Buddha said "what you think, you become." Affirmations are deliberate thoughts that reach the subconscious mind, the 90-95% of your mind that has been programmed since birth. Much of the subconscious mind contains negative programming, also known as resistance, negative patterns, blocks and habits. Even if you have a positive conscious mind, 5-10% positive is not enough. To be a master of yourself you need to re-program the subconscious mind. If you can integrate your conscious and subconscious minds, use them together with intention, focus, clarity and positive emotions, then you will be able to transform your affirmations into reality. I speak from first hand experience - when integration happens, miracles occur. Like Buddha says, "what you think", conscious plus subconscious, is what "you become".
Did you know your conscious mind only listens to 30% of what someone says? And that's only when complete focus is given. Our conscious mind filters all the time - so we hear what we want or learn to hear. But the subconscious mind listens to everything. It's 24/7, never sleeps and continually evaluates sensory inputs. The subconscious remembers things you long forgot - what your parents said when you were 3, when you were yelled at or believed you weren't good enough, every trauma and negative emotion. The strongest parts of subconscious memory are linked with emotions, and negative emotions are top of the list.
How is that, you ask? Well, our current brain evolved from three brains. The oldest, the reptilian brain, developed from millions of years of survivor based evolution. It has no emotions or advanced thinking. The reptilian brain is fight or flight, about surviving to live another day. Negative events, traumatic or dangerous events are stored in its memory so that similar events can be avoided in the future. The key word is survival, and the reptilian brain takes over when we are faced with an instantaneous life or death situation.
A couple hundred thousand years ago, we added the mammalian brain, designed to take care of offspring. Instead of laying eggs and walking away, mammals raise their children themselves, developing close ties and energies of protection, care, and nurturing. The mammalian brain is emotion based and because of the influence of the reptilian brain, store negative emotion events in memory to avoid future similar danger or hurt. Tens of thousands of years ago, man developed the prefrontal cortex, the front part of the brain that allows us to do advanced thinking, reasoning and cognitive functions such as contemplation and analysis.
So as a result of these three minds together with the knowledge that each person averages 64,000 thoughts per day (80% being negative), that much of our daily sensory input is negative (news, criticism, fighting, gossip, drama, looping), and that we unconsciously repeat negative thoughts to ourselves (e.g. - I can't do this, I'm not good enough, I hate this or that, why am I having a bad day), is it any wonder that our subconscious mind becomes the opposite of what we really want? How can our subconscious and conscious minds work together so we can manifest what we consciously want and is good for us?
One top method is affirmations. These are 100% positive statements that are good for me and good for everyone else (what I say does not cause any other person any hurt, suffering or negative energy). For instance, "I want to be richer than those guys" is not an affirmation because being richer than someone else implies they are going to be poorer than you. Also, wanting to be richer is not 100%, it implies lack in your current situation. A better way to say this affirmation would be "I am a happy multimillionaire with 100 million in the bank." That is a clear, specific, 100% positive feeling statement.
The biggest key to affirmations is total belief. An affirmation works when it's 100% believable. If you don't believe it, why should your subconscious? If there's no belief, there's no feeling, you're just saying it. And if you're just saying it, how can your subconscious, which is super sensitive to emotions, be able to store it in memory?
The method to help you to create new positive beliefs is the old saying, "fake it until you make it", which means act the part. You repeat affirmations like an actor who believes, just like how those negative patterns were repeatedly programmed into you since childhood. Over time, those affirmations sink into the subconscious and become part of you.
Another way to help you is to realize that there are four stages to affirmation belief. I came up with the four stages after performing thousands of healing sessions, because I usually recommend specific affirmations and hear feedback on whether they are working or not. By understanding the four stages of affirmation belief, you can figure out how to re-word your affirmation so that it's easier for you to believe.
Let's work with an example. After a healing session, we both determine that you don't love yourself enough which explains the problems you have with successful loving relationships. To help you, we create an affirmation about love, "I love and accept myself just the way I am." So you say this out loud several times and I ask what percentage do you believe this to be true. You reply zero. So now we are stuck. But since we know about the four stages, we can reword this affirmation for you.
The four stages of affirmations are 1. I am willing, 2. I can, 3. I am (action in the present tense), 4. Thank you for (action in the past tense).
The first stage is the most important, I am willing. You might not be able to say I love myself and believe it but saying I am willing to love myself gives you a really high belief percentage. If that doesn't work, try I am willing to be willing to love myself. The important thing is that you take an affirmation and change the front wording until you believe it. So start with stage 1, I am willing, repeat it several times and truthfully answer how much you believe it's true. If it's 100%, move to the next stage. If it's less than 50%, start with I am willing to consider being willing. The trick is to work on an affirmation until it becomes greater than 50% believable, repeat and work on it until it becomes 100%, and then and only then move to the next stage. Eventually you'll get to stage 4 and say thank you for all the love and acceptance I have for myself. When that is 100% the affirmation is finished and you will have achieved your goal.
It's recommended that you do your affirmations at least twice a day, especially in the AM when you first wake up and the PM just before you sleep. The subconscious is best programmed in alpha and theta brain wave state, which means when you are super relaxed or drowsy (just waking up or just before sleep). Repetition of affirmation is key, since scientific research has shown it takes 30 consecutive days of repetition to fully create a new habit, brain pathway, or pattern. Consecutive means day after day, so if you skip a day, you go back to day 1, even if you skipped out on the 29th day! Keep going past 30 days if you haven't hit 100%.
So let's summarize effective affirmations this way. Affirmations are best for things that are clear, specific, 100% positive, and very useful as180 degree turnarounds from whatever is causing your negative pattern. Affirmations are best when simple. If they are complicated break them into multiple simple affirmations so your subconscious can understand. Affirmations are to be repeated twice a day for at least 30 days straight or until they become 100% believable at all 4 stages. If an affirmation is hard for you to make 100% believable, change the wording of the affirmation according to the four stages of I am willing, I can, I am, and Thank you for that which I have already achieved or received.
If you have an extremely strong resistance to an affirmation, making it hard to get any belief level, try overlaying, which means visualizing something that makes you happy or loving when saying the affirmation. When you overlay, you bring in strong positive emotions such as joy or love which make affirmations much easier to store in the subconscious.
Also, be aware of your thoughts and feelings as you are state these affirmations out loud - yes, out loud and even better in front of a mirror so you can see your own eyes. Speaking out loud means you hear your own voice, which makes it more believable. Looking at your own eyes also makes it more believable. These self actions tell your subconscious that you are taking responsibility and that you really mean it.
You can place affirmations on sticky notes and stick them everywhere, insert them in screen savers, or make them part of your cell phone background. This action turns them into subliminal messages, programming your subconscious every time you see or use them. If you are good at music editing, record yourself speaking your affirmations together with your favorite positive songs and listen to them on your MP3 player. Keep at it and you will be amazed at how a simple little practice can change your world!
I love and accept myself just the way I am. I am a happy, healthy, wealthy, strong, successful, fulfilled, loving and peaceful person who helps others to help themselves. I am one with the universe and I love and thank you all!!!
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