How To Do Affirmations That Work: Top 10 Tips for Achieving Success

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How To Do Affirmations That Work

Many people like the idea of doing affirmations in order to get what they want out of their life. In fact, a few years ago it was all the rage to do what came to be known as ‘cosmic ordering’ in which people thought they should write a list of the things they wanted in life and then affirm that they had them by being positive and saying things like “I am in a relationship with a man with blonde hair” or “I have a million dollars” or “I am driving a new red Porsche”. The problem came when people realised that this kind of affirmation wasn’t working for them, so knowing how to do affirmations that work, was the next logical question.

What is an affirmation?

Reciting affirmations has long been recognised as a very powerful technique to empower a person’s subconscious. The subconsious mind works a bit like the crew of a ship: it carries out the orders of the ship’s captain, in this case, the orders of the conscious mind. The subconscious is disciplined and will take the affirmation as a command, converting it into a positive action for the conscious mind. Through the correct use of affirmations, and the law of attraction, human beings can become more empowered and to leverage the forces of the universe to help them achieve their goals. Affirmations also help people to believe in their own worth, to have confidence in themselves and to put these positive thoughts into actions that bring about life-enhancing changes.

An affirmation is really only a combination of techniques (usually verbal and visual) which are conducted whilst the person is in a receptive state of mind. Strong affirmations made from this premise can be very powerful. Affirmations are a simple, free and easy-to-understand technique that anyone can do to bring them closer to their goals and dreams. However, the power of any affirmation is only as strong as the FEELING it produces within the person doing the affirmation.

You can repeat an affirmation about anything; things you would like to be or attain or a state of being you would like to have. it should be stated in the first person and in a positive way. For example: “I now have a fulfilling and abundant life.” of “I am healthy and my body regenerates itself perfectly.”

Affirmations need to be positive because what you say and feel is what you will attract and the universe does not compute the absence of something. There is no way to say “I don’t want to feel poor” without focusing on the negative reaction you have to feeling poor. Therefore, because of the law of attraction, this feeling of being poor is what the universe brings you.

Make the affirmations short and easily understood so they can be easily spoken and repeated. You can say it in a rhythm or repeat it a number of times as long as you maintain the feeling of positivity that having this thing will give you.

Repetition of an affirmation can be a positive thing as long as it does not become monotonous and reduce the good feelings you want to promote.

Monotonous chanting or repetition (as many spiritual teachers recommend) has a valid place in spiritual practice but the intentions for this technique are more to do with quietening your mind and becoming receptive to to your higher self,  rather than affirming things that you want.

You can also practice affirmations on behalf of someone else because the very fact you are focusing positive energy toward someone else, will have a beneficial effect too – this is the fundamental principle behind offering prayers for other people.

Regular practice of affirmations is a very simple thing but it can make an enormous difference in your life which can motivate you to action and can set universal forces in motion through the law of attraction which can make things amazing things happen.

So why do affirmations sometimes produce the opposite of what I want?

Positive ways of affirming one’s identity can indeed have a most profound effect on your life and done in the right way, with the your intention and mindset behind them, they can transform it. However, if done incorrectly, or in a way that conjures a feeling of ‘not having the wanted item’, then affirmations can serve to hinder your desires and keep you in your feeling of lack.

The problem with this approach is that it ignores the way in which the affirmations work and instead focuses on just repeating words.

Now we all know that WHAT is said by anyone trying to communicate something, if far less important than the WAY that it is said. In fact, communications experts have reported that the actual words themselves account for only 7% of what is communicated. Think of the many, many ways you can say the same words, and the different meanings each have.

For example, if you say the words “I love you” – on paper, written down in black and white, one can imagine that they mean just that; that one person is enamored with another such that they feel the sensation of love, caring, and attachment to them.

However, what if the person says the words with a sarcastic tone – we all know what that means – it actually means the opposite of what they words (on the surface) say. So a sarcastic rending of “I love you” will usually mean that the person saying the words has a dislike or disregard for the opposite person which in many situations can be bordering on the complete opposite of love.

Or what would you feel if someone said “I love you” and then burst out laughing? Would that make you feel that they really were in love with you? Probably not. You can see where this is going, can’t you?

So WORDS in themselves, have little or no meaning unless the INTENTION behind the speaking of the words is more explicit. And as humans, this usually means our tone of voice, the pitch, pace and quality of the voice.

Again, think of hearing the words “I love you” said in a raspy, deep pitched, low, croaky voice. It is more likely to instill fear or unease in the listener rather than a warm fuzzy, “I’m really special to that person” feeling.

The key to all this is not the WORDS, but the FEELINGS the words, and the intentions behind the words, create.

