You may have heard people talk about positive affirmations, but what are they? Well, positive affirmations are a series of phrases or statements that are repeated to overcome negative thought patterns. Remember Stuart Smalley? He was the Saturday Night Live character that brought us the positive affirmation “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!” Yep. That was a positive affirmation. Although SNL made fun of affirmations with that skit, they are no laughing matter. They are, in fact a very powerful mindset and tool used in the Law of Attraction.

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My earliest experience with affirmations came when I was very young. My dad was interested in self help and positive thinking, like so many others at the time. The self help industry was booming with books like “I’m Ok, You’re Ok.” It was believed that by thinking positive, you would bring positivity in to your life. Your thoughts could shape your reality.

The Coue Method

I remember my dad teaching me to repeat “Everyday in every way I’m getting better and better.” (The term affirmation was not yet a popular way of describing these types of self-suggestions.) It was first introduced by Emile Coue in the 1920’s. The program of auto-suggestions he created was called the Coue Method. Although it gained some popularity in the 20’s, it received a lot of criticism from the medical community. If someone appeared to ‘cure’ themselves through the Coue Method, the critics claimed this was simply due to a misdiagnosis or a spontaneous remission. However, this criticism did not destroy the Coue Method.

In fact, in the 1967, Paul McCartney wrote the words “It’s getting better all the time…” John Lennon, in 1980 sang Beautiful boy to his son Julian Lennon. Reciting Coue’s auto-suggestion “before you go to sleep, say a little prayer, everyday in every way it’s getting better and better.” So whether my dad learned it from Emile Coue or the Beatles, this was my bedtime prayer throughout my childhood and is one I still fall back on.

Louise Hay and Positive Affirmations

My first introduction to the actual word affirmation, however, came much later, when I discovered Louise Hay and her book ‘You Can Heal Your Life.” In the 1984 book, Louise Hay spoke about her fight with Cancer. She credited her remission to positive thinking and affirmations. Like Coue before her, Louise Hay believed that your mind had the power to cure all ailments. She also believed that different ailments related to different emotional issues. For example, if you have bladder problems you may have a fear of letting go, are dealing with anxiety or you may just be “pissed off.” The common cold can be the result of mental disorientation, or just too much going on all at once. You can read more about Louise Hay’s Emotional Causes for Physical symptoms here.

How Do Positive Affirmations Work?

The Law of Attraction tells us that like attracts like. What we focus on is what we will attract. Positive affirmations are a way to direct that focus. They use repetition to affect change. By repeating a positive statement over and over again, your subconscious mind will work towards making that statement your reality. They shift our thinking so that we will start to change behaviour that keeps us from the life we want. Furthermore, we begin to recognize the opportunities as they present themselves, rather than focusing on what’s wrong. 

Most of us are already creating our reality through affirmations. Unfortunately we are doing it unconsciously. According to Louise Hay, everything we think and say is an affirmation. Unfortunately, most of us have a habit of thinking and saying a lot of negative things, especially to ourselves. Our negative self-talk becomes habit. Consequently, these habits become our beliefs, and eventually become our reality.

So, why do we use negative affirmations? Most of us don’t even realize we are doing it. It may start with something someone else has said to us, or it may simply be a case of “I don’t want to jinx it”. Perhaps our negative self-talk came from us believing that if we sounded too confident it would come off as arrogant. So instead, some of us go to the opposite extreme. Where ever the negativity comes from, repeating it does not serve us. 

How to Put an End to Negative Self-Talk

So, how can we stop these negative monologues? With affirmations. Positive affirmations shift the mindset and behaviours that are keeping us from the life we want. As a result, we begin to recognize the opportunities as they present themselves, rather than focusing on what’s wrong.

The first step in that process is to stop focusing on the negatives. In other words, we have to start paying closer attention to our internal dialogues. When the negative self-talk starts up, replace it with intentional, positive thoughts. Similarily, whenever you catch yourself thinking something negative, stop, and start to repeat a predetermined positive affirmation. Continue repeating the affirmation until the negative thoughts are replaced with a positive internal dialogue. Make sure this dialogue is clear and intentional, not just background noise. You will notice the “Negative Nelly” in your head much more quickly and give her the boot. Replace her with your inner cheerleader. Yay You!

