Positive affirmations

" The life of the man is determined by his thought " - Marc Aur?

" Supervise especially your thoughts, because it is they which determine your life " - Old Testament

Positive affirmations For Personal Growth And Self Improvement
By Thomas D. Yarnell, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist

affirmations: How And Why They Work To Help You Change.

An affirmation is a statement that you make to yourself. Everyone uses them intentionally or unintentionally. You wake up in the morning, jump out of bed and exclaim "I feel great". That is a positive affirmations. You drag yourself out of bed in the morning and whimper "I feel rotten". That is a negative affirmations. Both statements help to maintain the emotional state you are in.

Our self-talk, the things we say to ourself, is very important because it directly effects our conscious and subconscious mind. We listen to everything we say to ourself.

Because our affirmations work so well to maintain the state of mind we are in, we can use them to change that state of mind. True, it takes more work to change how we think and feel, but, if you follow these guidelines, the use of affirmations can become a strong, useful tool for helping yourself become happier and healthier.

Here are the four basic guidelines for developing good affirmations:

** The first guideline is that the affirmation should be stated in the present tense. Start with words like "I am ... " or "I have ... ". You want to be telling your mind that it is taking place now.

** Next, the affirmations should relate that what you want is already accomplished. "I am happy now" is superior to and will work better than "I am becoming happy" or "I will be happy".

** The affirmations should be positive. " I feel safe" works but the affirmation " I am not scared" does the opposite of what you want. It focuses your mind on the word "scared" and increases that feeling. It is as if the word "not" didn't even exist.

The affirmations should be in your style of language. I found the following affirmations on a calendar. "Energy, enthusiasm, and sparkling health are my birthright. I accept these priceless treasures with gratitude, knowing that as I give out energy, more rushes in."

This is a very poetic affirmation and I totally agree with the basic sentiment and philosophy in it. The problem is that I do not speak or think in this way. My mind would have difficulty accepting this affirmations because it just doesn't sound like me. If, however, it is the way you think, by all means use it.

If I wanted to use this affirmation I would change it into my words. "I deserve to have energy, enthusiasm and good health. I accept all of life's gifts. The more energy I use, the more I will have." This is more like the way I speak and think.

Stepping Stones

The motivational tool Stepping Stones is designed to combine positive affirmations with visualization and faith to help us achieve maximum beneficial change in our lives and to help us persevere until our goals are achieved.

What should my affirmations be about?

Your affirmations can include how you would like to feel: "I am energetic; I feel wonderful; or I feel safe". Your affirmations can include how you would like your life to be: "I am a prosperous person; I attract positive people into my life; I lose weight easily or I solve problems easily". Another way to develop affirmations is to use them to counter your negative self-talk. When you catch yourself saying something negative to yourself, develop an affirmations that counteracts the negative thought and start using it until you feel differently about yourself.

Let's say you are working on a project. The project doesn't have to be a work project, it can be an interpersonal problems or just some personal problem you are trying to solve. You can't seem to figure out what to do or you run into a snag of some sort. All of a sudden your confidence sags and you catch yourself thinking "I can't do this. I bit off more than I can do. I'm just not smart enough."

All this negative thinking, if allowed to persist, will guarantee that you fail. Instead, make up some affirmations to counter this thinking. For example, you might use "I feel confident, I am a success, I do things now and I think clearly". I would repeat each affirmations five times three or four times during the day until I felt better about myself and about completing the project.

affirmations have been used since humans have had language. We use affirmations now to help us lose weight and stop smoking. We use affirmations to build our self-confidence and self-esteem. We use affirmations to help us get out of depression and to relieve our anger. We use them to control our fear and anxiety and for stress management. affirmations are used successfully in all areas of personal growth and self improvement.

Once you have your affirmations, there are a number of ways you can use them. When repeating the affirmations, put some feeling into it and think about what you are trying to accomplish. Repeating the affirmations out loud is better than doing it silently as you also hear it when it's out loud. If you are in a situation where you can't repeat it out loud, do it silently. That is still better than not doing it at all.

