Afirmations are for wimps!

by JoeDRL

Posted: 12 years ago 39 replies

PERSONAL DEVELOPMENT

Hey everybody,
I just heard Joe Vitale on a podcast talking about the Law of Attraction and at some point the interviewer asked Joe if he was doing affirmations and what he answered was quite amusing, he said: "Nah, I don't do them, I do think that affirmations are for wimps". I tend to agree with that statement...

First, affirmations are statements that you repeat to yourself to influence your subconscious and destroy or create beliefs.

What Joe explained is that most programs out there tell you to form affirmations of what you want. Something relevant to IM would be "I can make money like water" or "I have more than enough money". The result is that poor people are running around barely eating and saying to themselves "I am richer than King Solomon". You can see the problem here. The reasons for this is that your statement doesn't even get to your subconscious, it is immediately blocked and thrown away.

The alternative is to use affirmations which are more believable like "Everyday, I get richer and richer" or "Money is easier to get", I'm sure you understand the principle.

He then also mentions that affirmations are way overrated in the fact that they are not very powerful compared to other means like visualization.

Like John Rohn (R.I.P.) said, "I have nothing against affirmations, as long as they are the truth".

What are your warrior thoughts on affirmations?

Have a nice day,
~ JoeDRL

#afirmations #wimps

WiFi

12 years ago

So you say affirmations are for whimps, but then you say some affirmations are good, and then you say they are overrated, hmmm...

I think they can help some people and they may not help others. Depends on the psychology of the person.

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WiFi

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hireava

12 years ago

Originally Posted by WiFi

I totally agree....I think it depends on the person on how he/she understand the message being discussed to him/her.

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JoeDRL 12 years ago

I'm saying the affirmations that are not true are "for wimps" as Joe Vitale says.
I then say that believable affirmations are better to conclude with the fact that they are not as near as powerful as other tools like visualization.

Do you understand my point, sorry if it is unclear in the post.

Yeah I definitely agree, if it helps you, continue doing it but if it only confuses you or make you live in a illusion, it's not a great way to go in my opinion.

Thanks for the comment,
~ JoeDRL
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KyleGolemMedia

12 years ago

Joe,

Like anything, you HAVE to take action. Affirmations will put the illusion of success in your mind if you let them.

A good example of this would be for a drug addict. They're addicted to a substance but affirm themselves that they're ok or they will get better soon...but WAIT! One more hit.

Ya know?

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Ikmal Syifai

12 years ago

Originally Posted by KyleGolemMedia

Yeah, live with your dream not in you dream.

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fingerloco Banned 12 years ago

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- Ikmal Syifai 12 years ago
  
  Originally Posted by fingerloco
  
  It is really a good program for the great cause. they give the meal to the food bank which for each tweet, to became follower,
  
  Badass spammer!
  
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JoeDRL 12 years ago

Hey Kyle,
Yeah that's for sure, action is THE thing that makes the difference between success and failure, I couldn't agree more!

My point was exactly that saying affirmations that you don't believe and not taking actions on them won't be beneficial for you.

Lol for the spammer.

~ JoeDRL
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- Aesop87 12 years ago
  
  I feel as though there is a thin line between establishing a productive mindset and self-delusion. For example, take the affirmation "I deserve money flowing into my life." If you haven't created anything of value, do you actually deserve that money? Not really. You haven't provided anything yet.
  
  The goal, I think, is to create a mental environment that is conducive to realizing that affirmation. In order to be in a state where you can create something of value, you first have to accept that you have something of value to provide. Many people believe that they do not, and this inhibits their progress. Therefore, if affirmations are to be used, their function would be to open the possibility of being in a state where you deserve money through your actions.
  
  The risk of this, as has been previously mentioned, is that you wind up replacing the "anchor point" of deserving with the illusion of deserving. In other words, instead of anchoring the grappling hook atop the mountain of your desire and climbing towards it, you end up pretending you are at the mountaintop and never making any progress.
  
  If one uses affirmations, I think it is important to make that critical distinction of "why" or to what end you are doing it right from the get-go. Otherwise, you end up living in your fantasy instead of realizing it.
  
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JoeDRL 12 years ago

Exactly Aesop87, you are making a very good point here and I couldn't explain better than you did here.

Too many people are already living an illusion, going around convincing themselves of untrue statements will only make it worse in my opinion.

Have the greatest day of your life,
~ JoeDRL
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Jonathan 2.0 Banned 12 years ago

Originally Posted by JoeDRL

Like Jim Rohn (R.I.P.) said, "I have nothing against affirmations, as long as they are the truth".

What are your warrior thoughts on affirmations?

That's the answer. Some affirmations (I think) are silly. Like "I'm driving a Ferrari."

However when they're true, they can indeed be powerful. My favourite affirmation is "Whatever happens I'll handle it." This has always been true. You could say that it's a "re-affirmation" of the truth.
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Saito 12 years ago

I would refer to those folks as people engaging in an effective practice in a way that is less effective. Wimps seems like an irrelevant word choice.

