Amazing Power of Affirmations

Young girls were quite excited when the chief guest told them that he had a recipe for increasing height and was quite willing to share it with them. It was something like dream comes true for the college students to have such a nice gift on the occasion of their College Annual Day celebrations.

So, they waited with a breath abated. And see what this gentleman had to share, "You start thinking and imagining that you are getting taller, especially in the night when you go to bed, go with this thought and carry it with you while slipping into sleep. Just go on imagining that and you will actually see yourself getting taller!" Most of the girls had a loud laugh and many of them appeared to be pretty disappointed on this cruel joke. And certainly, the taller ones enjoyed the desperation visible on the faces of hopefuls...

Fortunately, some of them understood the message in right spirit as the speaker explained further the power of positive affirmations. Normally, it is said that all great events happen twice - once in imagination and then on ground. The fact is that the probability of on-ground occurrence multiplies and it happens much faster if there is documentation in between. Written down affirmations is such a powerful tool that it is surprising how most of the people do not understands its strength. May be, because visibly too simple, it may not be that easy to believe and therefore to practice.

Before moving any further, it is more necessary to understand the harmful effects of negative affirmations. If you get up in the morning with a lethargic "gave up" feeling, you can not have a productive day. When repeatedly you say that "The life is dull and there is no charm! I am just pulling on.", believe me you can not, I repeat, you CAN NOT do anything better than that. Unfortunately, negativity is all around us and is getting continuously sprinkled and nurtured by our friends, relatives, so-called well-wishers. The need is to break yourself out of self-pity, over-dependence on others' approvals and pessimism. The only requirement at this stage is simple determination and switching to positive affirmations with courage to stick to them.

In his bestseller "How to Live 365 Days a Year", Dr. John A Schindler explains about Emotionally Induced Illness (EII). Studies indicate that while headaches are emotionally induced in 80% of the cases and tiredness is 90 percent emotionally induced; the percentage goes as high as 99.44 in case of gastric problems. That is the power of thoughts - in this case negative thoughts.

Positive affirmations put you in the driving seat. You don't have to seek permission from others, you permit and authorize yourself to take control of your life, to shape your life, to live your life and enjoy your life. That should be very natural, because it is YOUR life.

An affirmation is not daydreaming. As indicated earlier, there is a scientific basis behind all this. In fact, since our subconscious mind cannot differentiate between reality and imagination, it processes imagination (affirmations) as if those were real. It goes about using its powerful creative ability and that of the nervous system to actualize those affirmations. It has been proved time and again and now it is your chance to prove it once more! Let us see how.

Positive affirmations can be descriptive or pictorial. Descriptive ones are of three types, "I AM", "I CAN" and "I WILL", typical examples being, I am competent, I can become a good speaker, I will control my anger today. Daily use of these statements enable you conquer the negativity and take you towards positive attitude, optimism, hope and real visible progress. The statements are more effective when used in present tense. For example, "I spread happiness" is much more effective than "I will spread happiness". Very obviously, the former is a powerful conviction, whereas the latter sounds more like a hope and wishful thinking, except when it is made more current and specific like "I will spread happiness today".

To put it into practice, get a few 3"x5" cards and write on them the affirmation you have chosen for yourself. Stick one on the top of mirror in your bathroom / bedroom. When you get up in the morning, read it aloud so you can see it, hear it clearly and also see your forceful facial expressions. Another card could be at a place where you can see it at midday - on the dashboard of your car, on your work desk or wherever. Repeat the same exercise - if constrained to read aloud, may be silently but with conviction. And then, at the end of the day, just before going to bed.

Another way to reinforce your affirmations are writing them a number of times, say 20, religiously every day. What you need to take care is to give a place of respect to your cards or notebook, in which affirmations are written. This is important because they symbolize what you want to achieve, that is your success. So, you must keep them in your revered place or holy book rather than in junk drawer.

Now, if you just want to do it for fun and are not convinced about the power of affirmations, do not expect any miracles to happen. You can very well forget about it right now rather than having a half-hearted attempt and declaring at the end that the grapes are sour!

The pictorial affirmations are better known as Visualization. A combination of words and pictures works the best. The written and spoken words when reinforced with the pictures of having attained the same, work like magic. It convinces your mind about the truthfulness of the statement, since it sees the things happening. And your mind actually starts guiding you to take positive steps in the desired direction.

Interesting is the fact that a mind can not remain empty. It is not for nothing that somebody said that an empty mind is devil's workshop. If you do not feed your mind with positive thoughts, it will be free for all and the negative thoughts have much easy access to an empty mind. Therefore, do remember that your mind is YOUR mind. YOU need to be controlling it. YOU will decide whom to permit in. Let it be the beginning of positive affirmations, starting with - "I take charge of my mind, Right now!"