Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.
Most of us are familiar with this quote by renowned French psychologist, Émile Coué. Indeed, the method of auto suggestion (self-hypnosis) that he created is still being used today. Repeating daily positive affirmations is supposed to effortlessly bring you your heart’s desires. Many people are discovering, however, that affirmations not only fail to work, but sometimes bring the exact opposite of what they intended.
What’s going on?
Repeating Affirmations as True May Cause Doubt
Repeating daily positive affirmations can sometimes bring negative results when you don’t believe your words.
This is because the value of affirmations lies not in the words, but in the feeling behind the words! Positive affirmations work when you feel the truth of what you’re saying. They don’t work – or backfire – when your words instill doubt in your heart and mind.
Doubt Destroys Success!
Having doubt either hinders or completely destroys success.
As usual, the Holy Bible says it best in one of my favorite verses:
For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be though cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. – Mark 11:23
The problem with most affirmations is this: you state them as a present fact knowing that they are not true right now. Yes, if you repeat it often enough, faith may rise up in your heart. But until then…you don’t believe what you’re saying. In this case, such repeated repetitions, even if positive, will cause you to focus on what you still don’t have.
The result?
Your positive affirmations won’t work and can even cause the opposite of what you want to manifest.
How Does this Work?
It’s a subtle process, but it goes something like this:
You repeat this affirmation several times a day: “I’m 120 pounds and feel GREAT!”
But you weigh 260 pounds and feel awful.
So each time you repeat this positive affirmation, your mind calls you a liar. In fact, you can’t help but remind yourself how far away from 120 pounds your body really is. Each time you repeat this statement, you focus on your weight problem and how tough it is to lose weight. You become discouraged. You start eating bigger helpings at dinner. You add cake, cookies, pastries, and other goodies to your diet.
Your affirmations for having the perfect figure haven’t worked. In fact, you’ve gained an extra 10 or so pounds!
Secret to Making your Affirmations Work
The secret to making your positive affirmation work, then, is make the statement true for you – no matter how removed from reality the end goal actually is.
How do you do this?
In the book, Law of Attraction: The Science of Attracting More of What You Want and Less of What you Don’t, Michael J. Losier advises us to re-phrase your affirmation like this:
I am in the process of…
Put this phrase at the beginning of your desire/affirmation.
For instance:
I am in the process of losing 50 pounds.
I am in the process of weighing 120 pounds.
I am in the process of finding my dream job.
I am in the process of having $50,000 in my savings account
I am in the process of being financially stable.
Using, I am in the process of, makes any affirmation true for you! This phrase will take away your doubt and resistance to the idea of having your desire, and your positive affirmations wills start to work for you!
Try it and see.
Do you have a tip for making affirmations work?
