ART OF AFFIRMATION
Our mind learns during our whole life. Since the day we are born we gather information from the outside world and create our expectations, dreams, goals and self image according to it. Some of this data is stored and organized in our mind as beliefs. Human mind is constructed in such a way, that it starts emanating the thing it is focused on. That is why if our attention was focused on negative patterns in childhood, we start expressing these patterns in adult life. When we experience certain situations we learn to act automatically, thus start treating available information as undoubtedly true. So, attitudes that we create can be positive, but they can also restrict us and interfere with our goals.
Affirmations are simple sentences, formulated in such a way, that it allows them to convince our subconsciousness of something. Each meaningful thought in our head is directly connected to an emotional reaction of our organism. Our feelings are caused by data and thoughts we communicate to ourselves. There is a vast amount of automatic information in our heads that float around without our conscious control. But, affirmations allow us to redirect our beliefs and thoughts.
Imagine, you meet a person making strange faces on the street. If you have negative thought patterns and a habit of taking everything personally, you may think that something is wrong with you: you could be looking bad, have dirty clothes on etc. But, maybe the facts are different, and the man has a stone in his shoe, or he woke up with a back pain? Your world view depends on interpretation, and the interpretation depends on automatic cognitive patterns in your mind. When somebody is smiling to you, you can also think that he is laughing at you. But there is a high probability that it is just a kind smile.
Everything starts in our heads. We are the ones who build scenarios of our behaviors, interpretations of other people's behaviors, or our opinions about the things going on around us. We often build walls and restrict ourselves by constantly repeating and solidifying sentences such as: “I can't do it”, “I won't make it”, “I'm not good enough for this”. They become our beliefs. Very often the belief that is restricting us is placed deep in our subconsciousness and without recognizing it is hard to change oneself.
“If your desire is contradictory to your belief, the latter will always prove to be stronger” says the right of opposite result formulated by Coue. Despite the fact that you put a lot of efforts in achieving something you are condemned to fail. Trying to force our minds brings opposite to desired results. The key principle of working with affirmations is recognizing real patterns and restrictions and building affirmations in a way that will change your beliefs and plant new ones in your subconsciousness.
When creating your own affirmation, you should remember that it should be formed in the present tense. A successful affirmation should be a short indicative positive (without the word “no”) sentence. Subconsciousness often does not hear the word “no”, because it listens to words as a whole and it triggers related emotions. Affirmations should focus on you and your real goals and needs. Avoid words such as: “I have to”, “I can't”, “I need”, “I want” - they trigger the feeling of coercion, restriction and lack.
Use words that you understand, and that have a clear meaning for you.
Exemplary affirmations:
I (your name) accept myself.
I … control my stress.
I … have the right to make mistakes.
I … treat myself with respect.
I … am a strong person.
I … deserve the best.
I … can get the right job for me.
I … am worthy and important.
I … deserve respect and trust.
I … know that I can accomplish everything I want.
I … like myself.