If you say the words “I love you” and you really mean them, saying them in a soft, loving tone, projecting your love for the other person with every cell of your body, then your true meaning will most likely be conveyed and understood by the other person.

It is the same way with the universe. The universe speaks the language of vibration – which to us humans in physical form, means FEELINGS. How we feel tells us the vibration we are giving out.

And since in the law of attraction, LIKE ATTRACTS LIKE; what we give out, is what we get back! So in order to get back the things we truly want, e.g. the feeling of being loved; we need to give out that feeling when we are creating and repeating our affirmations.

There’s an old adage that goes: Practice Makes Perfect!

However, I would like to offer another view on this:

Good practice makes perfect; bad practice reinforces bad habits.

This is why so many people who simply repeat or listen to external affirmations proclaiming themselves to be millionaires, whilst all the time feeling internally that they don’t have enough money, will never attract a more prosperous life. In fact, if they are practicing a daily routine of this, they will actually be creating more and more poverty for themselves because they keep repeating and focusing their feelings on how little money they actually have. It’s like getting your voice to say out loud “I am a millionaire” whilst inwardly adding the words “yeah, right” in a sarcastic tone. The tone of voice wins out over the actual words you say and low and behold, the universe hears, “I know I don’t have a lot of money and I’m upset about it” and without fail, brings you more of that, which is exactly the opposite of what you really wanted.

The words “I am” are two of the most powerful words in the universe (said in whatever human language you like). It is a simple phrase which affirms one’s existence as a physical and nonphysical being in a certain state. It is a simple phrase, and in with the right intention and emotional commitment, it says everything about the person uttering it. But just make sure that you vibrational offering you give out when you say it, matches what you actually say.

My Top 10 Tips For Achieving Affirmation Success

1. Find a quiet place where you will not be distracted. This is important because you want to focus your mind and this is difficult if the children or the cats keep interrupting you.

2. Use some music or subliminal audios. You can find some wonderful relaxation music on YouTube for free. Just search for things like ‘relaxation music’ or ‘affirmations’ or “piano instrumentals” and choose something that makes you feel calm and relaxed. There are also many wonderful tracks and subliminal music that I use on a regular basis and you can find many of my favourite ones here.

3. Start with some general gratitudes and appreciations. If you start by showing appreciation for the things you already have in a very general way, you will easily get into a positive mindset of feeling good which is essential if your more specific affirmations are going to work. Think about the abundance of the air you breathe, your appreciation for nature or your gratitude for your children to get you into that good-feeling place.

4.Make sure the affirmation makes you FEEL the way you intend to feel – ask yourself the question, “How would I feel IF I had this thing/quality?” and focus on that. Remember that the universe communicates in vibrational energy which to you and me translates to how we FEEL.

5.Use the first person – “I am” and ALWAYS in the positive – you cannot affirm the absence of something: i.e. “I don’t want to feel sad”, you must say “I choose to feel happy” or something similarly positive instead. The universe will not understand “I don’t” and will bring you whatever you are focused on – either the thing you want, or the lack of it!

6. Focus on how achieving your goal will make a positive difference in your life and visualise that. This is another way of making sure you are focused on positive things. If you can imagine tangible benefits that you can hear, see, smell and touch in your mind, you are 90% of the way there.

7. Make the images big, bright and close to you in your mind’s eye. In NLP if you want to feel strong emotions, you make your imagined images big and bright and see them through your own eyes so using this technique is a good way to really associate with your desires.

8. Writing affirmations down in a journal can have a positive effect. If you write things down, you are more likely to a) believe them and b) to act on them so adding this step to your affirmations will also engage your sensory kinesthetic pathways as well as your auditory and visual ones.

9. Trust that when you say your affirmation, the universe will do the lion share of bringing it to fruition. Knowing about the law of attraction and trusting in it are two, very different things. In order for you to be able to truly consciously create, you need to get rid of negativity and doubt and trust that everything is well and on its way. This may be difficult if you have been practicing negative thoughts for a long time or are well-versed in looking at what you have already and judging it. Try to put all worries about HOW the thing will manifest in your life, and instead, let go of that doubt and learn to trust instead.

10. Get out of your own way – stop any negative thoughts or speech on this subject. You cannot affirm for one thing during an affirmation session and then moan about the lack of it to your friends later in the day, and expect it to manifest in your life. That is just like getting on a swing and vascilating between the positive energy you put out in the affirmation session, and the negative energy you put out whilst talking to your friends. You must become more conscious of everything you say and do and choose only positive aspects to focus on and talk about. It will make a tremendous difference if you can train your brain to do this.

I hope you have found these tips useful. I’d love to know of your favourite affirmations and what you think of my top ten tips – have they worked for you?  Please leave a comment below and let me know how you get on.

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