10 Tips for Getting the Most Out of Your Affirmations

By Brett Dupree

Writing affirmations are a great way to facilitate change in your life. Louise Hay, author of You can Heal your Life and publisher of Hay House have been teaching about affirmations for years. An affirmation is a statement what you want to believe about yourself. The affirmation process is either writing or telling yourself your affirmation multiple times every day. Louise Hay suggests saying them into a mirror. The statement can be long, however most people tell you to keep them short and sweet.

The idea behind affirmations is that you have beliefs about yourself and beliefs are a collection of thoughts that you think every day. If you tell your affirmation everyday you will be inserting the new, more positive belief into your daily routine. With your new thoughts you will be building new and more powerful beliefs. At first when you say your affirmations it will be hard, since you do not believe them. The more you say your affirmation the easier it will be to say because you will believe it more and more.

If you were to search the term, “Affirmations do not work” you will notice there are many articles and even scientific studies on problems with the affirmation. Affirmation process described above seems to work better on subjects that you already, at least a little, believe. If do not believe your affirmation there can be a negative effect if you try that process. Every time you say your affirmation and you feel negative emotions from it, you may be doing more harm than good.

All is not lost. If you enjoy the affirmation tactic, I am here to give you some tips that can make your affirmations work for you.

1. Start small. Start your affirmations small. You do not have to go from being super shy to being the life of the party. Find the next logical steps from where you are currently are in the area you would like to change. You can go from being shy to creating an affirmation that you smile at strangers. As long as it is a stretch you will grow from your new belief. 2. Soften them up. If you do not believe your love yourself, writing an intention that you do love yourself can get you to have your brain tell you every time you speak your intention, “NO!” Then release negative chemicals that make you feel bad. Do not fret; you can soften up your intentions. Add, “I’m open to” or “Wouldn’t it be nice if,” to your intentions to soften them up. It is much easier to believe, “I’m open to loving myself.” or “Wouldn’t it be nice if I loved myself.” After you get to the point where you believe you are open to or that it would be nice if, then you can use your original intention of loving yourself. You can even stack them if just one isn’t enough, “Wouldn’t it be nice if I was open to loving myself,” or “I’m open to being open to loving myself.”