One of the best ways to provide one’s self with spiritual nourishment is to adopt a practice of affirmations. When we affirm something, we provide emotional support and encouragement, we change our way of thinking to the positive, and we solidify the loving relationship we want to have with ourselves.
Many of us can end up self-fulfilling negative thoughts, which arise from old and false beliefs due to past trauma and through experiences and life lessons. When this happens we may find ourselves saying, “I’ll never get that job. I can’t do this. They always pick other people for the promotions and not me. My husband and kids will never appreciate and love me.”
What we affirm repeatedly, we manifest.
I’ll say that again – what we affirm, we manifest in our lives. So if we are saying a lot of negative thoughts, guess what we are manifesting?
Over time, this negative way of thinking becomes a pathway in our brains. Not only does it affect us on a conscious level, but also on a subconscious level and that is what we manifest over and over.
All is not lost; however, we CAN create new neural pathways!
We can do this with affirmations. We can plant the seeds, tend to them, and watch them grow! Our positive thinking can truly make a difference in realizing our potential, ridding ourselves of negative old beliefs that no longer serve us, and manifesting our desires and dreams!
Consistently affirming the opposite of our negative beliefs with positivity can produce real change!
So how does this happen and how do we get started?
- Affirmations can help:
- Set goals
- Visualize our dreams
- Decrease anxiety and depression
- Increase our levels of joy and happiness
- Inspire us
- Strengthen our self-esteem, self-respect, and self-compassion
- Help us have breakthroughs when we are feeling stuck
- Ignite excitement
- Create and solidify the bond of self-love
- Find those areas in your life that you are struggling with either personally or professionally and take action:
- Identify and be self-aware of the negative self-talk
- Write down the negative words – there is power in seeing it on paper!
- Acknowledge that the belief is false, untrue, and not serving you
- Ask yourself- “How can I turn this into a positive statement?”
- Begin by writing the statement using the words, “I am”, “I claim”, “I believe”, or “I enjoy” – can you see the difference?
- Always use the “present tense” – If you use the future tense, that’s wishing. Remember what we affirm you manifest – if you are wishing, you’ll manifest more wishing.
- An example – “I have a job that supports me emotionally, financially, spiritually, and mentally.” You might affirm this as you are looking to change jobs!
- Say the affirmations with real genuine feeling. In other words, every fiber of your being believes the statement!
- What’s next?
Repeat these affirmations daily and especially when something or a situation you are trying to change is difficult or causing strife, uneasiness, and frustration.
An example – If your goal is to be financially stable and your affirmation is “I enjoy financial stability and growth.” Then let’s say you encounter fraud on your checking account, your first reaction might be “why me?” or “great see, I don’t have financial stability!” Instead of traveling down that negative road, affirm your positive statement once more and include the statement, “I’m grateful my banking institution caught the error so quickly. I am safe. My bank is going to restore the monies. I enjoy financial stability.” Keep it positive! The affirmation doesn’t lessen due to contrast, challenges, or circumstances.
Believe and have faith! Affirmations are trusting in manifestation and a higher good. It means believing and having faith that the Universe is here to support us. Having faith when we can’t see the desired end result or what happens next or how we get there is difficult especially during times of contrast and challenge; however, believing keeps us positive, moving forward, and attracting our heart’s true desires and dreams.
Affirmations are powerful so choose your words carefully! Add the practice of affirmations to other practices such as visualization, reflecting, journaling, and meditation to really amp up your manifestations and attracting all things positive! Consistency, believing, and realistic expectations can change our thinking and create more joy and happiness in our lives! YOU CAN DO IT!
