Self Help

Affirmations are one of the most important elements of creative visualization. To affirm means “to make firm.” An affirmation is a strong, positive statement that something is already so. It is a way of “making firm” that which you are imaging.

Most of us are aware of the fact that we have a nearly continuous inner “dialogue” going on in our minds. The mind is busy “talking” to itself, keeping up an endless commentary about life, the world, our feelings, our problems, and other people.

The words and ideas that run through our minds are very important. Most of the time we aren’t consciously aware of this stream of thoughts, and yet what we are “telling ourselves” in our minds is the basis on which we form our experience of reality. Our mental commentary influences and colors our feelings and perceptions about what’s going on in our lives, and it is these thought forms that ultimately attract and create everything that happens to us.

Anyone who has practiced meditation knows how difficult it can be to quiet this inner “mind talk,” in order to connect with our deeper, wiser intuitive mind. One traditional meditation practice involves simply observing the inner dialogue as objectively as possible.

This is a very valuable experience, as it allows you to become consciously aware of the content of your thoughts. Many of these thoughts are like tape recordings of old patterns we’ve had all our lives. They are old “programming” we picked up long ago, which is still influencing what’s happening to us today. For example, we might find that we habitually think self-defeating thoughts such as, “I’m not going to be able to do this,” or “This is never going to work out right.”

The practice of engaging in affirmations allows us to begin replacing some of our stale, worn out, or negative mind chatter with more positive ideas and concepts. It is a powerful technique, one which can in a short time transform many of our attitudes and expectations about life, and thereby help to change what we create for ourselves. Affirmations can be done silently, spoken aloud, written down, or even sung or chanted. Even ten minutes a day of repeating effective affirmations can counterbalance years of old mental habits. If you become aware that you are repeating habitual negative thought patterns or attitudes, try saying an affirmation to yourself a few times right then and there.