Day 27 – Using Positive Affirmations

August 27, 2009 in Hoop Boot Camp
Tags: positive affirmations

It doesn’t take much thought or practice to realize that filtering life through a positive view finder is a powerful way to manifest dreams, work through troubling times and live a well balanced and happy existence. In fact, nurturing a positive attitude is one of the most success inducing, happiness creating life skills. Remaining in a positive mindset can enhance your health, professional and personal life, leading to an overall sense of satisfaction. Who wouldn’t want that?

Affirmations are positive statements that describe a desired situation, and which are repeated many times, in order to impress the subconscious mind and trigger it into positive action. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the affirmations, they have to be repeated with attention, conviction, interest and desire.
Remez Sasson

I was introduced to the power of positive affirmations in the late 90’s when a wise woman Louise L. Hay released a book called You Can Heal Your Life (yes I am a self help book junkie, always have been, used to be ashamed now I am proud as punch – they rock!). The colorful cover with love hearts all over it attracted me. Around about the same time I was working at a resort on the very beautiful Hamilton Island in the Australian Whitsunday Islands. I would clean rooms with my partner in crime by day and party by night. One day we swaggered into one of the luxurious rooms to give it a quick once over while the holiday maker was twisting by the pool and I couldn’t help but notice the pages and pages of what looked like school lines written in repetition and left on the bedside table. I was intrigued by the repetitively written “I love my body” “I trust the flow of life” “I am a creative being”. I have to honesty admit at that time the young and egotistical part inside me thought, “Wow this chick must really have some issues”. Little did I know how powerful positive affirmations would become in my own life.

Well before The Secret and other such books or movies Louise opened with ” Life is very simple. What we give out we get back.” and continued with “The Universe totally supports us in every thought we choose to think and believe” Something about the power in these words grabbed me. As I explored Louise L Hay’s thoughts on holistic philosophy, not accepting limitations, recognizing prosperity and deserving our good I popped her many books and practices into my bag of tricks. I have personally seen the power of positive affirmations in a professional and personal sense, healing health issues, emotional imbalances and helping with focus and achievements.

Over the course of the Hoop Boot Camp, each day you were gifted with a positive affirmation to use as you pleased. Today I am going to share with you some of the most effective ways to use positive affirmations to make changes in your life.

Here are my top 7 tips for positive power…

1. Live in the NOW baby!

Affirmations are used to trigger your subconscious into believing and therefore creating a desire. If you tell yourself “I will be happy and content” you are suggesting that perhaps you are not ready for that state of mind just yet, that there are still obstacles. A present affirmation would be “I am happy and content”

2. K.I.S.S

Keep It Simple Stupid! Don’t overload yourself, keep a few affirmations in mind that are inline with what you are working to achieve. You will find that as you become well practiced at using affirmations you may start to rotate them, using a few lines at a time.

3. It’s All About ME!

Using “I” statements is a powerful technique for creating new thought patterns “I am alive with the joys of living. I deserve the very best in life” For some super charged power you can use your own name, granted this may seem a little strange at first – don’t worry everyone knows you are totally crazy, that’s the way they love you, so embrace it!!! Live the crazy life…it works!

If you want to really kick yourself in the butt you can use affirmations as Louise does on her CDs using I & You. “I am free to be me. You are free to be you.

4. The good, the bad and the …

Use your affirmations all the time. When you feel good sing them, chirp them, skip around with them in your head. When life feels like it sucks and the negatives are dragging you down use them as fire power against the frowns. Use them, use, them, use them at all times! You are always using thoughts regardless, so choose the good ones.

5. Press the repeat button

Luckily for us the Universe does not respond instantly. I would be in big trouble if that were the case. So with that in mind it is essential that we use repetition with our affirmations.

- Pick some of your current power affirmations, ones that sit right with you for now and put them together with a tune that you like. Not only does this help you to remember a few at once it is also a fun way to hum along to your own beat. I sing mine as I am walking to an from any train station so by the time my day is over I have easily repeated my current affirmations up to 50 times. The tune has become quite Pavlovian for me, as soon as I activate it in my head I instantly feel good. Yes, we can reprogram our brains, our fellings, our bodies, our cells, at any time.

- Write your affirmations out every morning and night, keep them next to your bed for easy access. Flash back to school detention? Ha ha maybe, except now you are writing the rules, fun!

- Mirror, mirror on the wall. Saying your affirmations in the mirror adds a power punch; saying and visualizing all at once.

- Shut up inner voice. Use your affirmations like a light switch to turn of negative self talk throughout the day, every time you hear it give it a slap in the face with a juicy affirmation – ha ha take that!

- Become a recording star, put your affirmations on tape/voice recorder and play them back in your car, on your ipod or out loud.

- Use your affirmations as a meditation, use them with your in and out breath flow and relax into them, let them soak into your every cell.

5. Visions

Create vision boards of colorful pictures, drawings and reminders of your affirmations. The power of visualizations coupled with affirmations will be strong, watch out! See, feel and tell yourself that you are living the life with the things that you desire NOW! I dare ya!

6. Keep Well Stocked

Have inspirational books of affirmations that you can open up to any page when you need a pick me up or to combat a negative thought. Create affirmation cards that you can pick out like a lucky dip (my mum always has these at her house, I love them, they are cute little purple cards with stars and sweet words all over them). Create a collage of affirmations as your computer desk top. Share affirmations with friends via a mailing list or forum. Search for creative affirmations online. What we surround ourselves with and what we focus on is what we create more of. That goes for things, people and vibrations…choose the good ones!!

7. Stay on the Pleasure Train

Have fun, dream big and believe yourself. Associate your affirmations with pleasure and good feelings and your subconscious mind will accept their effectiveness. See the process as a wacky chore that may or may not work and the later will most certainly be true. No tough choices there!

I am alive with the joys of living. I deserve the very best in life. I love and accept myself just the way I am. I am happy, I am free. I am loving, I am forgiving, I am strong, I love my life.

Video of the Day:

Action of the Day: Create your own gorgeous sparkling affirmation cards, decorate them, add sparkles of love and then pass them onto a friend.

Affirmation: I am totally, completely and absolutely awesome! I am a rad hooper!

Inspiration: “In my life there is an infinite supply of love, it is in exhaustible, I can never use it all in this lifetime so I don’t have to be sparing with it!” Louise L. Hay