Three keys to using affirmations
The Secret made affirmations a popular tool for manifesting.
Then when it seemed like sitting around making positive statements wasn’t working, people turned on the humble affirmation, and said it didn’t work.
They are actually a useful piece of kit to have, and I wanted to quickly share with you why that is, and three ways you can make these two-second-sentences get to work on your behalf.
Why affirmations are useful:
You know that the energy field all around you is your attraction magnet. It pulls to it things that match its dominant energy, and that's determined by our thoughts, beliefs, feelings and fears.
So by being aware of what we’re thinking and feeling and being a bit more conscious of what we’re focusing on, we can make the magnet hum with more positive energy – and we manifest more positive stuff.
That explains why affirmations can be really helpful for tuning up your energy field and focusing on something positive. And also why if there’s something heavy dominating your energy field affirmations are going to have a tough time overcoming that.
Here are three ways you can ramp up the power of an affirmation and get the most out of a few seconds of effort:
Clear out the negative first
Let’s say you’re working on manifesting abundance. So you pick out some statements like:
I am abundant
I am wealthy
I am rich
Lovely. These are powerful, positive statements that charge up your energy with good feelings, aren’t they? Well, maybe not. It depends how you feel about wealthy people. It depends how you feel about what rich people do and how you believe they behave.
If your underlying belief system is that ‘rich people are assholes’ or ‘rich people are greedy’ or ‘wealth makes people selfish’ or ‘people only get wealthy by harming others’ then your affirmations aren’t going to work. They might actually make you feel worse.
Here’s why:
When you repeat the affirmation ‘I am wealthy’ your subconscious is triggered to find memories, feelings and beliefs related to that word. If your library of stories contains a whole bunch of negative stuff about ‘wealth’ these get activated.
Suddenly you’re feeling irritable, annoyed, frustrated. And your subconscious looks around, goes ‘wealth – no fecking thank you’ and starts shutting down the possibilities you’ve been creating.
Your great ideas suddenly seem rubbish. Your enthusiasm is dampened. Your million-dollar-plan seems worthless.
This doesn’t mean you should stop using affirmations. In fact, those uncomfortable responses are quite helpful, because they’re clear signs that a negative belief about money is brewing under the surface. And when you know there’s a belief there, you can sort it out!
You can find my free trademarked technique for doing this in the resource vault here. It takes 30 seconds to clear any limiting belief out of your energy system (and subconscious).
Another thing you can do if you’re doing energy work and have a methodology you use: Next time you clear out a load of negative stuff, after it’s processed, take a few moments and think what’s the positive, opposite of what you’ve just cleared. Then turn that into a simple affirmation.
Let’s say you’ve had a session on self-worth, and cleared out a load of old beliefs and past experiences around ‘My work is worthless’. After that is a great time to start using an affirmation like ‘My work is desirable.’ If ‘desirable’ doesn’t click for you then choose something else like worthy / valuable / appreciated / respected / worthwhile / deserving.
When you’ve cleaned out the negative stuff related to a positive statement, it doesn’t get triggered. So you can focus on the affirmation and use it to tune up your energy system and generate positive frequencies.
2. Use sentences you already believe
It’s a myth that the only use for affirmations is to help you manifest things you don’t already have. In fact, one of the most powerful uses for them is to focus on positive statements that you already see to be true.
When you do this, the energy of the statement starts filling your energy field with positive vibrations (attracting more good stuff to you). And because you already believe it, there’s no resistance getting triggered in your subconscious – so it just feels good.
You can start doing this right now. Just pick something you already know and like about yourself or your life. It can be anything – I’m not going to make suggestions for the topic because if I start listing things you might feel good about, and you don’t, it’ll just trigger resistance.
A quick way of getting ideas is to write down five things you’re grateful for right now – about yourself, or something in your life. Then use those to create positive statements. Now you’ve got five positive affirmations that don’t trigger resistance.
You probably know to use the present tense in your affirmations - it’s much easier when you’re using statements you believe. Just by repeating them a few times in a cheerful, confident voice, you start to generate good feelings, and it can shift your whole vibration into a more positive one.
3. Keep all the words positive
You’ve probably heard that all affirmations should be positive. This is because your energy (and The Universe) doesn’t hear the word ‘not’.
One thing that’s overlooked is that each word should be positive too. Every single word has its own vibration, and they all resonate to a different frequency. So you want to choose affirmations that contain positive words (as well as a positive sentiment).
Here are some examples of statements that might seem like good affirmations, but actually contain a negative word that you probably don’t want to be repeating!
Earning money is an easy thing to do. The word ‘earning’ has quite a heavy energy. Making or receiving money might be more positive.
There is no limit to the amount of money I am capable of earning. ‘No limit’ - remember, the Big U doesn’t hear ‘no’ so you’re just affirming ‘limits’.
I earn money constantly by helping other people unselfishly. ‘Unselfishly’ – Just like ‘no’ the Big U also doesn’t hear ‘un’, so this word contains the energy of ‘selfish’. Generously would be a more positive choice.
I have unlimited choices. Replace ‘unlimited’ with ‘infinite’
My bank account never stops growing. You’re just affirming ‘my bank account stops growing’. Switch it to ‘my bank account is always growing’.
All my debts are paid. ‘Debts’… Instead, you could say ‘I am financially free’.
And my final…
Make your affirmations personal.
If a statement feels good to you, and it helps you to relax about money, or puts a smile on your face, or you can feel your energy lifting – then use it!
What are the things that you know to be true, that feel good to you, and that contain positive words? Affirm those! The purpose is to generate good, positive feelings, lift your spirits and raise your vibration.
It really is worth doing. By repeating them in a morning, out loud and positive, for 60 seconds, you can change your energy so much that it puts your entire day on an upward curve.
Got to be good, right?
With kindness,
Michelle xx