Affirmations changed my life, in the good kind of way, the kind of way that made my thoughts about myself and the world around me go from mostly negative to, well, way more positive than before.

There was a time when I would scoff at the idea of new and wonderful results in life coming from reciting positive affirmations to myself. I would chalk this sort of magical thinking up to some sort of myth, a myth made up by those types of people that walk around like glazed donuts, with an optimistic smile permanently wiped across their face coated in sugar sweetness that couldn’t possibly be sincere.

It is said that the average person’s thoughts are 80-percent negative. I was no exception, but I didn’t ever stop to think that maybe this was a problem. It never occurred to me that my negative thoughts could be standing in the way of me getting everything I wanted out of life and possessing inner peace.

When I became a believer in the effectiveness of affirmations, I thought it was so miraculous that I started Universe Meditation - Positive Affirmation which is a part of free but powerful app named Peace Starter Meditation found Google Play. I had spilled out the most current negative thoughts that had been occupying my mind, Peace Starter Meditation took me through a process to find my absolute most negative thought — the underlying one in my subconscious that was most likely the culprit of all the others. I zeroed in on this thought, and the process to turn it around began. I learned that everyone has some sort of most negative thought about themselves beneath the surface. It may be “I’m invisible,” “I don’t matter,” “I am wrong/bad,” “I”m not good enough.” It could be anything. I myself fell into the “I’m not good enough” category. I had always been a perfectionist and overachiever and had never figured that the reason I had this condition was because I never felt like I was good enough just the way I was. I was overcritical of myself and constantly driven to be more and do more. It was running me into the ground.

“All that we are is the result of what we have thought. The mind is everything. What we think we become.” ~Buddha

The Benefits of Daily Affirmation

You become aware of your daily thoughts and words, reducing the risk of letting negativity seep in.

You notice more synchronicities in your life, which serves to encourage and motivate you to keep up the practice.

Daily affirmations not only help keep you surrounded by the things you want in your life but they help bring about more blessings and gifts.

A daily practice helps to keep the small things in perspective. In this high-speed world you can easily lose sight of how large the small things really are. When healthy you may forget to think of how much you appreciate it. A simple morning affirmation sentence of “I am healthy” can go a long way.

A recent study shows that optimistic people have healthier hearts, and affirmations help you to stay positive.

As you continue this practice, others take note and you begin to help those around you without even trying. This, in turn, helps keep you focused.

Daily affirmations keep you in a constant state of gratitude.

We all keep saying self-defeating and/or negative things to ourselves, don’t we! At the same time, we keep wishing it could all change. Well, it can change!

Affirmations. I’m sure you’ve heard about them. An affirmation is, simply, positive self-talk. It’s a statement about ourselves or our situation, phrased in the present tense as if the statement is already true.

Affirmations work to help us change. I’d like to share with you one method to start creating very personal affirmations.

Identify your negative self-talk and beliefs.
Create affirmations out of those beliefs.
Begin using the new affirmations.
See the “magic” gradually unfold.

1. Identify your negative self-talk and beliefs.

Do this in handwriting, not with a computer. Connecting your physical self with your neurons and psyche and intuition is important here. What our bodies do, our subconscious learns from.

Fold a piece of lined paper in half lengthwise, and then unfold it. Down the left side, write a list of those self-limiting statements you’ve been thinking and saying. “I can’t afford a vacation.” Or “It’s hard to lose weight.” Or “I’ll never meet the right guy/woman for me.”

Stick to one theme or personal issue on this first list. Write everything that comes to mind on the topic. Don’t think, just be spontaneous and real. It needs to be a stream-of-consciousness set of statements.

Then spend a few days listening closely to yourself, to what you’re saying, thinking. Ask a friend to listen, too. Add every negative self-talk statement to your list as it comes up.

After you think you’ve written them all, wait. More will come. As you empty out the top layer in your mind, the next layer will be revealed and released.

2. Create some affirmations out of those beliefs.

This next part is not easy, but you can do it!

You are going to write some new statements. You may feel huge resistance as you do it. Maybe you won’t believe a thing you write. Perhaps you’ll feel discouraged. You’ll probably think it’s weird. But humor me, just like my students did.

Down the right side of your paper, across from each left-side statement, write a new one that transforms that negative statement into a positive.

Examples:

“I can’t afford a vacation” becomes “I can afford to take a nice vacation.”
“It’s hard to lose weight” becomes “Losing weight is easy for me.”
“I can’t save any money” becomes “I’m good at saving money.”
“I’ll never meet the right guy/woman” could become “I’m open to new relationships” or “I’m ready to meet my perfect mate.”

The new statements must be in the present tense. Write “I am…” rather than “I will be…” or “I’m going to be…” Avoid using the word “try” because “I’m trying” is a self-perpetuating statement.

To get around your disbelief about writing something that feels untrue and seems impossible, you can write things like “I’m learning to….” and “I’m getting better at….” It’s still present tense, still a positive affirmation. Something like “I’m getting better at saving money” might feel better than “I’m good at saving money.”

3. Begin using the new affirmation statements.

Fold the paper in half again. Never again read the left side. Ignore it forever.

Post the folded paper, positive-statements on top, somewhere you’ll see it often. Above the toilet paper roll. Over the kitchen sink. Read your affirmations from time to time, but there’s no need to dwell on your list. It is simply an occasional reminder that you’re transforming your thinking.

If you catch yourself thinking or saying any of your old (negative) beliefs, stop yourself. Transform it into the positive, right then and there.

Ask your family and friends to help by simply pointing out any negative self-descriptions when you say them. When they do, transform the negative to the positive immediately, and say the new statement aloud to them.

You’re literally changing your mind.

4. See the “magic” gradually unfold.

The “magic” will happen, if you do the first three tasks. Truly! I’ve done this ever since I learned how, and I promise you it absolutely works. I have a good and happy life and things generally go my way. I believe it’s because I do this kind of work ongoingly.

Soon you will not only say you’re good at handling money (or whatever your issue is), but you’ll also begin to believe it and—here’s the magic—one day you’ll notice that you are good at it!

The negative statements will gradually disappear from your mind.

If you stick with this, what’s absolutely true is that: