Affirmations
It's an unfortunate thing that people tend to acquire many negative beliefs about themselves. These beliefs can become so deeply rooted that we think them often, and accept their 'trueness' without question.
Yet if we are to accept that we create our world as a direct reflection of our thoughts, unhelpful, negative and damaging beliefs must be rooted out and eradicated. The regular use of affirmations can help us to do this. Affirmations are positive statements about our position in and attitudes toward life.
You'll get best results out of following these instructions for the use of affirmations:
Repeat the relevant statement often - at least 50 times a day. Repeat the affirmation whilst driving to work, waiting for the bus, having a shower, cooking food, walking upstairs - you'd be surprised how quickly you can manage 50 repetitions!!
Place emphasis on different words so the sense of what you say changes through the day. It will assume the form of a mantra if you say it often enough. You'll find yourself thinking it involuntarily (this is good - it means it's working!!)
When an affirmation really appeals to you, you might want to write it out on paper and pin it up in places where you'll see it often.
Resistances:
Sometimes when you start on a particular affirmation you will find yourself arguing inside against the statement. This is called resistance. We produce resistances to affirmations which challenge our inmost poor beliefs about ourselves. So, for instance, imagine you have an inner belief that you are unlucky, and the daily affirmation is "Luck flows boundlessly into my life". Every time you say it, a little gremlin pops up in your head and says "Oh no it doesn't. I'm never the one that gets the lucky breaks." Of course, the reason you don't is purely because you believe you won't.
When you hit one of these problems you need what is known as a release affirmation - one which says "I now release the need to..." or "I now give up my belief that..." Say this determinedly ten times every time you catch your resistance interfering with your ability to do the affirmation. Eventually you will win the battle - and what's more, you'll get lucky!!
More on Affirmations from Forum discussions:
Affirmations alter your mindset, if you say them often enough, by combatting the negative thoughts you already have stored in your head, that you think over and over again, without even bringing them into conscious awareness.
These often stem from faulty conditioning in childhood - could do better; doesn't make the effort; makes bad decisions; gets it wrong all the time... all the things that folks say to you when you're young and you've just made a bit of a cock-up as only the young can:-)
These things, when repeated often enough, make you believe that the 'grown-ups' are right about you. By the time you hit adulthood yourself, these ideas are all in your head as part of your belief system. You think them without even noticing... along with other defence beliefs like - things always go wrong for me; I'm stupid; I never get what I need; I never get lucky... but these thoughts are creating your reality all the time.
Affirmations break up the bad habits, challenge their power, and make you consciously aware of the 'background hum' in your head. They also put positive energy out into the Universe. As you know, like attracts like. What you put your attention on grows. Worry about your bank overdraft, it'll get bigger. Think positively about drawing funds to you and it'll happen.
