Effective Affirmations 101

“If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” –Wayne Dyer

Affirmations–short statements of what we want–are easy-to-use, feel good, and are a very practical tool for consciously changing our lives. Thoughts have energy, influencing the vibration of what you attract. The more a thought is repeated, the more deeply rooted the energy becomes in your life. Effective, well-constructed affirmations can shift our energy to powerfully alter our experience. So it’s worth the effort to learn how to use them well.

Tips for More Effective Affirmations

• Use the present tense. “I’ll have what I want someday” is affirming nothing other than NOT having it now.
• Affirm what you do want, not absence of what you don’t. Words like “don’t, won’t, can’t” and so on aren’t processed by the subconscious. The disclaimer part doesn’t get attached to the energy you’re sending out. So an affirmation like, “I’m not stressed” actually sensitizes you to stress! Oops.  Not the plan? Instead, try something like, “I feel calm and grounded.”
• Forget the how; focus on the what. This is no time for control-freaking. Defining the how limits the affirmation’s potential unnecessarily. Have enough faith to allow your dreams multiple paths to realization.
• Go for the essence, not a single example. It casts a wider net. Instead of, “I make it to work on time,” perhaps “I arrive early and with ease.”
• Affirm with feeling. It’s the emotional charge in your affirmation that gives it wings. The more positive emotional energy your affirmation generates, the better (and faster) it works for you.
• Use the one-step up approach. If you’re fearful about paying your bills, affirming yourself as a mufti-millionare is only going to leave you feeling like a liar!  You’ll have trouble generating the positive emotion that’s required to attract the energy you want when you cannot believe the affirmation. Start modestly and once you have that mastered, work your way up. “I have enough to share” or “I have many riches in my life” may be more accessible emotionally and still help shift your energy toward abundance. Once that comes easily and you’re feeling it, you can continue building from there.
• Appreciate. Gratitude turns blessings up. Love, joy and appreciation are extremely potent vibrations. The most effective affirmations are often built atop acknowledgment of the blessings you already have in some form. If you remember to be thankful for the essence in whatever form it already exists, you’ll begin finding more and more of it to be thankful for.

Let the lack starve! Instead, look for hints of the energy in your life you’d like to grow, and use your affirmations to feed it!

Do you use affirmations? What helps you most?