Our internal voice can have either a positive or negative effect on our life. Some of us don’t even realise that this conditioned voice, is not part of who we actually are. It is something that has been learned over time. Our beliefs are developed over our lifetime and this influences how we feel about ourselves. One way to help you overcome and strengthen your attitude towards your life is to use positive affirmations.

The benefits of Positive affirmations

There are many benefits of positive affirmations. These can help you to overcome self-sabotaging thoughts and internal feelings of frustration. Positive affirmations can,

• Help you to believe in yourself
• Overcome a habit or negative thought
• Understand that you are in control of your own feelings
• Help to be more consistent in completing tasks and things you have started
• Raise your confidence
• Assists in overcoming negative feelings of impatience or anger towards yourself
• Help you to allow yourself to visualise better things for yourself
• Heal old wounds or beliefs no longer serving you

How to create positive affirmations

Think of the things that you would like to change or aspects that have a negative feeling in your life. Eg. These could be based on how you look, what you were told as a child or limited beliefs from past life experiences. Maybe in relation to relationships or financial matters.

Use these to rewrite positive aspects for a better outcome of what you would like to feel or achieve. Remember your brain can be trained to believe things you may not currently feel or see. Be as positive and uplifting to yourself as you can, without it feeling like it is completely unattainable. Write these in the present tense and add emotions. Such as” I am excited about…”

Examples of positive affirmations

It is important your affirmations are personalised to you. Use ones that feel suitable for what you are hoping to achieve. Some of the examples you can draw inspiration from are starting with I am,

• Appreciating all the beautiful things that come into my life
• Guided and protected
• Loved by myself and others
• Taking a step closer to my goals each day
• Letting go of the things I cannot control and improving the things I can

These affirmations create a daily dedicated routine. Either as soon as you wake or before you go to bed. Allow about 10 minutes each morning or evening to speak out aloud your affirmations. Some people like to do this in front of a mirror, while others prefer to record their own voice and playback the affirmations to themselves. I found that reading these out to myself morning and night for five minutes worked best. Trying to say these in front of the mirror for me, felt intimidating. However, it definitely knocked down some barriers I hadn’t realised I’d placed on myself.

You’ll go through many emotions at first. There will be disbelief, un-comfort and you’ll question yourself why you are doing this. Feelings of silliness will then turn to perseverance and patience where you will finally breakthrough. I noticed a difference in my attitude after the third week. Seeing a shift in my confidence and the love I had towards myself, so hopefully, you will too!

Tips for the best results

Affirmations will boost your mood and help you to believe in yourself and your capabilities. Like anything, it can be tiresome work, but the results will pay off. Use this as a tool when you feel yourself slipping away each time.

Be truthful when you are writing something. By keeping them realistic such as using, I am becoming confident, rather than I am now confident if you do not feel it. Over time you will and you can change this.

As your life is forever changing you can create different affirmations for different stages of life. Most of the time you will find that you need to come back to what is written and re-write affirmations to lift or even enhance your current situation. As your beliefs in yourself grow, so should your affirmations.

Why do they work

It is true that for some people positive affirmations work, while others say they haven’t had success. This all has to do with the reprogramming of your mind. Once you understand that your mind is capable of believing in unlimited opportunities, that the only barrier is yourself, then you may become more open to the change.
Just like when we are young and our minds are still playful, allow yourself to fantasise about the person you want to become or the life you want to lead.

When the shift occurs in your life, you will feel a buzz of energy and confidence within yourself. You will allow yourself to dream a little bigger and realise that the power was inside of you all along. A master at affirmations is Louise Hay. Many of her books including, “You can heal your life,” are designed to help you heal, discover and love yourself. It comes highly recommended if you are looking to do more work with healing and affirmations.