Be Your Own Life Coach #12 Positive Affirmations

I don’t know about you, but I feel like we’ve been bombarded by bad news, threats and fear for the past few years. All of that negativity can get in on you. What we are focused on affects how we feel. We’d all love to hear some good news or something positive to give us a lift.

Well, the good news is, you can generate that something positive yourself! These articles are all about self help and one of the things I’ve spoken about before is that our mind is led by whatever it is focused on and if we are not directing that focus, it is being directed for us.

So when we are focused on bad news and negativity, our mind is experiencing that and we are feeling the effects of it. Then, on top of that, our mind is expecting and prepares for more of the same and we feel the effects of that too, often in feelings of pessimism.

But the good news is that, because our mind works at that simple level in our subconscious, where our feelings are generated, if we just focus on something positive, we will feel the benefit of it AND our mind expects more of it, so we will feel that extra positive optimism.

Think of it like a diet for your brain. If you feed it a diet of negativity, doom and gloom, that’s exactly how you are going to feel. If you feed it a healthy diet of positivity, optimism and good self-esteem, you are going to feel more optimistic, upbeat, stronger and generally more positive about yourself, life and the future.

Even better than this, what you focus on need not even be real! We can use something called Positive Affirmations. At their simplest, these are just a phrase of positive words. But they can dramatically improve how you feel. If you are on social media, you will be familiar with these general positive sayings and memes.

But to use them specifically, in a successful way that will have an actual effect on your mind and body, there is a formula for doing it. Then regular repetition “feeds” the positivity into your brain. Just these positive phrases alone can feed you with positivity. You are planting seeds for future growth.

Your phrase must only be in the present tense, (not in the past or future).

Do not say “I will” or “I was”, say “I am…”

You must only use positive words. These are usually the opposite of the negative words you are trying to get away from.

Putting the first two rules together you can see why saying “I will not fail” doesn’t exactly uplift you! It doesn’t even feel right. The Positive Affirmation way of saying that is, “I am succeeding”.

You must say Positive Affirmations confidently, as if they are already true. This is where it doesn’t have to be true……yet. But by saying it as if it were already true, your brain believes that it has already happened.

Remember how your brain works, it experiences what you are focused on and it expects more of it. Once your focus is on that phrase, you begin to feel successful and your brain is adapting for more success!