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THE POWER OF AFFIRMATION: CREATING AN ILLUSION
OF POSITIVE THINKING
The word affirmation comes from a Latin word; which means "to make steady, and strengthen"
According to Merriam-Webster.com: the word affirmation was first used in the 15th century, as the act
of affirming.
Affirmation is the act of affirming something, that is positive or negative assertion of something. Other
word that help describe affirmation include: avouchment, avowal, claim, declaration, insistence,
profession, protestation.
Affirmation helps purify our thoughts and reconstruct the dynamics of our brains, so that we truly begin
to think nothing is impossible.
You can practice affirmation by just thinking it inform of sentence, writing it, or speaking it out loud to
yourself.
When you write down or say positive things to yourself, for example "I'll be a wealthy and famous
writer" or "I'll be a famous musician." That's simply affirmation. You're being optimistic, even if it's
against all odds.
Affirmations are simply the practice of repeating to yourself what you want to achieve while imagining
the outcome you want.
Affirmations are proven methods of self-improvement because of their ability to rewire our brains.
Much like exercise, they raise the level of feel-good hormones and push our brains to form new clusters
of “positive thought” neurons (http://www.arlenetaylor.org/brain-care/953-affirmation). In the
sequence of thought-speech-action, affirmations play an integral role by breaking patterns of negative
thoughts, negative speech, and, in turn, negative actions.
Affirmations have been used to successfully treat people with low self-esteem, depression, and other
mental health conditions. And they have been shown to stimulate the areas in our brains that make us
more likely to effect positive changes in regard to our health
If you believe the phrase "you are what you think", then life truly stems from your thoughts. But we
cannot rely purely on thoughts; we must translate thoughts into words and eventually into actions in
order to manifest our intentions.
By Dr. Carmen Harra
This simply means we have to be very careful with what we say. What we say to ourselves, what we say
to others, choosing to speak only those things which work towards our benefit.
HOW DOES AFFAMATION REALLY WORK?
I think most people will agree that affirmations are a phenomenon of the mind and belong in the
domain of psychology and perception.
One can imagine that doing affirmations might have a predictable impact on the brain, perhaps in terms
of focus, motivation or any number of chemical reactions. Those reactions would, one assumes, be
either beneficial or harmful to the pursuit of success.
So in one sense, affirmations are no more special than any form of positive thinking, prayers,
visualization, chanting, or the like.
Haven't you notice, people who are fond of limiting themselves or proclaiming negative words to
themselves about something, don't usually find themselves doing contrary to their beliefs or what they
proclaim.
Let's talk a little bit about the psychology behind affirmation. Whenever you think of something, or
when you ask people to take action on something. You're actually speaking to the subconscious mind.
The subconscious mind has the ability to trigger, and as well override the conscious mind. In other word,
the subconscious mind controls the conscious mind.
When you speak to the subconscious mind (whether intentionally or not), it receives the information
and then it tells the conscious mind what to do.
Whenever you say negative words to yourself, for example "I can never become good at blah, blah, or
blah." What you've just done is that, you have subjected yourself to a delusional belief, that you can
never become better at that particular thing, and that's exactly what will happen.
The problem with negative thought is that they can always become self-fulfilling prophecies.
NEGATIVE USE OF AFFIRMATION:
One funny thing about affirmation is that, most people actually practice it without even knowing, and
they do it wrongly. In other words, affirmations are often been practiced wrongly.
Here are some few examples of how people use affirmation wrongly, even though most people aren't
conscious of this:
"I'll never make it far, I'm not as smart as you"
"This life is too hard"
"I can never be good as you"
"I'm a terrible public speaker, and I'll embarrass the company"
"I'm definitely not her type, she's way out of my league"
"I’ll weak!"
All these are typically negative thinking. They can also be regarded to as affirmations. Only that these
kind of thinking will definitely have negative effect on us as individual, because they are delusional. If
you're the type that often think this way, you really need to change. You're actually using the power of
affirmation to subject yourself to a wrong illusion about yourself; and it will definitely hurt you, it'll also
have negative impact on your life overall.
We talk ourselves into believing that we're not good enough. And, as a result these thoughts drag down
our personal lives, our relationship and our careers.
False memory is another possible explanation for why affirmations appear to work. False memories are
so common that you’ve certainly experienced them. For example, you might remember a childhood event
in some detail and learn later that it happened to your sibling, not you. Humans form false memories
quite easily, so that has to be one potential explanation of why affirmations appear to work.
By Scott Adams
Another possible reason that affirmations appear to work is that optimists tend to notice opportunities
that pessimists miss.
EXAMPLES OF POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS:
You can use any of these affirmations, or you can create your own unique combination based on your
personal wishes and needs.
I Ayomide, will become a wealthy and famous business man.
I'm the architect of my life; I build its foundation and choose its contents.
Today, I am brimming with energy and overflowing with joy.
I have plenty of creativity for this project.
My work will be recognized in a positive way by my boss and colleagues.
I can do this!
My team respects and values my opinion.
I am successful.
I am honest in my life, and my work.
I like completing tasks and projects on time.
I'm grateful for the job I have.
I enjoy working with my team.
I'm bringing a positive attitude to work every day.
I am excellent at what I do.
I am generous.
I am happy.
I will be a leader in my organization.
My body is healthy; my mind is brilliant; my soul is tranquil.
I am superior to negative thoughts and low actions.
I am blessed.
I have been given endless talents which I begin to utilize today.
A river of compassion washes away my anger and replaces it with love.
My marriage will become stronger, deeper, and more stable each day.
I possess the qualities needed to be extremely successful.
(For business owners) My business is growing, expanding, and thriving.
Happiness is a choice. I base my happiness on my own accomplishments and the blessings I've
been given.
My ability to conquer my challenges is limitless; my potential to succeed is infinite.
I am courageous and I stand up for myself.
My thoughts are filled with positivity and my life is plentiful with prosperity.
Today, I abandon my old habits and take up new, more positive ones.
Many people look up to me and recognize my worth; I am admired.
I acknowledge my own self-worth.
Everything that is happening now is happening for my ultimate good.
Though these times are difficult, they are only a short phase of life.
(For those who are single) The perfect partner for me is coming into my life sooner than I expect.
My obstacles are moving out of my way; my path is carved towards greatness.
I wake up today with strength in my heart and clarity in my mind.
My fears of tomorrow are simply melting away.
I am at peace with all that has happened, is happening, and will happen.
My nature is Divine; I am a spiritual being.
My life is just beginning.
HOW TO USE POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS TO INCREASE YOUR CHANCE OF SUCCESS:
The most obvious explanation for the apparent power of affirmations is selective memory.
There is plenty of science to support the idea that we humans tend to remember the things we want to
remember and forget the things we’d rather forget.
With affirmations, one might expect to remember the coincidental good luck and forget the bad luck.
The result of that selective remembering gives us the incorrect impression that affirmations work more
often than you might reasonably expect from chance alone.
The art of the spoken word is critical in crafting our futures.
If we deliberately think, write or say positive things to our lives, the effect can be just as powerful, but
far more helpful.
Affirmations do indeed strengthen us by helping us believe in the potential of an action we desire to
manifest.
Affirmations constantly remind us of our desires. They constantly indeed, bring our minds to a state of
self-consciousness; in such a way that, we are being subjected into doing things that are more profitable
to our lives overall.
You can use affirmations in any situation where you'd like to see a positive change take place in your life.
These might include times when you want to:
Raise your confidence before presentations or important meetings.
Control negative feelings such as frustration, anger, or impatience.
Improve your self-esteem.
Embark on a project, and you suddenly feel negative energy, or negative vibes inside of you.
Improve your productivity.
Overcome a bad habit.
Affirmations are more effective when you pair them with other positive thinking and goal-setting
techniques.
You can do your affirmations through the following:
1. First, always think of positive things; which means, you've got to be optimistic about everything, or
anything in your life.
2. State out your affirmation. Write it out on a book, it shouldn't take more than one or two lines. Then
you keep rewriting it over, and over, and over again, until you've exhausted at least about ten pages of
that book.
3. Say it out loud to yourself, and keep reciting it, at least for about five minutes.
The power of affirmations lies in repeating them to yourself regularly. It's useful to recite your
affirmations several times a day (have them pop up in your notifications!). You also need to repeat your
affirmations as soon as you engage in the negative thought or behavior that you want to overcome.
TAKEAWAY TIPS:
"Affirmation is simply the act of repeating to yourself what you want to achieve while imagining
the outcome you want." - Scott Adams.
The power of affirmations lies in repeating them to yourself regularly.
The use of affirmations is just one way to make positive changes to your life.
Most people actually practice affirmation without even knowing, and they do it wrongly.
You can practice affirmation by just having a positive thinking inform of a sentence, writing it, or
speaking it out loud to yourself.
Writing down positive thoughts or reciting positive sentences about yourself, makes you an
optimizer. Hence; it indirectly increases your chance of success in life.
-About the author (Ayomide Obidiya): The founder of McXherm Blogs; a geologist, a Writer, an
Entrepreneur. A soon to be Philanthropist. To connect with McXherm on Facebook, click here