Affirmations can be a powerful tool in your personal development program, but only if they are used correctly. If you’re like most people, you’ve been taught one part of the equation: reciting the words. Consistently changing your thoughts and words from negative to positive is a great first step because it helps you build a solid foundation for long-term growth. However, this approach alone may not bring about the change you desire.
No matter how specific and focused your affirmations are, reciting them dispassionately will be about as effective as reading a breakfast cereal box each morning. You are engaging your mind, not your emotions. If you want to add power to your affirmations in a big way, you need to include one simple ingredient: EMOTION.
Emotion is the fuel that propels your intentions into being. As you recite empowering words and infuse them with strong emotion, you are in effect stepping into a new “reality” where your desire is a FACT. This alters the vibrations you’re emitting to the universe, and the universe responds by sending you experiences that match your vibrational signal.
However, any old emotion won’t work. Many self-help gurus will tell you to get excited and enthusiastic when you recite affirmations, and that technique does have its merits. But it’s infinitely more powerful to choose the RIGHT emotion for what you’re trying to attract, and place it squarely on the CORRECT part of your affirmation.
Let’s use an example to demonstrate the process. If you want to attract more money into your life, one effective affirmation would be:
“I always have more than enough money for everything I need.”
Which emotions would add power to this affirmation? Excitement? Enthusiasm? Happiness? Yes, those are good, but think for a moment how you would FEEL if such a statement were true. If you were able to wave a magic wand over your life and manifest a ton of money that eradicated any and all financial worries forever, how would you feel? Happy and excited, certainly. But once the initial excitement wore off, what would your mind-set be like?
I don’t know about you, but if that statement were true for me, I’d feel calm, secure, grateful, free and relieved. Worries about money would no longer exist in my reality. I would have no anxiety or stress. I’d feel very grounded and calm about my financial situation.
Do you see the direction your thoughts need to take to make this a powerful affirmation? You need to focus on the HAVING, not the NEEDING. If your affirmations are more like “begging sessions” where you are beseeching the universe to help you, you are only attracting more situations in which you need to beg for assistance!
You have to shift your mind-set so you are in effect stepping into a new reality, a reality in which you already have what you desire, a reality where financial worries (or other troublesome issues) don’t exist for you. As you keep reinforcing this truth in your mind, you can’t help but attract the corresponding reality!
So, if you previously gave up on affirmations because they don’t seem to work for you, give this technique a try. It can be a tricky feat at the beginning because you have to learn to turn your attention away from what you perceive to be your current reality and focus more on the reality you want to attract. But with consistent practice you should find yourself easily able to transition from where you are, to where you want to be.