Affirmations can help take your world from negative to positive in just a few minutes a day. These little sayings are positive statements that can help keep you motivated and develop a more positive perception of yourself. Affirmations can not only help you to change negative thoughts, they can also motivate you to accomplish major goals. Affirmations are easy to create and use, but you'll need dedication to make them work.
The New Thought movement is not part of New Age but does share certain practices. This concept has grown popular due to Rhonda Byrne's The Secret These books and teachers express similar ideas to Napoleon Hill's book Think and Grow Rich. Byrne was inspired in particular by Wallace D. Wattles' 1910 book The Science of Getting Rich. Affirmations are also referred to in Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Neuro Associative Conditioning "NAC" as popularized by Anthony Robbins, and hypnosis.
A related belief is that a certain critical mass of people with a highly spiritual consciousness will bring about a sudden change in the whole population. And that humans have a responsibility to take part in positive creative activity and to work to heal ourselves, each other and the Earth.
In 1984 Louise Hay a Religious Science Practitioner published You Can Heal Your Life, a guide to changing thoughts and beliefs. Hay's affirmations are designed to help the user re-program their thought patterns, the intention being that harmful underlying beliefs which Hay believes psychologically support illness will be replaced with healing beliefs, and thus remove a barrier to healing.
New-Age affirmations come in different forms:
- spiritual talks
- lectures
- classes
- affirmative images
- affirmative words
- affirmative videos
- mantra chants
Proponents of New-Age affirmations say that with our thoughts, desires and emotions, we create our world.
- visualisation of the affirmation in one's life
- feeling the affirmation in one's physiology
- vocalizing the affirmation in a way that one is already congruent with that affirmation.
A 2009 study found that positive affirmation had a small, positive effect on people with high self-esteem, but a detrimental effect on those with low self esteem. Individuals with low self-esteem who made positive affirmations felt worse than individuals who made positive statements but were allowed to consider ways in which the statements were false.
Some studies have found that self-affirmations, which involve writing about one's core values rather than repeating a positive self-statement, can improve performance under stress.
Affirmations can be useful in turning your negative thoughts into positives. To effectively counter those thoughts, though, you need to first identify them. Start by writing out a list of the negative thoughts you want to work on dismissing using positive affirmations.
For example, if you constantly tell yourself that you are ugly and worthless, two negative thoughts worth writing down would be, “I think I don’t contribute to the world around me,” and “I am not happy with my appearance.”
For example, if you constantly tell yourself that you are ugly and worthless, two negative thoughts worth writing down would be, “I think I don’t contribute to the world around me,” and “I am not happy with my appearance.”
Once you’ve finished your list of negative thoughts, think about which ones impact you most in your daily life. To get the most out of your affirmations, you’ll want to focus on one or two pieces of negative self-talk at a time. Use your list to help you decide which negative thoughts you want to get rid of the most. After you’ve picked out the piece of negative self-talk on which you want to focus, write a counter-argument for it. Provide yourself with evidence that counters your negative thought, and affirm how this evidence makes you feel about yourself. This will provide the basis for your affirmation. Take at least 5 minutes every day to say your affirmation to yourself over and over. If you can, look at yourself directly in the mirror and say your affirmation out loud during this time. It’s going to feel uncomfortable at first, but affirmations only work through repetition. Sometimes you just have to adopt a "fake it 'til you make it" mentality.
Your affirmation will work best when it targets a specific goal or outcome. Your goal may be ongoing, such as being more confident or getting ahead in your career. It could also have a set deadline, such as finishing a project on time or being ready for a big event.
We rarely focus on what we like about ourselves, but our strengths are hugely important in accomplishing our goals. An inventory of your positive traits will help you see all your personal strengths. Write down a list of all your positive attributes to help guide your affirmation.
Once you know what attributes will help you reach your goal, write out your affirmation. Make it action-oriented by affirming that you will accomplish your goal. Then list the positive attributes that will help you achieve your goal.
Affirmations can be a powerful self-help tool, but just saying them is only part of the process. Affirmations need to be coupled with action in order to be truly effective. Use your affirmation as a guide for the change you want to bring about in your life. Then, take actions to pursue that change.
In addition to saying your affirmations every day, write them out when you have a moment. This provides different mental feedback than saying your affirmations, which may help to further reinforce your goals and strengths. It's also a good way to use your affirmation at places like work or school when you need it, but don't want others to hear it.
Use note cards, sticky notes, a cute poster or printout, or any other system you like to write out your affirmation. Leave these notes in places where you will not only see them, but need to be reminded of your affirmation. Try to think of places where you frequently experience stress or self-doubt, and put a copy of your affirmation there.
