into thinking as a non-smoker, even before you put down the cigarettes.
2. An affirmation must be personal for your subconscious to accept it.
Saying, “You need to eat healthy” won’t help you change your diet. When your subconscious hears the word “you,” it doesn’t interpret it as a statement directed at yourself.
Instead, phrase your affirmation in the first person. Stick to “I” in your affirmations and you’ll soon notice a strong positive effect on your behaviors.
- “I enjoy eating healthy foods” is a positive, first person affirmation that will help you begin making better choices when you reach for a meal or snack.
3. Your subconscious mind is very literal.
It can’t process the concept of “not.” The statement, “I am not going to lie on the couch watching TV when I should be exercising” won’t do anything other than re-affirm how you should lay on the couch in front of the television.
Tip: Form your intention in a positive way, even if you haven’t made the behaviour change yet.
• “I enjoy exercising in my spare time” is more likely to motivate you to get up and go to the gym, instead of reaching for the remote control and a bag of chips.
Positive, personal, present tense affirmations are extremely powerful in changing how your subconscious affects your behaviour.
Here’s my challenge to you …
Make an effort to stop reinforcing your old, negative thinking and self-talk that keeps you caught in a rut.
Realise that since you are the one doing the “mental chatting” you are also the one to change it.
Try using these three simple techniques today to create affirmations that can change your subconscious programming, your actions, and your life for the better.
I’d like to hear from you.
Leave your comments and questions below!
See ya!
Gideon
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This post was previously published on therelationshipguy.com.
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