How to Optimize Your Affirmations?
These days many of us use affirmations to help us get through difficult times or help to connect with a positive message we wish to have in our lives. But how many times did those affirmations work for you? Just by repeating an affirmation a few times a day, were you able to accomplish your desired state?
If you’re like many of us, the answer is probably no. Just because I said out loud “I am worthy of receiving love” on my way to work a few times, it doesn’t mean that this affected my mind so much that I am changing my perspective.
However, affirmations can be powerful and really help us change our subconscious beliefs in the long run. There is a way to get the most out of your affirmations. You just need to know how and when to use your affirmations!
What are affirmations?
Affirmations are words and sentences to stimulate the mind toward our goals and desires. Every word creates a mental image along with vibration in the body and every image resonance an emotion. By practicing positive affirmations regularly, we can use this word-emotion sequence to subconsciously condition the mind to achieve our goals and dreams instinctually.
Affirmations may sound like;
“I am worthy of love”
“I deserve the love and affection I desire”
“I am learning to be calm”
“I respond to situations calmly”
“I am courageous”
“I choose to be in control of my emotions”
“I trust that everything is working for my highest good”
How to write a powerful affirmation?
Let’s start with creating your affirmations. We are all unique and our minds are stimulated differently. When you create your own affirmations, they will naturally be more effective!
1- Personalize your affirmations
Positive affirmations should be personalized so that when you recite them, the words resonate with you. Don't be afraid to modify and change the words of any affirmations that you've heard or read elsewhere. Your subconscious mind is the most receptive to your own words. So when you personalize your affirmations, they will really influence your subconscious decision-making.
2- Make your affirmations present tense
Affirmations should also be in the present tense, so that your mind perceives these words "as if" the reality rather than an expectation. This can sound like "I am safe" or "I am becoming more and more confident every day". When you repeat affirmations in the present tense, your subconscious mind starts to perceive that this has already happened or happening at the moment.
3- Focus on what you’d want to feel instead
If you'd like to create your own affirmations, you can think about how you would want to feel instead and turn that into a sentence. For example, if you deal with anxiety and you want to be more calm and present in your daily life; you can use “I am becoming more and more calmer and present every day” as an affirmation. In other words, whatever you are feeling right now, think about how would the opposite of that feel like.
4- Keep your affirmations positive
Affirmations should always be positive. This one may sound like common sense. However, many people end up affirming negative statements such as "I am not anxious anymore". Even though these types of sentences may seem positive, in reality, these affirmations talk about what we don't want rather than what we want.
When is the best time for affirmations?
Affirmations work the best when we implant them anytime the brain waves are slower than usual. In other other words, if you try practicing your affirmations when you are on a work break, driving or cooking, they may not go as deep.
On the contrary, when you focus on affirmations during meditation, a walk in nature or in a natural state of hypnosis (you can learn more about some of the common natural states of hypnosis from my previous article by clicking here.), your affirmations will penetrate with both your conscious and unconscious mind.
A commonly known simple and effective time to give yourself affirmations is at night, as you are falling asleep. The famous French psychologist Emilé Coué created the technique of “autosuggestion” which is very similar to affirmations. But he improved this technique by simply suggesting to his patients that they repeat the same affirmation about 20 times as they are falling asleep.
Right before the mind drifts to sleep is a natural hypnotic state, during which the brain waves are significantly slower than usual. When you repeat one affirmation over and over again as you try to fall asleep, it becomes almost a form of self-hypnosis.
All in all…
How we talk to ourselves significantly affects our mood, emotions, and the quality of our lives. Affirmations can help us change the narrative, even when things can get difficult. However, if we feel that affirmations don’t work, we can’t benefit from them really. Instead of getting stuck with the generic techniques, use these small modifications to get the most out of every single affirmation!