How can repeating a statement give you what you want? Sounds crazy. But affirmations work. Successful people use them and studies show they make a difference to peoples behaviour. Scientists studying quantum mechanics have found that thinking about something changes it. In this article we explain why you need to do affirmations, what they are, and how to use affirmations so they work for you. You will also find examples of affective positive affirmations. (If you are new to manifesting, go to Powerful Manifestation Methods ).
How to Use Affirmations: At a Glance
Make affirmations in the present tense
Feel the affirmations as if it has already happened.
Make affirmations Specific and personal.
Be the person you want to be – Now
Affirmations are most powerful when they start with “I am”
What are Affirmations?
Affirmations are positive verbal or written statements about a goal or situation you want to happen.
An example: “I am confident”
Or
“I am making $5,000 from my online business”
How to do Affirmations Properly – 5 Things You Must Do
1. Affirmations Must Be in the Present Tense
A positive affirmation must be in the present tense.
“I am confident” not “I will be confident”
When we do positive affirmations we are speaking to our subconscious mind. The subconscious mind does not differentiate between what is happening and what we imagine.
If you tell the subconscious mind “I will be confident”, you are telling it that you want to live in constant state of wanting to be confident and your manifestation will be blocked. When you say “I am confident” it takes it literally.
(If you want to learn more about the subconscious mind go to this article : How to Reprogram Your Subconscious Mind For Success.)
Also as the mystics and sages have said there is only this present moment. Time is a mental construct.
Your true nature is eternal, limitless and pure potentiality.
When you affirm in the present tense you are aligning with reality and the spiritual laws.
Your true nature is already abundant, already confident and already joyful.
By saying “I am confident” or “I am abundant” you are stating a fact and it is a reminder rather than a wish.
2. You Must Feel the Affirmation as if Your Desire Has Already Happened
If you look at a desire you have, I mean a real desire, not something you have been told to have, you’ll notice the reason you want it is because you already have the feeling of it.
You want it because you know how it would feel to have it. And you know how it would feel because it is already here.
Think this through, It might not be easy to get it initially.
Use a desire in your own life…
Say you want to be wealthy, what are the reasons? Freedom? To buy nice things?
Ask “how will I feel when I have those things?” Go further and ask “and what will that feeling give me?”.
Then ask “is the feeling already here?”.
When you realise it is already here, stay with that feeling when you write or say the affirmation.
Again, this aligns with reality and spiritual laws. The feeling is already present because everything is present in the timeless moment of pure potentiality.
Neville Goddard called this living in the wish fulfilled.
When people ask how to use affirmations, they often miss the feeling part of it. Make sure you don’t.
3. Affirmations Are Powerful When They Are Specific
When you do affirmations do not be general. I have used general affirmations as an example only.
“I am confident “ is too general. Putting it this way can bring up negative feelings of lacking in confidence, because why else would you be saying it?
“I am confident about this interview because I have prepared and have the experience for the job”
Or
“I am confident about this interview because not matter what happens I will learn and I know I have an abundance of other opportunities”
These are specific and powerful affirmations.
You can also say, “I am a confident person because I am in alignment with higher principles”
Or going deeper :
“I am confident because my true nature is abundant and knows what to do in each situation”.
Be specific Also Means it Must Be Personal to You and Your Life.
An affirmation that is perfect for someone else may mean nothing to you. That is why you follow principles rather than pick an affirmation someone else has written.
You can shorten the affirmation statement to a generic statement once you have used it several times and it has become ingrained in your mind.
So, “I am confident because my true nature is abundant and knows what to do in each situation”, can eventually be shortened to “I am confident”, your subconscious will fill in the rest because you have internalised the full positive statement.
The cookie cutter affirmation lists you see online have their uses, for a quick boost of positivity but they are not as powerful as something personal and specific.
4. Be the Person You Will Be NOW
Life is an interconnected whole, what you want and who are, are inseparable.
Look at this way, to get what you want you must do things that you are not doing now, doing different things changes your thoughts and how you see yourself.
So part of the affirmation process is to be comfortable seeing yourself as the person you will become as you work to your goal.
Otherwise the affirmation will not work, you will have resistance and fear to changing which means you won’t feel your goal as already happened.
5. Start with I am
“I am” is the most powerful statement. This is why you start many of your affirmations with it.
You can doubt and question everything, except the sense of “I am”. Even doubting it requires you to be here (I am) to doubt it!
You do not have to use exclusively, but it is powerful when you do.
When to Use Affirmations Once You Have Created Them
When you decide to use affirmations depends on what you are trying to achieve.
If want to be more confident or less anxious in general, then use an affirmation regularly.
If you are going for a job interview or competing in a sporting event you use them before, leading up to, and during the event.
It also depends on whether it is a short term or long term goal. A job interview is an example of a short term goal. “I am wealthy” is a long term goal. In that case you would use it on a constant basis.
Best Time to Do Affirmation Statements
The most powerful times to do affirmations is first thing when you wake up and before going to bed.
Another powerful time is during or after meditation. I show you how to do a powerful guided mediation in this article: Yoga Nidra For Manifesting What You Want.
You can also combine affirmations with Angel numbers, find out more here: A Guide to Manifestation Angel Numbers and What they Mean for Your Life.
