Affirmations
are statements about what is good and positive in your life.
Whatever your goal, you are more likely to achieve it if:
1. You believe it is possible to achieve.
2. You take positive action to get there.
Affirmations support you in the belief and in the positive action.
This is especially useful for people who tend to be pessimistic or self-doubting.
Affirmations are valuable for developing the habit of focusing on what
you have and what you want to have and what you want to do.
Affirmations work best when stated in the present tense.
For example:
You are about to have a serious operation. You have been told that it
is vital to your health to eat a healthy diet after the surgery and you
are afraid you won't be able to stick to the diet. If you keep worrying
and repeating your doubts to yourself, you run the risk of programming
your unconscious mind to expect failure and to work towards failure.
Repeating the right affirmation can turn your expectation from failure
to success. This supports you in staying on the diet. It supports you
in expecting to succeed.
If you can say with conviction, "I eat healthy meals every day," that
would be an ideal affirmation. It is in the present. It gives your unconsious
mind the message that this is your new truth so your unconscious self
will give you support in making this true in your everyday life.
If you get an uncomfortable feeling that you aren't telling the truth
when you make this affirmation, then it won't work as well. Perhaps you
could say some of these affirmations instead:
I deserve to eat healthy meals every day.
I deserve to be healthy.
I want to eat meals that support my life and my health.
I am thankful for the abundance of healthy, nourishing food.
Affirmations like these support you in eating healthy foods, even though
you are not yet able to affirm "I eat healthy meals".
Guidelines for affirmations that support good health:
Make all statements in present time.
If the statement empowers you, keep it. If it makes you feel uncomfortable
and not quite honest, reword it.
The idea is to remind yourself of what is good about you and your life
and to support movement towards what you want for yourself.
Note: Do not use affirmations to deny negative feelings.
If you feel angry or sad or envious or resentful, it is better to own
the feeling, express it and release it. (See
Expressing your feelings.)
While you are doing the work of releasing negative feelings, saying affirmations
at the same time will help keep you in balance.
Resources:
Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, book by Susan Jeffers
Creative Visualization, book by Shakti Gawain