How to Create Affirmations for Positive Changes

The mind is the driving force behind our behavior. Many studies show that affirmations are one of the best ways to create positive changes in your life. From quitting smoking to building self-esteem, you can create affirmations for any area of your life. Combined with changes in your habits, they are a powerful tool to change the negative thoughts that drive our self-destructive behavior.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 3x5 index cards
• Metal rings to hold the cards together (optional)
• pen

1. Identify some areas in your life that you want to change.

2. Make a list of negative habits that you have that you want to start working for. The affirmations you write will be centered around these things.

3. Make a second list of the negative thoughts in your head relating to your bad habits. this is known as "stinking thinking," or the negativity that comes up when trying to change. Examples of these include: "You'll never be able to lose 10 pounds" or "You're worthless."

4. Come up with positive statements to counter the negative thoughts. They should be affirmative statements, as if you already possess the quality. They can be specific or broad, like: "I will drink 8 glasses of water a day" or "I am good enough."

5. Write about ten of these statements down on index cards. Take another index card and write down the two most important ones.

6. On the card where you wrote the two most important ones, tape it to your bathroom mirror, and say it to yourself every morning.

7. Carry the other card(s) with you everywhere, and make it a habit to say them at least ten times a day. Its okay if you don't believe them, just try to set aside any doubts you have.

8. Rewrite your affirmations once a month or longer. You need to give yourself time to let these work, as it is different for every person.

Tips & Warnings

• Be patient with yourself. It takes time to change a habit.
• Write a single affirmation on cards and hang them up around your house where you can see them.
• Make other changes. The affirmations may change your attitude, but you need to change your behavior in order to be successful, especially when changing a bad habit like smoking.
• Dont tell yourself that you won't believe in the affirmations. This attitude makes it impossible for them to work. It's okay to have doubts, but try to keep an open mind.
• Dont write wishy-washy affirmations. Words like might, maybe, think about, or hopefully have no place in affirmations. Replace them with words like will, for sure, consider or confidently.

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[sharoni]

on 6/17/2008 Thanks Vikki9! I found that making them definite really helps solidify them in my mind.

sharon
www.geocities.com/sharonmcelwee
mahamaitri.blogspot.com
www.linkedin.com/bestwriterintampa

[vikki9]

on 6/12/2008 Thank you for this article. An 'I will' affirmation puts it in the future. To state this as 'I drink 8 glasses of water each day' puts it right in the Now. Another change to this might be 'I am grateful to drink 8 glasses of water each day'. Thank you for encouraging us to remember how powerful our thoughts are.

[sharoni]

on 6/2/2008 thanks for the tips, glad you like it!

sharon
mahamaitri.blogspot.com
www.linkedin.com/bestwriterintampa

[Elizabethknows]

on 6/1/2008 Great tips I love it I give it five stars.