What are Affirmations?

If it is change in your life that you seek, you must first change your thoughts and what you choose to focus on. It is up to you to create the life that you desire, and this can be done by using your thoughts. You can sculpt your brain the same way you can sculpt your muscles when working out. There is scientific evidence that shows that your thoughts create emotions and feelings, which have a direct effect on the creation of your reality. Studies show that it is possible to sculpt your brain by using affirmations.

Affirmations are sentences aimed to affect the conscious and the subconscious mind. The words composing the affirmation, automatically and involuntarily, bring up related mental images into your mind, which could inspire, energize and motivate you. Repeating affirmations, and the resultant mental images, affect the subconscious mind, which in turn, influences your behavior, habits, actions, and reactions. Similar to prayer and meditation, affirmations allow you to take control, harness your thoughts, and make them work for you, not against you. This means that you can essentially "re-wire” your brain and end your continuous loops of the same patterns over and over and over again.

When you repeat affirmations, or "I statements", this programs your brain to make it believe whatever it is you want it to believe. This ends up releasing you from years of pent-up fear, pain, and/or shame that has been programmed into your subconscious from your past, upbringing, or childhood. Thoughts have a DIRECT connection to your health. Do you hear me? I need to repeat this. THOUGHTS have a DIRECT connection to your HEALTH! Positive thoughts, like prayer and meditation, actually changes the brain on a cellular level—in other words, what you think about truly effects your body, your habits, and the outcomes of your entire life.

Interrupt Negative Patterns of the Brain

Did you know that thoughts make chemicals? If you have happy thoughts, then you’re producing chemicals that make you feel happy. Negative, angry, and fearful thoughts also produce chemicals to make you feel negativity. Neurons connect in your brain by attaching to thoughts and memories. Thoughts then become organized into a certain “pattern” that is known as a “neuro-net”. For example: The feeling of love is stored in a very large neuro-net. Each person builds his/her concept of love from many different ideas and experiences. Some people have connected love to disappointment; so when they think about love, they instantly experience the memory of pain, sorrow, or even anger.

Affirmations interrupt your maladaptive neuro-nets. And the more you use affirmations, the more those nerve cells that are connected to each other, start BREAKING the long-term relationship associated with your negative thoughts, literally re-wiring to your new, affirming beliefs! Scientists call this phenomenon: Neuroplasticity.

To begin re-creating your life, start a daily pattern of repeating affirmations. Repeat them throughout each day, or say them in the morning, at night, or both.

Examples of Affirmative Statements:

  • I meditate every day, and I like that it helps me to feel connected, and grounded.
  • I am capable of achieving all of my dreams.
  • I'm a great singer, making my vocal abilities stronger each day.
  • I'm in alignment with the universe and my true purpose.
  • I'm the CEO of my own company, and I provide services that are greatly appreciated by people in need of them.
  • I am very wealthy in all areas in my life, and this helps to allow me to give back to my community in many different ways.
  • I am so healthy, and my health keeps getting better and better every day.

Here's a tip: Download the affirmation app "ThinkUp". It allows you to create your own affirmations or choose from a pool of pre-configured ones, then record them using your own voice. You can then open the app at your leisure, press play and listen to your own affirmations whenever you're ready.

Download here: ThinkUp

- Amber