Introduction to Positive Affirmations
This introduction is taken largely straight from our website, if you have read the introductory pages, understand what positive affirmations are then you can skip straight to the 3 Steps
Positive affirmations, to write a dictionary style definition are simply:
Statements which affirm something to be true.
This is still a little ambiguous, so to elaborate, basically positive affirmations, what most people mean by them are positive phrases which you repeat to yourself which describe how you want to be.
When you first start saying your positive affirmations, they may not be true, but with repetition and consistency they sink into your subconscious mind, you really start to believe them, and eventually they become your reality, they become a self fulfilling prophecy and actually become true.
Over time they overwrite any limiting or negative beliefs you may have about yourself or about not being able to do something, and replace them with positive thoughts and beliefs which instill confidence, belief, positivity, ambition and much more.
It is perhaps easier to see in a real life example:An Example – Positive Affirmations for Confidence
- I am confident
- I am a naturally confident person
- I am confident socially and enjoy meeting new people
- I am confident at all times and in all areas of my life
- Confidence comes naturally to me
- Being naturally self confident and comfortable within myself is just part of who I am
* these affirmations are taken from across our affirmations for
confidence range.
Someone who is perhaps a little shy or un-confident would repeat these affirmations. They would want to change themselves from being shy and introverted to becoming self confident and more outgoing perhaps, and so they would use positive affirmations and repeat them over and over.. and
eventually they would start to sink in – the repetitive, positive self talk would start to become a self fulfilling prophecy.. Well in just the same way (but reversed) you can use the power of positive repetition for yourself!
Using positive affirmations gives you back control of your mind and the information it receives. It puts you in the driver’s seat of your mind and lets you flood it with positive information which will change you for the better!
So without further delay, here are our 3 simple steps to INSTANT results with Positive Affirmations.
Step 1: The Basics
Most people want to dive straight in, and that is actually totally fine; in-fact it is quite an energetic and positive attitude to have.This first step (the basics) is important. It is the foundation and it will guide you on how to use
them, how to add more structure and consistency to your daily affirmations routine (to add more power to your sessions) and finish with some more advanced tips.
Please don’t skip this vital first step! It will only take 3 minutes to read, then you can be using your affirmations straight away and making changes in your mind and in your life TODAY!
The Most Simple Way To Use Positive Affirmations
Ultimately you will find your own style, way to say them, timing etc, but here is a really simple way to start.
● Stand tall, relax your shoulders and stand with good posture – take a confident standing position.
● Have your affirmations in-front of you, written down or printed out – especially if it is a new set.
● Say them one by one, in a slow, confident tone of voice – like you mean it, like you believe it, and as if it is actually real or already happened.
● Speaking slowly and confidently is important. Confident speakers take their time, they don’t rush their words, they pronounce each one properly and speak with meaning.
● Optionally you can stand at a mirror and look at yourself as you talk. You might find you feel awkward, but with practice this will be normal to you. Standing at a mirror shows you your posture and your confidence so you can ensure you are doing them properly – adjust your voice tone and posture as needed to always stand positively, and look yourself in the eye.
That’s it, that is really all you need – see, positive affirmations aren’t rocket science, get started, put in the time and you will see results!
Add a Little Structure
Getting a little deeper, it is good to add a little structure, and CONSISTENCY.
Consistency is actually key, you need to repeat your affirmations day in, day out, so having a real structure,a daily routine will really help. Here is a standard routine for you to try, you can adapt it as needed, but it is a great place to start.
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Say your affirmations 2x a day.
Start in the morning, as soon as you can after waking up. This ensures you have a positive start to the day – that the first thing you start thinking about are your goals and ambitious, and of course, that you are thinking positive thoughts!
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Say your second set as close as you can before going to bed. This ensures that you have positive thoughts in your mind as you go to sleep, you are thinking about your goals and these will seep into your subconscious mind and solidify as you sleep.