The more situations and places you do the affirmations over time the more they become part of your reality. Do them when shopping, when lifting weights, playing with your children or cleaning. Make them a part of your life.
Remember you can write positive affirmations down or say them to yourself in your mind, they do not have to be out load. Just a few minutes at time will make a big difference.
Tips on How to Use Affirmations Once You Have Created Them
The simplest, and but also affective, ways is to write positive affirmations down or say them to yourself in your mind.
However, here are some other ways you can use them:
Pillow Method
With this method you imagine and feel your dream life vividly, script the affirmation and place the paper under your pillow before you go to sleep.
Imagine your future and repeat your positive affirmations while falling asleep. Again feel and imagine it has already happened.
55 x 5 Method
In simple terms, this manifestation method involves writing down your affirmation 55 times a day for 5 days.
369
You can use the 369 method – affirm 3 times in morning, 6 in afternoon and 9 times at bedtime.
Two Cup Method
Get two cups, preferably the same size.
Label one cup “Current reality” and the other “New Reality”
Fill the current reality cup with water and leave the other cup empty.
Now affirm and feel your new reality. Really see it. Make it real as you can.
Experience how you will feel and how you will act as if it was already true.
Keep that feeling and pour the water from the current reality into the the new reality cup.
Breathe in as the cup fills ups, you are breathing your new reality into the present.
How To Use Affirmations With Visualization and Gratitude
Affirmations are most powerful when combines with visualization and gratitude practices.
Visualization means using your imagination to vividly imagine the future and who you will be.
You have a conscious and subconscious mind. The subconscious works in the realm of images and feelings. It does not know the difference between something that is happening and something that is imagined. This is the part you are using to manifest your reality when you visualize. This is why tarot is powerful, it communicates with your subconscious mind. To find out more about tarot and manifestation, go to: How to Use Tarot for Manifestation: Manifest Love, Money and Happiness.
You can practice gratitude by listing the things that you are grateful for. Do this regularly and you will have an abundance feeling they you take with you into affirmations.
Law of Attraction and Affirmations
The law of attraction is a description of how reality is set up, For instance, positive thoughts will attract positive outcomes and negative thoughts negative circ*mstances. But it’s more than just positive thinking.
Like the law of gravity explains how objects behave, the law of attraction explains how our thoughts and feelings create our reality, whether we know it or not. A baby does not need to know gravity exists for it to be affected by it.
We use affirmations to bring our desires into existence. The affirmations use the law of attraction to manifest our desires like we use gravity when we throw a ball.
Examples of Effective Positive Affirmations
Remember, when you are working out how to use affirmations , they should be specific to you and your life and based on truth of your situation. And don’t forget, without action nothing will happen.
I have a positive mindset
I am open to receiving abundance in my life
I am safe in the universe and it supports me.
I have wonderful partner who supports me.
I am earning $5000 a month from my business/job/from many sources.
My natural state is health and energy.
I am confident about this interview because I have prepared and have the experience for the job
I am confident about this interview because not matter what happens I will learn and I know I have an abundance of other opportunities
I am a confident person because I am in alignment with higher principles
I am confident because my true nature is abundant and knows what to do in each situation.
Why You Need to Do Affirmations
We gravitate towards negative self talk over positive. It’s a survival adaptation.
Our brains have adapted to see danger. However in this day and age, most of us live in safety, but our brains are still functioning as our ancestors did.
If our ancestors saw a a rustling bush they would treat it as a potential predator rather than assume it was the wind. If they were wrong about the wind and it was a predator, it could have meant death. If they were wrong about the predator then no harm done.
How many times have you said “I cannot do this” or “I will never be good at this”?
What is the advantage of saying those things?
It might save you the short term pain of effort, failure or embarrassment. However, in the long run, you will not grow, make progress and live the life you want.
We also talk to ourselves about what people are thinking of us.
We can’t possibly know what they are thinking, however more often than not we tell our selves the person is judging us in a negative way. Again, the advantage our brains think this gives us that by assuming the worst we can protect ourselves.
How often do you think about others and judge them? Other people are the same, they are too busy thinking about themselves and what people ate thinking about them!
This is why we need positive affirmations, to override our instinctive negative thinking.
Remember, we cannot get rid of negative thoughts completely, they are part of the natural polarity of life.
Conclusion
Affirmations are positive statements to manifest your dream life.
You can also use them to feel better and have less anxiety or to make changes to your behaviour and self image.
The affirmations you use will depend on what you are trying to do.
A positive affirmation must be in the present tense and you must feel it has already happened.
When you want to give yourself a positive boost over negative thoughts and increase your self esteem, you can be general with your self affirmation. eg. “I feel confident”.
When you want to make a change like being action orientated, be more specific and imagine yourself taking action. eg. “I am action orientated”.
When you want to manifest your dream life, you should be specific as possible and feel what you want has already happened. “I am making $10,000 a month from my online business” or “I am wealthy because I find ways to give people what they want” are both attraction affirmations.
Couple affirmations with visualization to make them more powerful.
Remember, you don’t have to stick with one, you can use a several.
“I am making $10,000 a month from my online business”
“I am abundant “
“I am action orientated”.
Use all three, they enhance each other.
Now you know how to use affirmations, go and create your future as YOU want it!
See also Affirmations for Love and Love Letter Method
Carol Marino
Spiritual Contributor and Chief editor
