How To Make Affirmations More Powerful
A lot of people talk about making affirmations, but few actually do. Most people add some sort of motivational statement to their affirmation, but they never really describe what they want to achieve with their life or anything specific.
By adding more detail to your affirmations, you can increase the power of your statements tremendously!
In this article, we will discuss how to make your affirmations more powerful by using a technique called creating success stories. We’ll also look at two examples to show how this works in practice.
Use powerful words
One of the most common reasons why people get stuck in negative thinking patterns is because they either don’t know how to use strong language or they don’t believe those words apply to them.
When you think about it, our lives are made up mostly of positive experiences, so why not make use of these positive experiences as tools for changing your behaviors and beliefs?
By using strong language, you will begin to feel more confident in yourself and your abilities. You’ll also want to add “I” into your vocabulary when referring to yourself. This will strengthen your self-confidence and help you focus on all of the things you have done right.
In addition, research suggests that making internal statements with emotional intensity can actually increase levels of stress hormones like cortisol in your body. While some stress is natural and helps motivate us, too much can impair sleep and overall wellness.
Instead of saying, ‘My life has been going great ever since I decided to work hard,’ say instead, ‘I have worked hard and my life has only gotten better because of it.’ Or maybe something along the lines of, ‘Yes, today was difficult, but I still ended my day being happy.
Use positive imagery
A great way to strengthen your affirmations is by using positive imagery. You can do this by creating a picture or video of you saying your affirmation, replacing the word you’re trying to improve with the image or statement.
For example, if you want to become more organized, you could create an album containing all of your important documents (resumes, notes from meetings, etc.) along with a short affirmation about organizing. Then every time you need to look up something or organize anything, you can use the photo as proof that your affirmation has worked!
Using images and videos is a very powerful tool because it creates strong mental connections in the brain. It also allows you to easily recall the affirmation since you have the attached image or movie.
Anchor affirmations in your mind
A powerful way to use positive thoughts is to create an affirmation and then, every time you feel like saying or thinking something negative, you instead say the affirmative version of that thought.
For example, if you were trying to convince yourself about something for too long, you could add a new word to the end of the statement. In this case, the new word would be “not” and the new statement would be “I do not have to believe that…”
By adding this additional part, it creates a reverse effect and removes the influence of the previous belief. It shifts your mindset away from the old thinking pattern and helps you make the transition into the newer one.
This works particularly well when someone else has put negative beliefs in your head before (for example, parents who may criticize their child). By breaking down these barriers, it can help you let go and realize the truth about those people and what they said.
It also works when you are trying to get motivated or focused. You can choose either a short, simple affirmation or a longer one that more clearly elaborates on the original idea.
The length does not matter as much as having a strong sentence that makes you agree with its premise.
Practice meditation
Meditating is a great way to create more space in your mind for positive thoughts. You can do this anywhere, even while doing something else!
Many people begin practicing meditations with what’s called a beginner’s meditation. This just focuses on breathing and having a relaxed face. It is very common to feel tired or sleepy during these practices, but that only shows how well you are listening to your body.
The next thing people usually add into their meditation practice is a word or phrase. Some people add “be happy” or “think of a pleasant place.” While those ideas are good, there are actually several types of affirmations that could be used instead.
You can make your own negative or positive affirmation by changing the words around it. For example, if your affirmation was “be happier”, then you would change it to “moody”. Or, if it was “think about a beach”, then you would change it to “swim pool”! The prefixes of an affirmation play an important part in determining its meaning.
There are many ways to learn how to do meditation. Many yoga studios have classes where they teach beginners how to do it. There are also plenty of free resources available online and through community centers.
Speak with conviction
Even if you are not saying anything negative about yourself, your thoughts still have power over you.
If you think negatively about yourself or feel anxious about something, your body will agree and respond accordingly.
For example, when we’re afraid of something, our bodies become tense and stressed. If someone else makes us nervous, we can sometimes even get a slight headache.
When we’re thinking positive things, however, our energy is elevated and we may even experience some type of euphoria.
In this case, our bodies prepare for action by raising blood pressure and heart rate.
There are several ways to test the power of your beliefs.
Be consistent
A lot of people get stuck with their affirmations because they do not follow through with them. You have to be willing to put in the work to see results.
If you are trying to tell yourself that you cannot stand watching TV, then you need to make that change into action. Do so for one week, then move onto the next week.
You will still be able to watch TV, but instead of it making you feel bad, it can help motivate you to make other changes in your life.
Affirmation is like any other skill — if you want to improve at it, you must practice!
Practice every day, at least ten minutes, and keep track of how you feel. If you are feeling happier and more confident, then your affirmation was successful.
Add rewards
A lot of people begin using affirmations in this space, but they fail to add any kind of reward for themselves when they do not see results.
If you want to see true change, you have to set up some milestones along the way. You need to give yourself points every time you meet your goal, or every time you show effort towards your goal.
This creates a positive feedback loop that helps you keep moving forward.
It also reminds you why you started putting into place the changes in the first place.
Rewards can be anything from telling yourself about how well you did on your workout today to giving yourself permission to order whatever food item you wanted at dinner. It does not matter what type of reward you use, just make sure it is something meaningful to you.
At the end of each day, take a few minutes to recognize all of the things you accomplished. If you wake up and go to work, you are still achieving your goals if you tell yourself you’re going to exercise tomorrow.
You will eventually find out that you are more likely to put in the effort needed to achieve your dreams when you’re looking forward to something important to you.
Use it or lose it
A lot of people use affirmations, but some do not seem to understand what they are really doing. When you start thinking about all of these positive thoughts, your brain starts creating internal experiences and emotions based on those positives.
But most of these negative thoughts we have already thought before, so their effect is slightly recycled. You can probably remember a time when someone told you that you were ugly and worthless and you believed them!
By using pre-existing negatives as an affirmation, you are actually reinforcing the negativity. The more you say something, the more likely you are to feel it. This doesn’t work in our case because you just made us think about how bad we already felt!
The best way to use affirmations is to create new ones – this is where letting go of past beliefs comes into play. If you have heard “I am never going to be good enough” before, then instead of saying “ I will NEVER be enough,” try “I will always make progress.”
This removes the word WILL from the statement and replaces it with SHOULD, which creates motivation. Should implies goal setting and push coming from within yourself.