An affirmation is a statement of intention.

It is any positive statement that we can repeat to ourselves in order to shift our emotional state to something more productive or constructive. Positive affirmations provide a temporary boost of energy and a tool for long term behavioural conditioning. Affirmations work because they generate corresponding feelings of anticipation, excitement, desire and expectancy.

If we want affirmations to work for change quickly and powerfully there is one golden rule; our words must be accompanied by a corresponding emotion!

A good way to think about the power of words is to imagine the affirmation as a car; the words are the shape, style and exterior while the feelings that accompany the words are the fuel, the energy, the ‘oomph’ that makes them go!

We use positive and negative affirmations all the time in our lives without realizing it. So much of our habitual language is made up of tired and worn out sentences which we repeat to ourselves like zombies; we hardly giving any thought as to how these words impact upon our life and our success!

Let’s look at some examples of negative routine and automatic statements that we repeat. Have you ever said anything like this to yourself in the past?

• I can’t do this
• I’m so stupid; I’ll never be able to do that.
• My memory is no good. I can’t remember anything
• Just my luck.
• That never happens to me or that will never happen to someone like me!
• He/she won’t like me.
• I’m going to fail

These are just a few examples of negative affirmations which many of us have expressed to ourselves over and over again.

I know I have. I spent years telling myself how bad I was and how dumb I was and how I was going to fail. Consequently I failed exams and lost jobs…mm, funny that. Maybe that was down to laziness and not being any good at the job? Lol, possibly, but knowing what I know now I’m convinced it was my general negative attitude created by all the negative self-talk!

It seems that knowledge of affirmations and having a positive attitude is still looked at as being ‘out there’. It seems a shame that so many people are missing out on this powerful self-help strategy. They could be harnessing an incredibly powerful and easy to use tool to make improvements in their lives, career, and relationships and so on.

Ok, so we want to use an affirmation but how do we go about that?

Decide which goal to focus on.

Firstly we need to define an issue or goal that we want to work on. It helps if you have made a list of things that you want to do in life, aspects of your personality you want to enhance or goals you want to attain in the short or long term. What’s important to you now? Affirmations can be used for almost anything and help you attain any goal in life.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

Intangible attributes and non-physical qualities:

• Self-esteem
• confidence
• charisma
• love
• belief
• a new, harmonious, satisfying relationship
• more friends
• a more exciting lifestyle

Mental and spiritual goals:

• better concentration
• improved memory
• ability to relax and deal with stress
• higher consciousness
• lucid dreaming
• creative ideas and ability

Physical aspects and issues:

• weight loss
• changing body shape
• stronger, fitter
• clearer skin
• improved vision

Career, general success and wealth:

• meeting targets
• finding a better job
• a better home
• financial security
• increasing one’s income
• attracting money
• generating wealthy feelings and ‘money’ state of mind.

So you can see that you can put your words to work in every aspect of your life! Now comes the exciting part. You need to think about what you would like your life to be like! You have to realize that you can create a more desirable reality for yourself. Life will give us everything we want if we are certain of it.

Here are a few simple examples of positive intentions:

• I am more and more wealthy every day
• I am feeling more and more confident
• My greatest good is coming to me now!

Hold on, you might be thinking, ‘these are just sayings aren’t they, I don’t really believe that they could work for me.’ Well, yes they are sayings. The secret is that the more you repeat something to yourself the more power it has. Like a lie that if told often enough you will come to believe the lie eventually. This is why affirmations work; they become part of you through repetition and emotion! You don’t have to believe in them to start with. You just have to repeat one long enough and it will begin to have an effect upon your consciousness, your thoughts, your attitude and your behaviour!

I will talk more about how to structure affirmations in a later post but for now try one for a few days and you will begin to feel the change.