Do your affirmations soon after you wake up as it will help focus your day. Do your affirmations just before going to sleep as it will be working in your subconscious mind all night. You should also try to fit in your affirmations two or three more times during the day. When you fit them in isn't important as long as they are spaced out during the day. This takes advantage of two important principles in psychology.

How do I use my affirmations?

Sample affirmations

Here are some examples of good personal growth and self improvement affirmations.

* To lose weight: I am slim and trim; I only eat when I'm hungry.

* To stop smoking: I breathe clean, fresh air; I am stronger than     any habit.

* For depression: I am a worthwhile person; I attract joy into my    life.

* For anger: I feel wonderful today; I have peace of mind.

* For fear and anxiety: I release all my negative emotions; I am     confident.

* For stress management: All the above.

Our mind learns fastest with what is called "massed practice". Repeating the same affirmations five times in a row is "massed practice". The problem is that it also produces quick forgetting. "Spaced practice", the process of repeating all the affirmations three or more times during the day, produces slow learning and slow forgetting. Combining both "massed and spaced" practice gives us the best of both: fast learning and slow forgetting.

Saying it with feeling adds another psychological dimension to the affirmations. Any thought that has an emotion attached to it will have a greater impact on our mind than an idea devoid of feeling.

Another variation you can use to strengthen the effect of the affirmations is to add a visualization to it. This will make your affirmations significantly more effective. Do this by taking one of your affirmations sessions and instead of saying the affirmations, close your eyes and visualize yourself doing or being like the affirmations says. The visualization adds another dimension of power to your affirmations.

You should also use your affirmations whenever you catch yourself using negative self-talk. Start repeating your positive affirmations as soon as possible.

Used correctly, affirmations for personal growth and self improvement can help you relieve your depression, anxiety and fear and anger. They can help you lose weight as well as quit smoking. affirmations will help you build your self-confidence, self-esteem and assertiveness and they are an excellent tool for stress management.

Patience (Perseverance)

One problem many people have is impatience. They use their affirmations on and off for a week or two and nothing happens so they quit. It took us a long time to become the way we are. Give your affirmations at least a serious 30 day try. If what you are trying to change is a serious problem, you will probably need more than 30 days. You might even need more than affirmations to produce the changes you seek.

affirmations are just one of the tools of change. Most of us will need more than one tool and longer than one month. Used correctly, however, affirmations are a good tool and they do help us change, grow and heal. As you use your affirmations you will become more conscious of your thoughts, feelings and behaviour and you will start thinking and feeling better about yourself. As this happens, your behaviour will begin to change in the direction you are trying to go. Don't give up because you are gaining greater and greater control of your thoughts, feelings and behaviour.

By Thomas D. Yarnell, Ph.D. Clinical Psychologist

Types of affirmations

Jeanie Marshall is an Empowerment Consultant and Coach specializing in deep transformation through energetic awareness and clearing. (310) 392-1987. Home page, http://www.mhmail.com

"You become what you behold."
-William Blake

Five categories of affirmations support you in manifesting powerful change. These five categories or types of affirmations have emerged from my consulting work with clients and workshop participants. You may work with affirmations in every category concurrently, or you may focus on a different category each day or each week. It is important that affirmations you select resonate with you, that is, that they feel natural and appropriate. In order to experience this resonance, you may need to change words in the ones listed here as examples, or let these inspire you to create ones you prefer, or develop your own from scratch.

Popular affirmations

Many popular affirmations are beautiful, indeed, they are quite extraordinary! However, if you do not believe them, they are useless or even counterproductive. If you say an affirmations you do not believe, saying it repeatedly will not make you believe it. Actually, the repetition can build up greater resistance to believing it. Consider this example: Sam feels powerless. He has had many experiences that he can point to that justify his feelings and his belief in his own powerlessness and unworthiness. Saying "I am powerful" is less likely to erase his feelings of powerlessness than to prompt an emphatic reaction, such as, "Oh, no, I'm not!" If Sam does not deal with the resistance, he carries it with him as he lives his life.

