How to Boost Your Self Confidence With Affirmations

I have been using affirmation for a while now, and I can vouch that they do work. It is important, however, to know that the results are not necessarily immediate or quick. Perseverance here is a must - there’s no denying that. After all, if you wish to replace a negative thought that you had all your life, do you think you can replace it with a positive thought within a couple of days or a week? Highly unlikely. That’s the reality. I feel it’s only fair for you to know that right from the beginning.

For you to lack self confidence you would have had numerous negative messages instilled into your unconscious, and these thoughts have become your core beliefs. What you have to do now is reverse the process and instil positive messages, beliefs into your unconscious mind to counteract the negative and replace them.

And one way to do so is through affirmations - positive and empowering statements.

Here’s how you write powerful affirmations:

1) Present tense. The affirmations must be worded in the present tense, not the future. Not, “I will learn to have self confidence” or “I will lose weight or stop smoking”. Instead, “I choose to be confident” or “I choose to lose weight or become healthy”. The words “choose to” eases the concepts into your unconscious mind and puts it in the present moment - as if it’s happening now.

2) Believable. It is important, at the beginning, to stretch your affirmations, but to a limit. Make it believable to you. For example, “I choose to make $20,000 a month” whereas you are only presently making $5,000 and you do not really believe you can make that £20,000, your unconscious mind will more than likely reject it. It’s good to stretch, but at this stage, stretch within reason. Say, “I am making $7,000 or more consistently a month”.

3) Use your emotions. When you recite your affirmations, it is more powerful when you do so aloud and in front of a mirror, looking right into your eyes. Your unconscious mind picks up on your emotions. Compare the two here: Let’s assume you said, “I choose to live a healthy life” as if you were reading an article in the newspaper, compared to saying it with compassion and enthusiasm. Which one do you think is more powerful and will bring results?

That’s the process of writing and reciting the affirmations. Remember, repeat the affirmations as often as you can. Multiple repetition is the key. To eliminate those negative thoughts and beliefs about yourself, those ones that you had for years, you need to work on giving the positive ones more power, and you do so by repetition -daily, multiple repetition.

Be patient with yourself. Affirmations may take a few weeks or perhaps months before you notice a huge difference. Be OK with that. Spot the signs along the way, be happy with them and be encouraged and motivated to continue.

source: confidence-blog