4 Tips to Create Powerful Affirmations

Affirmations.  Therapists tell us to use them.  Motivational speakers encourage us to practice them daily.  Science has proven that affirmations are one of the most effective tools for quickly becoming the person you need to be in order to achieve everything you want in your life.  With so many people preaching the power of affirmations, why have many of us have tried them, only to be disappointed.  You are not alone in your failed attempts and skepticism towards this skill set.  What many of us don't know, is that there is an appropriate and effective way to use affirmations that creates a powerful mindset, which will allow us to achieve our goals.  

So first, let us look at the reasons why affirmations often don't work: 

• Internal conflict.  Affirmations are about our personal belief about ourself.  Our mind may quickly reject the affirmation because it is not in alignment with our current beliefs.  For instance, if you believe your beauty is based on external validation and the standards of media, no matter how many times you tell yourself how beautiful you are, it will not stick because of the internal conflict between your conditioned beliefs and your hopes.  The same is true if you are wanting to become financially wealthy, and are stuck in a scarcity mindset.  Due to your belief that there will never be enough (of anything!), you will not be able to align with your hope to manifest wealth.  
• We are not specific. We are often very elusive in creating our goals and affirmations. If our goals is to be "wealthy" or "healthy", what does this actually mean to you.  Attaching a specific dollar amount, or goal of health will greatly impact the intensity of our affirmations. 
• We lack action. Mindset is only half the battle, and many people stop there.  They forget that we are actually co-creating with the Universe.  This means that once we are able to shift our mindset, we need to back it by our actions.  Mindset allows us to know we are capable of achieving our goals and dreams, and actions move our dreams into reality.

Now that we have a better understanding of what doesn't work, let's look at how to set effective affirmations to change our mindset and ultimately, our lives:

• Identify your why. There are essentially two parts that play into each other in this step- your level of commitment and the larger reason as to why your goal is important to you.  Each of these factors directly effect one another.  For instance, if your affirmation is that you nourish your body with nutritious food and exercise and obtain a state of fitness and health, be sure to back it with why that is important to you.  This actually is one of my current affirmations and goals.  My big why is so that I am at the best mental state for my business and best physical state to be active with my kids and eventually my grandkids. Those are also some of the reasons I also chose to quit smoking cigarettes over a year ago.  
• Identify your actions. Like I stated earlier, mindset is only 1/2 the battle.  What are you willing to do to get the results and align your affirmations with your reality?  Again, be as specific as possible.  Using my affirmation above. I have committed to waking up at 5am to work out, engage in yoga, meditate, read, and journal for the 5 out of 7 days. 
• Repetition and Emotion.  The power of repetition is no secret.  Just look at your negative self talk.  You have repeated those harsh critical statements to yourself over and over again over decades.  That is why they are so engrained in your belief system.  Now, just imagine using all of that power to move you forward, towards your ideal life vision, dreams, and goals!  That is why we practice daily affirmations.  Not only do we want to repeat them, we want to feel them.  Visualize what it feels like to get to your goal and to live out your ideal life.  This practice allows you to connect to your affirmation on a deep emotional level.  
• Allow for expansion.  If you practice all of the above, you will notice that your affirmations will change accordingly.  As we grow and expand into our ideal life vision, our affirmations will change along with our life.  

A few things to note when identifying your affirmations: be sure they are specific to you and always stated in the first person and present tense. 

Here is a list of effective affirmations to help you create your own personalized affirmations: 

• I am committed to my physical health and commit to exercising for at least 30 minutes 5 days per week.
• I am committed to my spiritual health and commit to daily meditation for at least 10 minutes. 
• I focus on learning new things and commit to reading for at least 20 minutes every night. 
• I am as worthy and deserving as everyone else on earth of achieving abundance in every area of my life, and I will prove that today with my actions.  

To learn more about aligning your beliefs with your affirmations and ideal life vision, be sure to register for our upcoming virtual FREE 5 Days to Align with Your Next Level Life Purpose Workshop!

Sending much love and light, LJ