● Say them multiple times. It is up to you, but we recommend either 5 minute sessions (so just 10 minutes a day total), or alternatively, saying your whole set of affirmations 10x each, in a slow, confident voice – whatever suits you really, don’t take too long, 10-15 minutes is probably too much and they might seem like a chore after some time, 5 minutes really is enough for permanent, lasting change.
Again, that’s it, a little structure is good, try to stick to it – if you really do stick to this structure for 2 weeks then you will see a real difference in yourself! Then it won’t be like a structure you are trying to stick to at all… it will be something you want to do because you will have seen the powerful changes that positive affirmations can produce.
Use Written Affirmations Too!
An extra step you can take is to write your affirmations down, or just print them out right from our site.
You can pin them up around your house in key places that you will them each day. On the fridge, in your school/work/gym locker, on the inside of your bathroom mirror, on the dashboard of your car.
This just adds a little extra, you will simply see your affirmations randomly each day in the middle of the day, this will just jog your memory and remind you to stay positive and focused on your goals.
When you are constantly reminded about your affirmations and goals like this, you can accelerate your results as it’s not just when you are saying your affirmations that you think about them and your goals, but constantly throughout the day you encounter little reminders and as a result you are always focused and develop a complete consciousness around achieving success and realizing your goals!
Some Extra Tips
So you’re still hungry for information? Good Use these extra tips to make sure that you get the most from your positive affirmations practice!
● Start with a focus. Don’t pick too many subjects at once.
● Be consistent. Repeat them daily.
● Make a commitment to do them for 30 days, no matter what. Think long term, and don’t give up.
● Monitor your mood first. Before you start your daily session, just take 30 seconds to “look inside” yourself, see how you feel, see how your emotions are, do you already feel positive, negative, a little tired.. just take note. Then, say your affirmations, slowly, take your time, and then do a “mood check” again. See how you feel, see how positive you now feel, see how you feel differently about yourself. This can be a great way to gain confidence in your affirmations early on. Before you even see the life changing results you really want, this simple experiment should show you how they can instantly
lift your mood and change how you are feeling in an instant and inspire you to keep going so that you really do get to see the bigger and lasting changes you really want!
That’s it.. lots of people go looking for that magic formula to self improvement, looking for that powerful, complicated hidden technique.. it really doesn’t need to be like that – positive affirmations are for real, they can have a really powerful cumulative effect, and they can make real, lasting, dramatic changes to your life – to how you think, to how you act, to how you live your life!
You now know enough to get started with positive affirmations and start transforming your mindset from the inside-out. You’re ready! You can browse the categories along the right hand side of our website to see which areas you want to develop in (we have life success affirmations, affirmations for health, even metaphysical affirmations and much much more) and get started right away..
.. or you can keep reading the following 2 steps to add extra power to your affirmations sessions and see real results even faster!
Step 2: Visualization
Visualization and positive affirmations go hand in hand.
It’s actually automatic that when you say your affirmations you can’t help but visualizing.. visualizing your future lifestyle, seeing yourself in the future as more confident and successful.. you actually see yourself achieving your goal right!?
Some people actually argue that all positive affirmations actually do is trigger the visualizations within your mind - and this is why you change!
Learning to Visualize
Visualization doesn’t have to be difficult.
Everyone struggles at first, it is natural to find it difficult at first; hard to create your visualization as you really want to see it - in full color, moving, and looking realistic. It can be hard to concentrate, hard to stay focused, and hard to stop your mind from wandering.
All you need to know right now is two things:
1. That this is normal - EVERYONE experiences visualization like this.. at first.
2. All you need to do to move past this is to keep practicing.. don’t give up.
Developing visualization skills isn’t instant, but it doesn’t take a huge amount of time either. If you practice every day for just 5-10 minutes then you will see an improvement within a week, and if you keep at it then you will notice a dramatic improvement within a month.
How to Visualize - Simple Steps
If you can, make visualization part of your daily routine. Take 5 minutes to say your affirmations every day, and 5 minutes to visualize - do the sessions one after another.
There is no secret formula to visualizing, all you need to do is follow these simple steps:
1. Find somewhere quiet where you can sit, relax, and get comfortable. A sofa, or a comfortable chair is ideal. Make sure you have quiet and you won’t be disturbed for 5 minutes.
2. Pair your visualization exercise with your affirmations. So whatever affirmations for whatever area of your life you have just said - this is what your visualization exercise will focus on too.
3. Before you start plan 3 simple visualizations you will do. You will imagine yourself fulfilling your goals, imagine yourself having achieved what you want to achieve, or already having transformed how you want to change yourself.
4. Now close your eyes. Take just one minute to clear your thoughts before you begin. A simple way to do this is to focus on your breathing and count to 30 - 1 count with each breath. Count 1 on the inhale, and 2 on the exhale, then inhale to 3... until you reach 30. This will help to slow your thoughts down, and help you to have clearer visualizations.
5. Now, for 1 minute each imagine your 3 scenarios. Imagine yourself accomplishing your goal, imagine yourself having changed, imagine yourself in the future.
That’s it. The whole process can take less than 5 minutes, and really it should be a quick booster rather than a real in-depth lengthy session.
If you do this every day then you will see real results within a few weeks.
Some Examples:
Here are just a few examples of 3 visualizations you could use for different areas. Once you read over these and do a few of your own you will see they are simple to think of:
Weight Loss
1. Imagine yourself looking at your new slim body in the mirror, smiling, your stomach is flat.
2. Imagine yourself wearing new clothes, a new dress, perhaps getting compliments from friends and feeling great.
3. Imagine yourself at the gym, working out, feeling healthy, fit and active in your new slim body.
Confidence
1. Imagine yourself standing tall, smiling, with a group of friends listening to with smiles on their faces as you tell a story.
2. Imagine yourself wearing smart clothes, standing in-front of a crowd, talking, feeling relaxed, confident and empowered.
3. Imagine yourself at a party, casually chatting to people, smiling, shaking hands and meeting new people - feeling confident, self assured and enjoying the experience.
Successful Entrepreneur
1. Imagine yourself checking your bank account - with an abundance of money in there, you know it is the result of your success.
2. Imagine yourself leading a group of people, taking charge and getting things done for your own business. You are inspired and inspiring and loving life, building your business.
3. Imagine yourself super focused and sharp, running your business, making decisions and judgments on important issues, but it all comes naturally to you and you love it.
Now Add Extra Power to your Visualizations
Don’t just “simply visualize”.. take it an extra step and see your results dramatically increase too.
Add more feeling and emotions to your visualization practice.
Don’t just see yourself achieving your goal, don’t just see yourself as more confident and self assured.. actually FEEL IT.
Imagine what it would feel like to be totally self confident, imagine how you would stand, imagine how you would talk, imagine how you would feel about yourself, how you would feel inside.
When you do this, add feelings, and provoke emotions, it makes the whole visualization practice much more intense, much more real, and much more powerful.
Adding this element really makes your mind believe it is real. You’re not only visualizing the goal you want to achieve, you are living out the whole experience in your mind. Your mind can’t tell the difference between this powerful visualization and the real thing.
This just helps you to believe in it sooner, to believe in yourself perhaps, to believe you are confident, to really truly believe you can be successful in business or in sport for example.. and only when you really believe it can it actually come true.
Step 3: Anchoring
Firstly, while you have heard of positive affirmations, and probably already had a good idea what visualization is, you might not be so familiar with anchoring, so lets start with a quick definition.
Anchoring is a simple yet powerful tool that anyone can use. As a basic definition: Anchoring is the process of associating memories or thoughts to an external stimulus.
