Affirmations … what’s your take?
This entry was posted on September 25, 2012, in Spiritual Wisdom. Bookmark the permalink. 4 Comments (Edit)
I recently spoke with a chap who did a great number of affirmations at the beginning of his spiritual investigations and like many people found them very beneficial. Now, many years later he has started dedicating time to them again and is enjoying the far-reaching positive effects of affirmations.
Affirmations can be a wonderful tool and so easy to use because we’re always thinking and talking. One of the things that we spoke about was that affirmations work best when they feel right inside. When you say something out loud like “I feel fantastic” when internally you don’t, it can make us feel like a fraud, so best to avoid that. There is a strain of thought out there that you can fake it till you make it but that doesn’t work for everyone. I believe it’s better to find an affirmation that feels right, even if it isn’t as far-reaching and all wonderful as you’d imagine.
For example: let’s imagine the affirmation you’re aiming for is “I feel fantastic” but in truth you don’t feel fantastic.
What could you say? “I’ve felt better but I know today is going to be great”, “I feel alright, at least it wasn’t a struggle to get out of bed this morning”.
Find an affirmation that works for you. When I was ill a few years ago one of my favourite affirmations was “Every day I get better and better” or on days that I didn’t feel like that was true I’d use “Every day I’m closer to feeling better” because deep down inside I really believed it so the affirmation brought me joy and truth (a powerful combination).
Let’s try a different affirmation “I am strong, empowered and confident”.
If that seems like too much of a stretch, try “I always have options”, “I feel confident when I do XXX”, “I know I’m strong because I carry on”, “Today I feel strong, empowered and confident”, “Today I allow myself to feel strong”.
One of the major changes that affirmations made to my life was when I stopped using the word ‘abilities’ when referring to my healing, psychic and medium skills and started using the word ‘gift’ instead. It was a big leap for me at the time and didn’t feel completely right during the first few days but I persisted and now I’m pretty sure I use the word ‘gift’ far more than ‘abilities’ and I certainly feel more comfortable with my gifts than I did then.
What’s your take on affirmations? Tell us in the comments if you’ve ever used them and what impact they had…