What he seems to be claiming is that Affirmations are for wimps in general, because some people use them incorrectly.

By that logic, I should not take medicine EVER because some people take their pills on the wrong schedule.
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- Roan 12 years ago
  
  I think it is a good thing. it just depends on how you use it yes. It shouldn't be too unrealistic but it can definitely help.
  
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TheTruth2011 12 years ago

They won't work if you sit in front of a mirror telling yourself that you love yourself. your subconscious will laugh at you and say " nope your still a loser I am not convinced". However say you lift weights for 20 minutes instead and then you feel great and you start saying things like I love myself and I feel strong, the emotional intensity will start to re-wire your brain to believe this as true.

You can't fool yourself into being cool, you actually have to work at it... who knew
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- JoeDRL 12 years ago
  
  Thanks for all of your input, I think the major guideline everybody is saying is that:
  1) You must take action
  2) You must make your affirmations believable
  
  Also, Saito, of course, using wimps was a little bit mean as i know some people use affirmations and benefit from them but I wanted to take Joe Vitale's word for it.
  
  No harm meant to anybody,
  ~ JoeDRL
  
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sunray

12 years ago

I think an affirmation to be valuated as truthful or not, we first have to set boundaries of where our described reality is. Is it only the material world or should our own mind also be included? If it's the latter, then there is no lying then a poor person says "I'm driving a Ferrari", as with the help of his visualization faculty he really does it at the very moment he says it.

What's the material world after all? It's the outcome of the inner. Without people first imagining it, there could be no Ferraries. Moreover, what we think to be our reality in the material world, is actually just our past experience and may have nothing to do what happens next. And, everything of this experience resides also in our mind.

That said, I also believe just giving affirmations won't change much. But that is not because of the outer reality, but the inner subconscious programming we have. If we just can touch those deeper levels with our affirmations (maybe in deep meditations?), then it really works.

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Jonathan 2.0

Banned 12 years ago

The problem as I see it is people affirming something materially and then expecting it to happen without much work. (Similar to The Secret.)

That’s why I mentioned the Ferrari example. Sure you have to think about something before you can attain it and many times visualising can be a powerful tool, however it’s only a preliminary aspect of attainment. You still have to put in the hard work.

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sunray

12 years ago

Originally Posted by Jonathan 2.0

The problem as I see it is people affirming something materially and then expecting it to happen without much work. (Similar to The Secret.)

That's why I mentioned the Ferrari example. Sure you have to think about something before you can attain it and many times visualising can be a powerful tool, however it's only a preliminary aspect of attainment. You still have to put in the hard work.

What we are doing by putting in hard work, is actually just shifting our subconscious programming little by little towards the goal. That is, if we are doing it right and have success in our endeavour--if not, then we're only wasting the time. We can work day and night and have no success at all.

In its essence, there is no work required. The world around us is an illusion, a mere projection of our thoughts. If you read Lester Levenson's biography, you'll see how mastering the inner thing gets everything at your fingertips. The only thing, the person who has achieved this, is not that interested in a Ferrari any more... :-)

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Jonathan 2.0 Banned 12 years ago

Interesting perspective. : )
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luckystepho 12 years ago

I read once that saying something like 'I like myself' or 'I am a millionaire' won't work as the mind knows that it isn't true, instead it's more effective to phrase it as 'I am liking myself more each day' or 'I am in the process of increasing my income'- something that the mind can't disprove.
Thetruth2011's idea of doing something to increase self esteem like lifting weights and then repeating affirmations is a good one.
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ProScribe 12 years ago

Tony Robbins also said the same thing that Affirmations lack power. If you see Tony Robbins doing his own personal incantation you will see the difference between that an affirmation.

Maybe some will think the difference is slight but I actually think there is a world of difference between stating a positive statement and actually put yourself in a resourceful state
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TomHarvey 12 years ago

Interesting debate going on here and some useful insights and views.

Ultimately an affirmation is only strong if you really believe in it - therefore I would suggest that those using them are in fact not necessarily weak if they actually believe in them as they are using the affirmations as a tool of focus.

However the real key is the realistic lense or perspective which should be applied to the affirmations in the first place!
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- Louielou 12 years ago
  
  I tried affirmations a while back. I didn't find them helpful because thoughts of 'I don't really live like king solomn' sneak in. I was trying to convince myself of something that wasn't true. However, some people do find them helpful. Everyone is different.
  
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Gerard Mohamed 12 years ago

It is all in the mind, so if you think you can, can you will. Affirmations must be seen in the context of re-affirming a belief that is linked to your capability either present or future.
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JoeDRL 12 years ago

Wow, there are a lot of great contributions here.
In my opinion, and reflecting on what others have said, affirmations are useful to give more power to an existing belief.

So the unrealistic affirmations wouldn't work because it tries to burst into a contradictory belief,

I guess you should see for yourself, try it and if it doesn't work that well, then use something else.