Basic anchoring involves in essence, the experience of a desired state, whilst using some notable stimulus (often touch) at the time this is most fully realized. In many cases, repetition of the stimulus will re-associate and restore the experience of the state.
To put this in simple terms, or for our purposes, an anchor is often a touch sensation you purposefully associate to a specific state of mind so that you can put yourself into a positive state of mind, to snap yourself into a certain state, or bring back positive feelings and emotions at a future time, simply by using your anchor.
An Example
Don’t worry, if you are still lost, anchoring is best explained by an example.
So, if you wanted to create an anchor for happiness you would think of happy times in your life, you would bring a smile to your face, you would visualize and actually experience the happiness. At the height of this exercise when the feelings are at their strongest you would create your anchor - you would pinch your fingers together.
With a little repetition you begin to associate the pinch of your fingers to the feelings of happiness, and sooner than you would think it begins to work the other way round!
A simple pinch of of your fingers brings back these feelings of happiness - you can use it to get into this state when you are upset or feeling down and give yourself a natural boost.
Anchoring can be a fantastic tool - an amazing natural, quick, easy and effective way of taking control of your mind rather than letting your mind control you!
Creating Your Anchor
Here is a simple step by step for creating your anchor, we will use the example of positivity. Simply read through each step one at a time and take 30 seconds to do the exercise:
1. Think of a time when you were super positive. Perhaps at the start of a new venture, a move to a new house or area, a new job, a time in your life when you were full of optimism and excitement. Remember how excited you were, how you wouldn’t be able to stop yourself from smiling. Pinch your fingernail into the thumb on your left hand. Not too hard, but with enough pressure to create a distinct feeling.
2. Remember the actual feelings of happiness inside your body. Where was the feeling? was it in your head, your heart, your belly? Where does the feeling of happiness start for you, and where does it spread to, how do you feel happiness in your body when it spreads and grows to it’s peak? When you can really feel the feeling of happiness inside your body again, go ahead and pinch your fingernail into your thumb again.
3. Now finally, imagine the future. What would it take for you to be happy right now? What do you want in your life more than anything? Visualize yourself achieving your goals, getting what you want and being happy. When you can clearly see yourself with a big wide smile on your face, feeling good and simply naturally happy, then go ahead and pinch your fingernail into your thumb again.
What you are doing here is creating a physical anchor which is the pinch of your fingernail into your thumb and associating this to the memories, feelings, and actual experience of being happy.
This is just one example, however you can apply the above steps to create an anchor for any area (and create different pressure points and pinch points on your hands and body for different things). For example, you can imagine when you felt confident and self assured and pinch your elbow. You can re-create the feelings and memories of being focused and concentrating deeply
and anchor these to rubbing your forehead.. there is no limit to the personal, specific, and powerful anchors you can create.
Using Your Anchor
This is where things get interesting. Anchoring isn’t just about remembering feelings and pinching your finger.. once you have setup your anchor then you can use it to positive benefit! For example, with the above anchor you have created for positivity, you can now use this whenever you are feeling anxious, nervous, worried or un-positive.
All you have to do is pinch your fingernail into your thumb and you will bring these feelings of positivity back to the surface.. you will actually feel positive!
Because of this anchoring can be used to pick you up and give you a boost as and when you need it. It is a completely free tool which you can personalize and use to help you in any and all areas of your life. Aside from positive affirmations it is my favourite tool :)
Moving Forward
Personal development doesn’t have to be hard, complicated, or long. It really can be simple and indeed you can see quick results.
The main reason I wanted to start this site and to offer this guide was to give something for free and show that you can really develop yourself and your mind, for FREE, from the comfort of your own home.
I hope you can take these steps and apply them into your own life. The only thing you really need is CONSISTENCY. If you try these exercises once then you will not really see long term changes or improvements, the key is to using them consistently; use them daily for weeks and months and you will see dramatic changes, real changes, and much more positivity and success in your life.
Consistency is all you need, it is the secret key, it is the path which separates failure from success.
