How to Affirm Correctly
How to create and use affirmations properly and fully leverage their potential in your life, step by step.
- Below, you will also find links to scientific studies confirming that this method really works.
- Affirmations are a very simple and relatively quick method that will undoubtedly help you completely transform and turn your life around in all sorts of areas.
- Below, you’ll find information to help you master the world of affirmations. You will have the opportunity to gain control over your mind, because whoever controls their mind, also controls their life.
- Finally, you’ll find a few tips on specific positive affirmations that can one hundred percent improve your life.
An Introduction to Affirmations
Affirmations play a key role in how our minds filter and process the enormous number of thoughts we generate every day—estimated at around 60 to 70 thousand thoughts daily.
In this constant stream of information, it’s easy to get lost and be influenced by negative or unhelpful thought patterns.
This is precisely where affirmations come in, as they help us focus our attention on what truly matters to us.
When we consciously repeat positive affirmations, we send our brains a clear signal about what to concentrate on.
This process works like a filter—rather than being overwhelmed by a chaotic jumble of thoughts, affirmations help us zoom in on specific goals, values, or attitudes we want to strengthen.
This phenomenon is known as selective attention.
As a result, the brain naturally starts to seek out and prioritize information and stimuli aligned with these affirmations.
By using affirmations, we translate our intentions and desires into a language our mind understands and responds to.
Not only does this process increase your ability to focus on what you want to achieve, but it also helps create a positive mental environment in which you can grow and develop.
Affirmations are therefore a powerful tool for directing your attention, enabling you to work more effectively with your thoughts and to shape a reality that aligns with your true intentions and goals.
However, watch out for toxic positivity, which leads to denying reality and suppressing negative emotions.
The true power of affirmations lies in their ability to foster a healthy and balanced view of life, not in ignoring the challenges and problems that must be faced.
What Are Affirmations?
Affirmations are short sentences or statements that, when used correctly, have the power to reprogram your brain and change your way of thinking. More specifically, they reprogram your subconscious mind so that, when applied properly, they transform the subconscious beliefs that may be holding you back from achieving your dreams and goals or experiencing abundance in life.
For example, a 2018 study shows that affirmations can shift your mindset from negativity and self-doubt toward a more positive outlook focused on your strengths. They can encourage and motivate you to develop skills, learn new things, and lead a healthier life.
They are statements that influence both our conscious and subconscious minds, and in doing so, they impact our thoughts, behaviors, habits, and beliefs.
We recommend repeating them and saying them as often as possible so that the subconscious mind adopts them as its own as quickly as possible.
The words that make up the entire affirmation should ideally automatically evoke and embed corresponding inner images in your mind—images that inspire, encourage, and motivate you to take action and manifest your dreams and desires.
The final statements and the internal images they create are literally etched deep into the subconscious, where they influence changes in your behavior, habits, actions, and reactions based on the repeated words.
A 2016 study confirms that affirmations change the structure of our brain and create new pathways that reshape our reality according to newly formed ways of thinking, behaving, believing, and acting.
The Power of Affirmations
If you believe your affirmation, you become what you think. Life truly springs from your thoughts. Yet we cannot rely solely on thoughts. We must transform our thoughts into words, and ultimately into actions, to bring our intentions into reality.
This means we have to be very careful. We must learn to control our words and use only those words and statements that work in our favor.
Positive affirmations literally help cleanse our thoughts and restructure the dynamics of our brain so that we genuinely begin to believe that “nothing is impossible.”
Our brain adjusts its synaptic connections and creates new neural links, known as synapses. This process establishes new ways of thinking and behaving, forms new beliefs, and sets new roots for our habits, thereby shaping a new reality.
If you want to control your life, you must first control your mind. That means mastering your stream of thoughts and, most importantly, your words. After all, your words are your thoughts made tangible.
Every sentence, word, or statement that comes out of your mouth is a form of affirmation. Therefore, you must stop using these statements against yourself, undermining your own progress in life.
