Affirmations, Clearing The Confusion

Many people involved with self improvement and personal growth give affirmations a thumbs down,      actually saying they are worthless, but there are also many who give them the status of being the absolute key to success. So how do you look at something that is described as being at total opposite ends of the spectrum, from magic elixir of change to a useless waste of time?

 

I would like to inject some clarification into the topic of the usefulness of using affirmations in your self improvement efforts to change and further expand your life. The topic of affirmations is no different than any concept, there are two end of the spectrum which can be looked at. What I have found with most things there is a fine line in the middle between the two end which is where the value and power is found. And certainly with affirmations one can look at them from a perspective too far one way or the other.
 

A good deal of of the misconception comes from the numbers of individuals seeking the quick fix. We all can identify with how easily the human mind can lead us to what we want to see, how easily we can simply read into something what we want. And what many people are looking for is a short cut method to making changes which really doesn’t exist. There are multiple aspects that come into play when you are seeking to make changes in your life and they can’t be ignored if you want results.
 

Affirmations can definitely play a role in your total self development but are absolutely not the only application that you need in order to get the outcomes you want. Affirmations alone can’t bring about the kind of results some hope for, where on the other hand they are not completely worthless as many say.

Much of what is taught by many in the personal growth and development field is only part of what is actually needed. This leaves many people focusing on one or two aspects not realizing other things are needed. Basically change is fairly simple, but there are many ‘between the lines’ methods and tools that can be brought into play and one such is affirmations. It’s easy to let ourselves to overly focus on just one aspect of growth work when so many books and training materials are made to focus on the one aspect. Now there is nothing wrong with applying attention to one area but not to let yourself become blind to everything else.
 

Those who say using affirmations alone can fix everything in your life ‘forget’ about the aspects of action, among a things, which we certainly can’t escape from here in our physical reality. Of course your thoughts and feelings play a critical role in how your life functions, but that is not all. You must take appropriate actions, it is part of your role as an individual experiencing this life. If we were not intended to be actively involved physically, why are we here?
 

On the other end of the spectrum, those who say affirmations are worthless are missing out on a powerful technique that has a purpose when one is dealing with their thinking. And, yes, your underlying thought is definitely crucial as all of your experience follows it. Perhaps, the reason why some look down on affirmations is a reaction to those that focus on their use too heavily, in the wrong way. But such an all or nothing reaction serves to dent something useful. 
 

Here are a few ways the affirmations are useful in your personal growth efforts: 

● Affirmations can help you set your daily attitude. Your attitude directly impacts how you think and feel thus how you act. It effects how you react, how you interact with others, how you feel about yourself and more. Your attitude is something that you can alter as you choose and affirmations are a good tool to assist with doing so.

● Affirmations will help you in developing positive thinking. They can assist you with learning to think about what you want, how and when you want. In training your thoughts you can develop the habit of thinking more on what you do want and less on what you don’t want or like. If this is all affirmations help you with, alone this is worth their use. One of the most important factors to change is becoming able to think about what you want rather then on what you don’t want.

● Affirmations develop strong mental discipline. As you use affirmations consistently you are training your mind in a new way of thinking, one where you have the ability to exercise your will with your thinking. You discover that you no longer must just allow whatever thoughts pop up to remain and influence you. You are learning to take conscious command of your thought process by directing it on to what you choose, on the thinking that supports the life experience you now want.

● Affirmations help you to evolve your thinking in ways that better serve you. As you continue to create  affirmations for yourself, you are thinking deeper, expanding your realm of possibility and enabling yourself to better listen to your intuition. By changing the way you think you will be able to discover much more about yourself allowing for more possibilities and choices.

Now, if your thinking is right now 100% supportive of how you desire your life, you know exactly how you will get it and at the same time you no longer fall back into thoughts of fear, doubt, worry and of what you do not like, maybe you don’t need affirmations. If this is true for you, you have actually assimilated the kind of thinking into your daily thought process that using affirmations can help you with. Your conscious is usually always focused on the positive, supportive and aligned  thinking with the direction you are moving with life. For anybody not quite i this place, affirmations can be a useful tool.

Affirmations are a powerful tool for effecting your thinking, They can play an important role in your thought development so long as you don’t get stuck believing they are all that you need. Working with other aspects of your thoughts and feelings, your perceptions and of course taking appropriate action are important as well. Action alone is also not the sole success factor, as you work developing your thinking you will learn to know the right actions to take at the correct time.

John

 

“It’s the repetition of affirmations that leads to belief. And
once that belief becomes a deep conviction, things begin to
happen.” — Claude M. Bristol