An empowering process emerges by using these five categories of affirmations in a systematic way to assist you in embracing an affirmations that you desire to believe but do not. If you have an intention and a desire to say and believe "I am powerful," start by releasing powerlessness, open to the possibility of being powerful, affirm an intention and readiness to live in your power, claim your power, and let the idea of powerfulness integrate into your life.

Following are the five categories of affirmations described briefly with a few examples of each type.

Releasing/Cleansing affirmations

The purpose of Releasing and/or Cleansing affirmations is to let go of unwanted and unneeded stuff. Especially, they help you let go of resistance. They allow you to purify your system. These affirmations stimulate the release of toxins such as negative thought forms, repressed or suppressed emotions, old memories, negative bonds with others, karma, dark consensus reality, illusions of all types.

Examples:

• I give myself permission to release toxicity from every level of my energy field.
• I rescind outdated vows of poverty, celibacy, struggle, silence, and unworthiness.
• I release resistance.
• I let go of old programs that keep me stuck in old patterns.
• I let go of everything I do not want or need for my highest good.
  

Receiving/Accepting affirmations

The purpose of Receiving and/or Accepting affirmations is to open to allow something to be. They allow us to receive goodness from the Universe. They neutralize the misqualification of energy; that is, they can reverse illness or other density. In addition, they help us shift the attention from disempowering actions such as, "getting" or "taking" to more freeing concepts such as, "receiving" and "allowing" and "accepting."

Examples:

• I open to the gifts of the Universe.
• I allow abundance to flow through me.
• I accept support when I need it.
• Dear God, please let me know what to do in a way that I can understand.
• I accept peace and joy in all aspects of my life.

Being/Intending affirmations

The purpose of Being and/or Intending affirmations is to ground your purpose, especially your higher purpose. These affirmations enhance conscious awareness of your intention about something or about your mission in life. In addition, these affirmations can deepen your understanding of your reason for being and/or acting generally or in a specific situation. They can be used to enhance any and all actions that follow.

Examples:

• I know that this is for the highest good of all concerned.
• I deepen my awareness of the consciousness from which actions spring.
• I live my mission.
• My intention is to live free from struggle, fear, and hopelessness.
• I remember.

Acting/Claiming affirmations

The purpose of Acting and/or Claiming affirmations is to bring something into manifestation or to direct the energy of your intention to appropriate manifestation. These affirmations bring into the physical experience those ideas that you hold in your mind and/or heart. In addition, these affirmations help you to claim your power and establish boundaries in relationships.

Examples:

• I act with high intention and purposeful awareness.
• I step into the world to live my mission in every word and action.
• I demand my good right now.
• I make every act an act of love (or freedom or mastery or hope, etc.).
• I am powerful. I am worthy. I am loveable. I am free.

Integrating/Embodying affirmations

The purpose of Integrating and/or Embodying affirmations is to allow the energy and meaning of the affirmations to merge with your consciousness. affirmations and ideas that do not resonate, drop away. Integrating/Embodying affirmations support us in knowing more deeply -- integrating -- what we have learned rather than introducing new information.

• I integrate trust into every aspect of my life.
• I breathe love into my job, my body, my relationships.
• Yes to Life!
• Today is an opportunity for peace.
• I breathe in abundance, letting my whole body feel its energy.

affirmations as Lifestyle

As you work more and more with intentional affirmations -- written, spoken, read, chanted, meditated upon -- you will make them part of your lifestyle. affirmations are already working for (or against!) you. It is your job to select the ones you want to live by. Remember, you are already using affirmations every time you think or speak! If your current affirmations are disempowering, you can intentionally change them to ones that you choose to live by.

Stepping Stones

The motivational tool Stepping Stones is designed to combine positive affirmations with visualization and faith to help us achieve maximum beneficial change in our lives and to help us persevere until our goals are achieved.

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