How to Write an Awesome Affirmation

The way you word your affirmation is also important. Affirmations will be more successful if they are written in the present tense and in a positive format. For example “I must quit eating junk food so that I will no longer be over weight,” is not as effective as “I will eat healthy so that I can continue to feel and look good.” 

There are a few guidelines to remember when creating your personal affirmation:

• Keep it brief. You don’t need to compose poetic, flowery prose. 
• Make them easy to say and remember.
• Try to be as specific as possible.
• Use positive language.
• Keep them in the present tense.

How to Use Positive Affirmations

So you’ve created an affirmation to help make positive changes in your life, but now what? How do you use this affirmation? Three words: repetition, repetition, repetition. For affirmations to be effective, above all they need to be repeated; a lot. For example, speaking them out loud or writing them over and over again. I have even sung my affirmations. 

First write your affirmation down on a piece of paper and put it somewhere you will see it often. Alternatively, put it on your phone or computer; anywhere you will be reminded not to forget it. Then repeat it, morning, afternoon and night. When you wake up repeat your affirmation. If a negative thought comes into your head, repeat your affirmation. Stuck in traffic, repeat your affirmation. Getting ready for bed, yup, you guessed it, repeat your affirmation. 

Once Again With Feeling

Repeating your affirmation is an important step, however you also have to feel it. What does that mean? It means that you have to imagine yourself already having accomplished your goal. For example, imagine all the feelings and emotions that come from that accomplishment. Spend time experiencing it. What does that feel like? Hang onto those feelings and conjure them whenever you repeat your positive affirmation. This will help you use the Law of Attraction to bring your affirmation to fruition.

A good way to access the feelings that go with your affirmation, for instance, is to journal about it. Firstly, write out your affirmation, after that describe what your life will be like when it comes to pass. Include as much detail as you can. Look at every aspect of your life that will be affected by accomplishing the objective of your affirmation and write it down. Feel all the emotions that go with it and surround yourself with those feelings. You can even take some time to meditate on those feelings. Then when you repeat your affirmations, allow yourself to feel the accompanying emotions.

Try these 10 Positive Affirmations to Improve Your Life by Sheenia Denae to get started.

Make it Believable

Another thing to keep in mind when writing your affirmation, is to make them believable. For instance, if you believe you are poor and try to tell yourself that you are a millionaire, you inner voice is just going to scoff at you. It’s too hard for you to believe in that extreme. For example, it may be easier for your mind to accept something like “I am abundant” or “I manifest everything I need.” So if your affirmation doesn’t feel believable to you, take it down just enough that you can believe it’s possible. With practice your inner voice will be more willing to believe that you can manifest anything. Trust your instincts. If it feels good, then it’s the right affirmation for you.

Some Positive Affirmations to Get You Going

Need some ideas to get you started? Here’s a few positive affirmations to get you going:

• I'm constantly attracting new opportunities
• I create abundance in my life
• I am successful in all my endeavours
• I'm healthy and strong
• I am getting better at expressing my emotions everyday
• I only attract wonderful and loving people into my life
• Money comes to me easily

Positive affirmations can be an incredibly powerful tool when used correctly. For instance, they can help reframe your thoughts, manifest your goals, create new habits, improve your health and wellbeing, learn new skills and improve your life in general. So remember, everyday in every way, you are getting better and better.

P.S. Affirmations work best when we feel good, therefore we need to keep our vibrations high so that they resonate with what we want to create. Gratitude has a very high vibration and can help us manifest more easily. Practicing gratitude with our affirmations can strengthen the results. You can learn more about Gratitude here.

Positive affirmations help us to raise our vibrations. If you want to know more about vibrations read my post How to Quickly Raise Your Vibrations & Why You Want To.

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