Affirmations have been used to focus thoughts and energy on moving toward a new space. It's a powerful way to keep you focused on your desired direction. Affirmations are useful because they show your subconscious, the part of the mind that looks for what you tell it, where you want to go. Then it starts identifying what you need to do to get you there. Affirmations can be used to leave limiting beliefs behind and even overcome wounding. However, this is not an overnight quick fix. It's like turning a giant ship in a different direction. It takes time and you might not see any changes at first, but over time if you do them the right way, you'll be on a different course.
Technically speaking you have three layers of consciousness. You can think of it as three bricks stacked on top of your head. Consciousness is the bottom brick, sitting on your head. Subconscious is in the middle and unconscious on the top. These three layers are comprised of your beliefs, limiting beliefs, and things you know and don't know about yourself. In the bottom brick, consciousness, are the things you're actively aware of, know, and understand about your reality. You know that you can get to and from work. You understand things about your behavior. For example, you're aware of when you're speaking and what you know about your personality. The middle brick is your subconscious is made of things you are doing, have a hunch about but are not fully aware of. The top brick is your unconscious. This is made of things you have no direct access to. So the higher up the layer the less access to the information you have. It's also the largest part of the three parts of consciousness. It's also fascinating to some that we know very little about this part of ourselves.
Affirmations actively engage your subconscious to validate what beliefs you hold about yourself. It picks up that information throughout the day to further back up that belief. If you believe you are a bad person your subconscious will pick up information throughout the day that you are a bad person. The same is true if you believe you're a good person. Your subconscious will find references during the day to drive home the fact that you are a good person. So writing affirmations will use the power of your subconscious to help change that limiting belief into one which will help you.
Not all affirmations are helpful. Writing down negative affirmations will prevent you from achieving what you want to achieve. Affirmations like "I'm never dating a narcissist again" will not help move past that limiting belief. Make affirmations positive and have yourself feel good when you write them. Another trick to this is writing "I'm learning" in front of the affirmation. Some struggle with the black and white aspect of feeling inadequate while writing "I'm adequate" every day. It's too much of a leap to go from one to the other. Affirmations are essentially teaching you a new skill. If you knew how to get in your desired direction you would already be there. So be gentle with yourself while you're in the process. Writing "I'm learning" in front of affirmations will help your subconscious recognize this is a new skill and make it a process.
Along with being positive, write affirmations down at least once a day until you feel you've learned the lesson (you'll know when to stop). They're important to cement into your subconscious until you've turned the corner on the belief. Use only a handful of them at a time. If you're writing 15 affirmations a day your subconscious will be too overwhelmed to learn any of them.
Limiting beliefs are the thoughts that come out when you're writing your affirmations. Those are the reasons which are standing between you and where you want to go. This is an exciting part of the journey. That means you now know what is holding you back and can keep working on this belief. Don't let those limiting beliefs stop you. Keep using the affirmations even if it feels like things are getting worse.
Affirmations also are a great way to feel a sense of control and power throughout with the beginning of your day. They start your day off in a way you want to. They give your day direction. Affirmations are different for everyone. So what works for someone may not work for you. If you find writing doesn't work for you, you can say these while you look at yourself in a mirror. What thoughts you think after saying these into the mirror is another way limiting beliefs are exposed.
Examples of affirmations:
I'm learning how I'm worthy of unconditional love and acceptance.
I'm learning how to take one step at a time.
I'm learning how I'm valuable to my family.
I'm learning how to feel comfortable asking for help.
Affirmations are a powerful tool to move you where you want to go. Learning about the Four People Within is a perfect tool to pair with affirmations. Personally, I've overcome lots of limiting beliefs and wounding by combining affirmations and the Four People Within work. I know others and have clients who have experienced the same thing. For more information about the Four People Within check out my blogs on them (there are two parts to the blog).
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