Affirmations are simply deliberately formed positive statements about yourself and what you want to be, they are deliberately designed to reprogram your mind in a positive way by constant repetition. They work in exactly the same way that negative self talk works, and we are all experts at negative self talk, unfortunately negative comments or negative thoughts seem to be much easier to believe so are much easier to adopt. Positive thoughts require a little more conscious effort on your part.
In order to adopt new beliefs, we can now systematically choose affirming statements, then consciously live in them. Even if you feel a bit incongruous in the beginning, as though you are lying to yourself, your affirmations will become increasingly true with repetition, until we are certain that that’s who we are.
Let’s take a closer look at the way affirmations are formed. An affirmation is a firm, positive sentence designed to convey a message from your conscious to your subconscious mind. It asserts something you know is true, even though it may not have manifested in your life yet. When the subconscious mind receives this message, it goes to work on a subconscious level to align with it and bring it about.
An effective affirmation must always be in first person (I), and the present tense, and must be stated positively, not negatively. So instead of, “I will not deviate from my diet and quit again” (which would focus your mind on the idea of failure), you could say: “I enjoy eating healthily, following my chosen healthy eating plan is natural and easy for me.”
Now you have replaced the negative thought with a positive, colorful image. Since the mind can only hold one thought at a time, the thought of failing at your diet again is gone, and your subconscious mind has grabbed hold of the healthy idea and has swung into action to follow the positive thought that eating healthily is easy and enjoyable.
To make your affirmations more powerful combine them with powerful positive emotion, by saying them with feeling, or record them and listen to them with music, repetition is key. I have created a video which you can see below and an affirmation audio mp3 which you can download and put on your ipod. Go to www.succeedatslimming.com and download it for free along with your Weight Loss Success Planner.
Here are 10 sample affirmations to get you started, use them as they are or change the to suit you.
- I am slim and healthy
- I love to eat good healthy whole food
- I enjoy eating healthily, following my chosen healthy eating plan is natural and easy for me.
- I remain at my ideal weight easily
- I am happy and fulfilled
- I deserve to be slim,
- I deserve to eat good quality healthy food
- I feed my body with the healthy fuel it needs and it responds by giving me an abundance of energy.
- When I look at myself in the mirror I feel pride at my appearance
- When I am thirsty I drink cool, refreshing pure water