What's Tony Robbins' personal incantation?

Be happy, be successful,
~ JoeDRL
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JoeDRL 12 years ago

Exactly what I'm thinking daoyouji.
In my opinion, affirmations are only uni-dimensional suggestions to your subconscious compared to visualization which is multidimensional. If you put sent, taste, sight, touch, emotions and toughts into your visualisation, you're actually sending a whole experience to your brain instead of just a weak phrase with no emotion.

Something to consider...
Be happy, be successful,
~ JoeDRL
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AngieDixon 12 years ago

I personally have not had much success with simple affirmations, even those that are true. I am on the visualization bandwagon with you, Joe.
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Saito 12 years ago

Originally Posted by Michael Milken

Technically speaking, everything you say or think is an affirmation or a suggestion.

True! This reminds me of "monitoring your self-talk," a practice suggested by therapists under Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (the most popular form of treatment in the U.S.).

Basically, be conscious of your thoughts as they occur, and when you catch yourself thinking "I forgot my hat. God, I'm an idiot!!!!" replace it with something more positive.

I think focusing on doing this repeatedly for months or years can change quite a bit. A weekend or month of affirmations is not going to do much. Think about all the programming we've received for decades from our culture, parents, and 1000-5000 ad messages per day in your face.
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Saito 12 years ago

Also, I think creative visualization would be more effective than straight up verbal affirmations, because more emotion, intuition, and the entire mind is being used.

Having said that, I'd like to make a 30-60 minute "mix tape" that guides one through relaxation, self-hypnosis induction, positive affirmations, creative visualization, meditation...all in one.

Couldn't they all be done at once and let the details of which is better work themselves out?
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ellisd 12 years ago

Every morning I wake up I lay in bed for 20 minutes and visualize what I want while saying my affirmations out loud to myself, combines the best of both worlds. Also you're brain will be most receptive in the morning as the brain is in a more relaxed state thus taking suggestions more easily.
Also, just meditating for 10 minutes then repeating affirmations works well too (self-hypnosis?)
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Dee Syed 12 years ago

The trouble with affirmations imho is that people don't actually believe in what they're saying to themselves... i.e, even though you're saying that you have wealth beyond measure, somewhere deep inside you think you're kidding yourself. I believe that's where the greatest stumbling block lies. Believe in the affirmation with heart and soul and I reckon the results would be different...
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JoeDRL 12 years ago

That's what we came to for a conclusion in this thread, I agree with you Dee Syed,
Then what's your alternative to affirmations? Visualization? Meditation? Fake it till you make it?

~ JoeDRL
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JamesBuk 12 years ago

So basically...affirming works if you bypass the conscious mind by going into the alpha/relaxed state correct?

Because then cant you affirm anything, even if its a huge leap, as its to impress the subconscious, and thus afterall that is what affirming is, a lie that you are impressing to manifest into reality, something you dont have that you want to become your new reality?

Visualisation is the same isnt it, where its a lie that you impress upon the subconscious by making it seem a reality?

Also may i ask, if you visualise for once or twice a day...then what about the rest of the day, wont ur mind need anything to impress upon it or is that it/enough?
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AJ Smith44 12 years ago

If you do not have the extreme actions to back them up, they are worthless.

"FAITH WITHOUT WORKS IS DEAD."

James 2:14-26 (for the full version)
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Saito 12 years ago

It's starting to sound like Affirmations require a person to say they are a millionaire and other false claims. Why not affirm how you do the things that wealthy people DO instead?

"I embrace change and look for opportunities amidst confusion"
"I monitor my strategies and results to see if I'm getting what I want and make changes if I'm not"
"I passionately and consistently work on projects I love that bring me additional income"
Etc.

Anyone could honestly say those and look back at yesterday's events and find some small example of having done so in real life, which allows you to authentically affirm that you do so. Then your mind searches for examples, finds them, and the affirmation becomes more powerful.

You might not do what you affirm 100% of the time, but if you do it to some degree then you're still doing it in reality.
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paul_1 12 years ago

Affirmations are powerful... And they don't have to be something fantastical... It could be something uplifting like what Brian Tracy is teaching... Here are some very powerful affirmations that you can repeat to yourself everyday... If you keep repeating them, they can become your reality... "I like myself"... "I can do this"... "I am responsible"... "I am unstoppable"...
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JoeDRL 12 years ago

Saito, that's a great point you are making here.
It's true that this would be accepted much easier by your subconscious.

And as you said, it makes it search for events where you acted or felt like what you affirm.
I really like your post, thank you!

Be happy, be successful,
~ JoeDRL
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perfectlovehere 12 years ago

I think what matters more is visualization/emotionalization.
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Allan Leadbetter 12 years ago

Affirmations are great as long as they are followed by action you wont get what you want just by wishing it you have to believe you can do it and then take action to make it happen
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Afirmations are for wimps!

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