It’s not just about the words you say out loud. It also involves the words you say to yourself silently or the thoughts you entertain. By learning to control and monitor the words you use, you will begin to take control of your life as well.
How Affirmations Work
Affirmations are like mental exercises that shape our brain and reshape the structure of its neural connections.
Just as physical training strengthens muscles and increases levels of beneficial hormones, affirmations work in a similar way—they create new synapses that support a particular direction of our thinking.
In practice, this means that through affirmations, we can interrupt patterns of negative thoughts, behaviors, and speech that drag us down, and replace them with new, empowering habits.
Our brain is plastic, meaning it can literally rewire itself at any point in time. By changing synaptic connections, we create new ways of thinking, behaving, and believing. This then reflects in our habits and the way we perceive the world around us.
Isn’t it fascinating that we can so easily reshape our reality and attitude toward life simply by altering what goes on in our mind?
People often say affirmations are among the easiest and fastest ways to activate the law of attraction. But in reality, it’s not about the law of attraction itself—it’s more about neuroscience, selective attention, and our brain’s capacity to reshape itself based on what we focus on.
In this respect, affirmations are an effective tool for directing our attention toward what truly matters to us. If you want to utilize this principle to the fullest, you should combine affirmations with other techniques that accelerate their impact.
How They Reshape the Brain and Reality
Affirmations are a powerful tool that can positively influence your thoughts, emotions, and ultimately your behavior. However, it’s important to recognize that they are not a magic wand that will change your life on their own. They should not be viewed as the sole solution to your problems or challenges.
Rather, they serve as a supportive element that can complement other personal development methods, coaching, or targeted efforts. Let’s take a closer look at what they actually do, the power they hold, and how to effectively use them within a comprehensive approach to personal growth and achieving your goals.
- They motivate and inspire.
- They keep your mind and attention focused on your goal.
- They influence the subconscious.
- They change the way you think and behave.
- They create new patterns of thinking, behaving, and believing, which supports the formation of new habits.
- Positive statements make you more positive, energetic, and active, allowing you to better transform your inner world and, subsequently, the outer one.
- They are one of the quickest and simplest ways to direct the law of attraction and the manifestation process toward where you want to see results.
- They lead to action.
- They help attract into your life the people, situations, experiences, and opportunities that lead to the achievement of your dreams and goals.
By learning to use affirmations in conjunction with other tools and methods, you can achieve deeper and more lasting changes in your life.
How to Properly Create and Use Affirmations
Let’s focus on the most important steps that will help you correctly create and use affirmations so they genuinely work and bring the desired changes into your life.
- Use the Present Tense: To achieve the maximum effect, affirmations must always be phrased in the present tense. If you say something like “I want to live in abundance and safety,” it remains just a future wish and may never truly manifest. Instead, use affirmations such as “I live in abundance and safety” or “I have enough money for all my needs.”
- Avoid Negatives: Your affirmations should never contain negatives. For example, “I don’t want to be sick” sends a confusing signal since your subconscious doesn’t register words like “don’t” or “not.” Our brain focuses on what we give attention to, whether we want it or not. By focusing on “sick,” it’s as if you’re telling your brain, “I want to be sick,” and that’s exactly what it will notice and support. A correct affirmation would be: “My body is strong and healthy,” “I am filled with energy and vitality,” or “I feel better and better each day.”
- Keep It Short: Affirmations should be short and concise, for example, “I surround myself with people who support and inspire me,” “I have plenty of energy,” or “My body is full of energy and vitality.” Avoid long, complicated sentences that might distract your attention.
- The Power of Words: It’s best to begin your statements with phrases like “I am…” or “I have…” These words carry enormous power when it comes to manifestation.
- Feel and Experience Your Affirmations: For them to truly work, you must actually experience and feel them as if what you’re saying were already a reality—like you already have that thing or are living the life you desire. Embrace the positive emotions as though your affirmation is already part of your life. Enjoy and fully feel every word you speak.
