3 Tips for Creating Powerful Deliberate Affirmations

We use affirmations all the time, whether we realize it or not. 

Do you ever say “I really need to lose some weight!” everytime you catch a glimpse of your reflection in a mirror or a window?

Or say something like “There is never enough money to go around!” everytime you pay your bills. 

Or, when you see something in a shop window that you would really love to buy and say to yourself “I’ll never be able to afford that!”

Any comment, either positive or negative, that you repeat over and over again, is an affirmation, whether you intend it to be or not.

We normally think of affirmations as positive statements that we consciously and deliberately say in order to change our thoughts or to manifest something we want. You know – “I am….” statements, (I am rich! I am powerful! I am enough!…) and other potentially powerful statements like “Money flows to me easily and effortlessly.”

Why is knowing about affirmations important?

Did you know that the word “affirmation” comes from the word “affirm”, which means to state or identify that something is true.

Now, our minds can’t tell the difference between when we automatically think or say something and when we intentionally think or say something. Nor can our minds tell the difference between what is real versus a strongly felt thought! So any phrases or statements that we repeat over and over again become affirmations and become what we identify as being true for us – particularly when there is a lot of emotion attached to the words.

So when we say things like “I’ll never be able to afford that!” particularly when we say it with emotion, we (our mind) identifies that this is our reality, our truth, and will find more and more ways to verify that we will never be able to afford ‘that’, whatever ‘that’ is! 

When we are trying to change, for example, our money mindset, with affirmations like “I am a money magnet” or “I am wealthy!” but continually say to our self “I’ll never be able to afford that!” every time we see something we want to buy, we create a situation of conflict in our own thoughts, which results in our maintaining the status quo!

We can’t lose a lot of weight and live the life of our dreams if we still refer to our self using the same statements and accidental affirmations we used before we lost the weight. As long as we keep telling ourselves through accidental affirmations that we are not comfortable or confident in our body then we will never be comfortable or confident in our body no matter what we weigh or how we look. Our accidental affirmations keep us trapped in our old life despite our efforts to change and create a new reality for our self. 

But….we can play with these accidental affirmations and create new deliberate affirmations that support our desire for a new reality.

Here are three tips that will help you create more powerful deliberate affirmations, ones that will support the transformation you are trying to achieve, and help you create your new reality: 

1) Listen to yourself during the day and make a list of all the accidental affirmations that you automatically say, and the circumstances you say them in. You are basically taking an inventory of all the affirmations (phrases, statements, exclamations) you automatically use every day without really being aware of them, and what’s happening when you use them.

Now take a look at the accidental affirmations you use that relate to something that you would like to change. What are the accidental affirmations (phrases, statements, exclamations) that you use involving this circumstance. 

2) Take the accidental affirmations that you use regarding what you are focused on changing about yourself, and turn them around. Make a list of these new deliberate affirmations. So instead of saying “I’ll never be able to afford that!” the next time you see something you would really like to buy, say “That piece is absolutely gorgeous, but I don’t think I’ll buy it just yet.” With that new deliberate affirmation, you regain control of your decision. You are affirming a reality where you (and not your money) is in control of your decisions. 

Now, whenever you catch yourself automatically saying a negative statement or negative accidental affirmation, switch it out for the new, positive, deliberate one.

3)  Deliberate affirmations are statements that reflect or verify, or affirm reality.

Deliberate affirmations are not wishful thinking!

In order for affirmations to work you have to believe that what is being stated in the affirmation has already come true. For the affirmation “I am wealthy!” to be successful, you have to believe that you are already wealthy, that your life is already filled with abundance.  

I used to believe that words, on their own, had power. That somehow simply saying an affirmation would magically result in a magnificent change in my life or result in the manifestation of something really special – without me having to even fully believe in what I was saying. 

Now, don’t get me wrong. Words do have power. But a large part of their power lies in the meaning and emotions we attach to those words and not so much in the symbols (letters) we use to create the words. 

I could say Je suis riche. Or Sono ricco. Or Ich bin wohlhabend, Or Ik ben rijk. But unless I spoke French, or Italian, or German, or Dutch, none of these “I am wealthy” affirmations would have any impact on me, because I have no meaning for these specific words. I don’t connect with any of these words on an emotional level.

However, when I say “I am wealthy” in English, a language I do understand at both a meaningful and an emotional level, that statement provides me with a lot of meaning and connects me with a lot of emotion. Have you noticed that when you say or thing an accidental affirmation, the emotion that you feel when you say or think it? That’s the emotion you need to have behind deliberate affirmations in order for you to gain the full power of those words.

The same is true for any and all affirmations either deliberate or accidental – the more meaningful the affirmation, the more you connect with the affirmation on an emotional level, the more the affirmation will have an impact on the changes you are making in your life.

Until next time

Live Adventurously

Anne