Affirmations can be a powerful response to your chatterbox. You can use them proactively by incorporating them into your breathing or meditation on a regular basis. You can also have them at your disposal as a way to counter negative thoughts as they randomly bark at you. The most powerful affirmations are ones you create yourself.
An important caveat: what you resist, persists. Affirmations will work best when you acknowledge that the changes you are making are part of a larger process. Otherwise, your brain will not fully believe what you are saying. For instance, to say “I am healthy” when you are very sick is placing yourself in denial about your current reality. Meet yourself where you’re at!
The first step is recognizing what is true in the moment; then change can occur. This is a basic principle of Gestalt psychotherapy, which offers the “Paradoxical Theory of Change.” According the theory, “change occurs when one becomes what he is, not when he tries to become what he is not.”
It’s about acknowledging and embracing where and who we are now (which is often what we resist). When we can do that, we’re taking the first step towards creating the change we wish to see.
A few guidelines for creating your own powerful affirmations:
- Acknowledge your process – “I am becoming” “I am making progress” “I am ready for” “I welcome” “I am beginning”
- Frame as a positive statement – “I embody peace” rather than “I feel no tension.”
- Express the affirmation as a statement of gratitude of what is, and what is to be – “I am grateful for my loving family and their continued health.” “I feel gratitude for my journey and the abundance ahead.” Speak about what you have, not what you want (which emphasizes what you don’t have).
- Make them active and present – “I am,” “I have,” “I believe”
- Keep them short and memorable – “I am powerful.” “I believe in myself.” “I am open to happiness.”
- Repeat them to yourself – out loud – on a regular basis. Look in the mirror, or close your eyes and visualize what you are affirming. Notice the way you feel when you say the affirmation.
- Your results will match your energy and vibration; offer the affirmation from a place of love, and first believe in your worthiness and “enoughness” to receive what you desire. Speak your truth from your heart.
- Keep an open, aware attitude throughout the process. Make a commitment to take one action step every day in support of your affirmation. Notice “coincidence” and synchronicity; this is evidence of your affirmation in action.
- Do what works for you! Affirmations are not a “should.” They can be silly or serious, bold or balancing. They are for YOU and no one else.
