Affirmations- Do they really work?

Yes, I most certainly do think there's something in it, but don't think you need to pay for going to lessons. What you need to do is make sure you believe in what you want, have the conviction of your belief and understand that what you are saying, you can achieve.

If you have low self esteem, then maybe you need to work out why that has happened. Quite often it goes back to childhood, always being put down. Now is your chance to change all that. Break free and realise that you are worth something, and that positive affirmations will help that process.

Hope that helps. There's lots more where that came from!

They work, but the small detail most people (even many who teach or write books about it) trip up on is ...

You must visualize your affirmations as already achieved while you "verbally say them".

Most people make the mistake of just silently reading or just saying the words with no feeling or visualization.

So, the formula to make them work is
1. Saying With Feeling!
2. Visualizing or Mentally Picturing!
3. And Consistency!

There's more to it, but that's the foundation you should start with to succeed.

I find where I get stuck is if I am trying to affirm something that I don't feel 100%. So I can say that I want "xxx" by "xxx" and if I feel in my gut that that will never happen or even worse saying the affirmation makes me feel pressured, uncertain, or doubtful then I think they aren't going to work. I've had the best results manifesting in my life when I just got into the feeling of already having what I wanted and stayed in that place. Sometimes affirmations can remind you of what you don't have and abundance doesn't resonate with the same energy as lack.

First of all i would like to applaud the fact that you are doing something to improve your life

I think it is does work but there is a big condition. That is you cannot say the affirmation alone with immediately accompanying what you affirm with strong positive action that provides evidence to support your new belief

Let say you like to stop procrastinating and make better use of your time .If all you do is a say an affirmation e.g" I am so happy and grateful that I take action immediately" but you do not take any new action and hence not providing any evidence to back up your new belief . What happens is that you do not belief your self and when you do not start to see results from your affirmation

Your affirmation would change when you step outside of your comfort zone and take massive consistent action towards the target you set for yourself

When you produce different results in your daily experience what you affirm naturally changes . You don't need to affirm it a thousand time alone you need to take massive action and when you are done affirm your new trait . Each take positive action you are building your belief in yourself and changing your inner dialogue

Hi Emily,

I've got many years of experience working with affirmations, and know for a certainty that affirmations work incredibly well, when done properly.

In fact, you can actually use affirmations to rewire your brain and cause paradigm shifts to occur when you understand how to create "well-formed" affirmations, say them consistently, say them from a place of (at the least) neutrality, and preferably from a place of positive expectation, holding them in mind as if you are simply affirming your new reality.

When you first begin using an affirmation, the first thing that happens is the part of the brain called the Reticular Activating System (RAS) gets activated. This is the part of the brain that opens the filters of your perception, and brings things to your attention you may not have noticed before. So, you can create a new affirmation, repeat it to yourself a few times with feeling, and then notice a change in your awareness throughout the rest of your day.

As you continue to hold the new perception with consistency, new neural pathways are formed in the brain. Neuroscientists have actually been able to film these new neural connections forming in real time and there are a number of videos out there of this occurring. Everytime you repeat an affirmation, the neural pathways grow and become thicker and stronger, very similar to adding thread after thread until, finally, you've got a rope.

After a period of somewhere between 21 - 42 days, the new neural paths become the way your mind now automatically functions, you've formed new "mental habit patterns", and you've actually rewired your brain. When this happens, your perception actually becomes modified and you actually see things differently. You experience what's referred to as a "paradigm shift".

There are things that can stop affirmations from working, which I won't go into here. But when done properly, affirmations absolutely work and they work very, very well.

You may be interested in reading an article I wrote not too long ago on this very subject, "Do Affirmations Work? Proof They Do..." which provides a firsthand account of how this works. (google "Do Affirmations Work? - Proof That They Do ecotarget" to find the article. should be the first one that comes up).

Enjoy...!

Yes, absolutely it works. But it can take time. Remember you're probably dealing with the things you were taught at a young age and most likely you have stuff ingrained in the back of your subconscious, and this can take some time before you get completely turned around. But it absolutely does work. And remember, don't try to achieve perfection either, because that is never achievable! Just believe in it, keep at it, and sooner or later you will notice a difference.

Actually, affirmations don't absolutely require emotions behind them. They will also work just fine if they are said from a neutral space, one that is free of doubt or negativity. If one says affirmations from a place of curiosity or positive expectancy, the subconscious will still accept and act upon them.

I have taught a number of people over a period of over 30 years to quit smoking by repeating a specific affirmation whenever they think of cigarettes or whenever they take a drag off a cigarette. The only requirement being they have to know in advance that it works whether they believe it or not. Just keep repeating the affirmation and know that if they will keep repeating it consistently, within a few weeks they will be a non-smoker. Those who doubt simply don't do it. Those who figure they have nothing to lose, or are curious stay with it and inevitably the repetition affects the subconscious which then realizes non-smokers require a nicotene level of 0 in their bloodstream, and all desire to smoke simply ceases.

If you read the article I mentioned in the post above, you'll also find that I got excellent results and a paradigm shift without having any emotion behind the affirmation I used the very first time I used an affirmation, when I was still a young child.

The most essential ingredient is simply consistency, and not having any conflicting beliefs. If there are conflicting beliefs, the subconscious will feel threatened and will go into survival mode, defending what's been working for so many years, resisting the affirmations, and will push back just as hard as you insist on performing the affirmation with an equally opposing force. This is the reason people like Joe Vitale speak about needing to "clear" beliefs before trying to install new ones, and not even to attempt to install new beliefs without first clearing any conflicting beliefs.

So, emotions can speed up the process, as one of the other names for the subconscious mind is "the emotional mind", as it is where emotions eminate from. However, it is not a requirement. What is a requirement is to have no opposing beliefs, and to come from a neutral place at the least. The 3 to 6 week timeframe still holds true whether practiced with emotions or not. Some affirmations just don't lend themselves to very much emotion, yet they will still be effective providing no doubt, anxiety, stress, etc. is present, which are all signs of opposing beliefs running under the surface.

Affirmations work only with having a clear defined end goal and your desire to achieve that goal.

The BELOW will help with your affirmations as it will embed a detailed picture of your DESIRED FUTURE in YOUR subconcious mind!!

I went to this success conference once where big entrepreneurs and CEO where giving their advices, it goes as follows....

Buy a scrap book and call it your DREAM BOOK.


Write what is it that you desire the most - Your End Goal - in the first page.


Post photos on pages after your written ''mission statement''. The photos must potray similarities of what is it that you desire. Put as many as you wish without having any restrictions on your thoughts and imaginations!!!!

Those who think without restrictions allow their minds to become infinitely rich!!!

You Learn the Process, You Master Your Success.
Tejas Shah
“YOUR First Step To YOUR Web Empire...’’
www.BuildAWebsiteToday.com

Hi Emily,
In my opinion affirmations do work. From experience I noticed that affirmations are like a rubber band when you stretch it, it has to come down to its original position at some point. It is good to pump you up for a while but when it fades away you'll come back to where you started. I use affirmations in conjunction with high charged emotional successful experiences of the past to make it even more effective (i.e. memories of sports achievement, fire walk, board breaking and so on).
If you're looking for something permanent, science of mental conditioning will be more appropriate - NLP Neuro Linguistic Programming. You may want to check it out.

All the best