- Believe in Your Affirmations: It’s crucial that you believe in your statements. For instance, if you currently earn 5,00 USD per month, it might be hard to believe the affirmation “I am rich.” A better choice would be something like “I am growing richer every day,” “I am becoming more successful,” or “My income is constantly increasing.” These are statements you can more easily believe.
- Repeat Regularly: Repeat them several times a day. The more, the better. Place them in spots where you spend the most time and will see them frequently—your laptop, refrigerator, mirror, or door. This ensures they remain in sight and stay on your mind.
Tips to Enhance Their Effectiveness
- Say Them Before Bed: The most powerful time to repeat them is right before going to sleep because your subconscious will process them throughout the night.
- Use Them During Meditation: Another effective method is to repeat them during meditation, when you’re in a calm, focused state and deeply immersed within yourself. In this state, your subconscious is more receptive, allowing the affirmations to have a deeper impact.
- Vision Boards and Dream Boards: Add your affirmations to your vision board and connect them with visualizations of your dream life. This approach strengthens their effect and helps you move more quickly toward your goals and dreams.
By following these steps, you can gradually change your thinking and behavior to align with your goals, desires, and most importantly, your values. Start with these simple steps and watch as your life begins to improve.
Affirmations and the Law of Attraction
It’s often said that affirmations activate the law of attraction and that, through them, we can draw anything we desire into our lives.
In the traditional understanding of the law of attraction, it’s believed that our thoughts and feelings emit vibrations that attract similar vibrations back to us.
However, it’s important to understand that the real mechanism behind this process isn’t about magic or “vibrations” in a mystical sense, but rather about how our brain functions.
When we talk about the law of attraction, what we’re actually talking about is our brain’s ability to focus attention on things that align with our goals and values.
Affirmations help support this process by creating a mental and emotional state that directs us toward what we want to achieve in life.
For example, when we repeatedly use affirmations related to success or health, our brain begins to selectively seek out situations and opportunities that support that success or health.
Thus, the law of attraction isn’t about attracting something with “vibrations,” but rather about how effectively we can direct our attention and act in accordance with what we desire.
Affirmations are a powerful tool in this process because they help keep our mind and emotions focused on what is important to us.
How to Harness the Power of Your Attention
Using affirmations, you can effectively target your attention and influence how you perceive and respond to the world around you.
They are a simple and practical tool that helps you concentrate on your goals and desires.
If you use them correctly and pair them with emotions that correspond to your goals, you create strong connections in your brain.
This activates selective attention—the mechanism that leads you to notice people, situations, and opportunities that support the realization of your dreams and aspirations.
How you feel is key, because your emotions play a crucial role in determining what you focus on.
Your feelings influence your perception and decision-making, naturally guiding you toward what you want to achieve in life.
To make affirmations work as effectively as possible, it’s important to clearly define your goals first.
You need a precise idea of what you want to accomplish.
Then, create affirmations that align with these goals and motivate you to focus your attention on them every day.
Scientific Studies
Affirmations provide several health benefits.
For example, a 2014 study found that they can help people adopt healthier lifestyles and behaviors.
Another study discovered that affirmations can help individuals become more physically active and adopt healthier attitudes toward engaging in physical activities.
A 2014 study published in the Annual Review of Psychology found that when people face circumstances that lower their sense of self-worth and make growth and adaptation more difficult, positive statements can help. Moreover, these affirmations can improve health and strengthen relationships. According to the study, the positive benefits can last for many months or even years.
It’s not just about health benefits, though. Affirmations can also support your performance, mental health, and other important areas.
In another study published in PLOS ONE, researchers found that positive affirmations can be used to enhance creativity and problem-solving skills under stress.
Most Powerful Affirmations for Every Day
We will introduce you to the most powerful daily affirmations that you can start using right away. Remember, they’re not a magic wand that will immediately change your reality.
Instead, they are tools that, when used properly, can serve as catalysts for positive change in your life. Combined with personal development, self-discovery, coaching, mindful living, and effort, they can bring about real results.
So get ready—open your mind and heart, and let’s dive in!