Saturday, August 24, 2013

Affirmations: The key to success

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You look in the mirror, you say, “I am beautiful, I am rich beyond my wildest dreams.” So why aren’t you?
When you make an `I AM’ statement it can be damaging rather than affirmative if you don’t believe it. There is also the risk of thinking that using a positive affirmation will heal your life. the chances are high that they simply won’t, at least not on their own. There is no merit in making self-statements that cover up real problems, or that reinforce a lack of belief in yourself.  That is to say, if you make a statement and don’t believe it, you can’t help but recognize that you are lying to yourself. This is soul destroying stuff and yet propagated by author after author of self-help and spiritual books.
The most powerful statements you can make are always going to be achievable and therefore believable. For this reason making a future statement has more value if you are using the above model. I feel that you can do better by staying in the present and making statements about the actions you are taking every day to bring about that success, that beauty or that good relationship. If you acknowledge that the only thing you can change in the world is yourself, you are more than halfway there. In the area of relationships, it needs to be said, it is not an affirmation to state, “I attract loving relationships.” this is a nice thing to put into your psyche, but the question remains, what are you going to be to achieve it? Addressing what you believe about relationships, your ability to make a good choice and also being honest about what you need to change within yourself, all go a long way to creating the very thing you desire. An affirmation is reinforcing belief or a reminder of action required.
An example of what you might say to yourself in the model of success could be,”I will make only good choices today.” as a daily affirmation, this can only lead you into good spaces, regardless of what you are trying to achieve in the long run. It is a statement of intention, “I will” statements that are made regularly, even daily or multiple times a day to start with, bring stunning results over a relatively short period of time. These are not indeterminate statements for an obscure future, but daily affirmations, which is exactly what affirmations should be, Occasional affirmations are more of a jolly along and have merit for that purpose, to get through tough moments in life by affirming that life will get better.
Using affirmations to correct negative internal dialogue is a fast track to changing attitudes and as such can completely change your life. That inner dialogue is worth a look, it is reflected in communication styles and how others perceive you. If you find you have problems with a range of people or situations in life, it is time to take control and evolve this inner dialogue to reflect who you are as a person, rather than what you have been taught through life experience.  A good approach is to take the negative and construct an opposing positive; this then acts as an interrupter of an habitual thought process. An example of this would be, “Nothing ever works for me, and “switches to” Everything I do turns into success.”
The method as an interrupter is to first pay attention to the inner dialogue, and catch the thought as soon as it springs into mind, Before you make your positive statement you need the switch, this goes something like, ” Nothing ever works for me,”  ‘Stop, I am not doing that anymore. From now on, everything I do turns into success.”