Utilizing Positive Affirmations – Using your thoughts to achieve your desires.

The idea of using Positive Affirmations and Positive Visualiations in your day to day life is certainly not a new one, however I believe it is one that tends to get slightly overlooked or set to the side in favor of other more functional methods of Self Improvement and Achieving our Goals. What we must remember, however, is that We are our Thoughts. If you have ever heard the phrase, ‘You are what you eat’, well the same goes for your thoughts. Literally, ‘You are what you Think’. Please, allow me to explain further.

If you believe you can ride a bike, you can ride a bike. If you think spiders are scary, then you are more than likely somewhat scared of spiders. Have you ever had the experience where you suddenly thought of someone that you hadn’t thought of for ages, then out of the blue, you bump into them at the local mall? Or, have you ever thought to yourself how some extra money would be helpful this week, and you are given the opportunity for overtime or an extra job that will give you some extra cash?

All of the above scenarios happen because of your thoughts – nothing else. Basically, whatever you bring into existence for yourself, you create with your own thoughts. The sad reality is that many people have no idea that this is the case, or worse they don’t believe in it, so they continue to think negative and hindering thoughts which will either keep them in their current undesirable circumstances or never allow them to have what they really want in life.

‘Life is so unfair!’.

‘Nothing EVER goes my way.’,

‘We NEVER have enough money!’.

Do these thoughts sound familiar?

Just think for a moment about what outcome these negative thoughts would and do have in your life. WE NEVER HAVE ENOUGH MONEY.

The culprit in that sentence is NEVER. If you are constantly telling yourself that you Never have enough money – how on earth are you EVER going to feel like you have money for the things you want? If you are constantly focused on the negative aspect of your money then how can you possibly create room for a Positive Outlook?

Think about this for a second….if you don’t believe what I’m saying, and you are saying to yourself as you read this ‘How can what I think possibly affect my life? Yeah Right!’ – Let me ask you this…Have you had these negative and hindering thoughts with a positive outcome?

My guess would be that your answer is No. It is not possible for your thoughts to be negative and for your desired outcomes to be met. The only outcome you will be gaining from these constant hindering thoughts are exactly what you’re thinking about. ‘We NEVER have enough Money’ – You are struggling with your bills, living on your money week to week with little or no savings and you feel like there are always surprises popping up that you can’t afford, like the Car needed to be fixed, the Microwave broke down, The Dog got sick…the list goes on.

So if this is indeed the case, then wouldn’t the opposite also be true? The experts say yes, and so Positive Affirmations are believed to assist in reaching your goals and improving your life. So who are the experts then?

Louise L Hay is a motivational author, and the founder of Hay House, a publishing company. She has authored several self-help and New Thought books, and is best known for her 1984 book, You Can Heal Your Life. In her Book I Can Do It Louise has also included a CD with a collection of Affirmations which are tailored toward certain areas of your life such as, Relationships, Career, Money, and Health.

Louise encourages you to utilize the affirmations she has created to help give you what you desire in the general areas of your life, and she also encourages you to create your own Affirmations – tailored specifically to what you want in your life.

Here are some ideas on how to create your own Positive Affirmations:

• Create 3 Lists. Call them, Love to Be, Love to Do, Love to Have.
• Write down everything on these lists that you desire – no matter how crazy or unachievable they may seem.
• Now, from these lists pick out the most important things. Try to keep it to a minimum – perhaps 4.
• From these desires you have selected, create a sentence.

For example, if you desire to have more money in your life your sentence might sound something like this:

‘I am so happy and grateful to have $100,000 in the bank.’

It is important to be specific here and to also offer some gratitude. You will attract a better outcome with the above sentence than by using a sentence like: ‘I want more money’. Stumbling across an extra dollar in your jeans is classed as more money, which means this affirmation would be met. You want to state exactly what you want and show how happy you’d be to receive it.

If you desire to have a successful business in your chosen field then your affirmation might look like this:

‘ I love having a business that makes me lots of money, lets me travel to fabulous places and meet wonderful people.’

So you get the idea. The next step is to memorise your affirmation, which is why you don’t want to make it too long. A single sentence is perfect. When you’ve committed your new thought patterns to memory, start saying them to yourself, wherever you are and whatever you’re doing.

When you’ve begun doing this for the first time, you might start to notice the Negative Creeper….

You know, those nasty little negative thoughts that creep in there between your attempt at being positive.

For example,

‘I am so happy and grateful to have $100,000 in the bank.’ – Negative Creeper: ‘Yeah Right! You know you’ll never have that much money, stop wasting your time!’

The Negative Creeper’s sole purpose in this excercise is sabotage. If you even acknowledge the Negative Creeper – it has won. What we must do is have an ace up our sleeve, that the Negative Creeper isn’t prepared for.

The ways to combat your Negative Creepers are as follows:

• Think all of your new Positive Affirmations that you have borrowed or created.
• As you think of each one and your Negative Creeper comes to the Party – write it down.
• When you have a list of your Negative Creepers you must ‘Turn’ them from the dark side into something we can use.

For example, if we use the Positive Affirmation and it’s Negative Creeper above we would turn it to our advantage by telling ourselves a universal truth. Like this:

‘I am so happy and grateful to have $100,000 in the bank.’ – Negative Creeper: ‘Yeah Right! You know you’ll never have that much money, stop wasting your time!’

Universal Truth: ‘Millions of people around the world have $100,000 in the bank. I can have anything I want! All I have to do is try.’

The Negative Creeper cannot argue with a Universal Truth. By reminding yourself that you CAN have ANYTHING you want in your life, the Negative Creeper is powerless. By reminding yourself that all you have to do is TRY, the Negative Creeper is once again powerless, because it can only thrive on doubt. When you doubt yourself, the validity of your desires, or your own ability to achieve them, the Negative Creepers can and will win because they play on these thoughts. But if you are able to remind yourself that you aren’t perfect, nor do you desire to be, you know there is work involved in going after what you want and that you aren’t the first person to want this particular thing, nor will you be the last, it helps create ease within your mind.

Thought replacement is also a great way to use your new Positive Affirmations. The next time you have one of your nasty old negative and hindering thoughts, immediately replace it with one of your favourite Positive Affirmations. Use your Universal Truth immediately after that also if you must, and if you fear your Negative Creeper is lurking.

Remember – you are what you think, so it’s up to you to create your amazing life with those thoughts.

You are only limited by your imagination.

So go, think and BE!