Thought for the Day:
Affirmations without action are just glorified wishful thinking. Affirmations are “mental armor” supporting empowered action, not a substitute for it.
Over the past several years, I’ve written many articles about affirmations -how affirmations work, types of affirmations, ways to use affirmations, etc., etc., etc. Some of those articles are linked to in this article.
However, I’ve never just written an article on how to write an effective affirmation. Today I had a request from a follower on Twitter to provide a “how to” and decided it was a good time to write that article. Let me begin by saying that there are many gurus out there with many ideas on how to correctly write affirmations. There are also some dogmas around the process. I’m not big on dogmas of any kind. So some of this might be unorthodox. Feel free to use what resonates for you.
Before we begin, let me make a few quick points. Affirmations are a tool to reshape and refocus your thoughts. By themselves, they don’t “make” anything happen. However, as you replace negative thoughts with negative vibrations with positive thoughts and positive vibrations, you do begin to attract better things into your life. Affirmations without action are just wishful thinking. The idea is that as you raise the vibration of your thoughts, you become more inspired to take action to manifest those thoughts as reality in the world. See the thought of the day at the top of the article.
I recommend reading my two part series on Affirmations: Repetition and Belief along with using this list to create your affirmations. Following is 7-step process for creating your own affirmations. This is my way. It has worked for me over the past 20 years. Others might have another way that works for them.
- Start with a goal – you must have a goal in mind. The clearer the goal, the better the affirmation and the better chance for success. A cloudy goal leads to an unclear affirmation, and poor results.
- Affirm what you can believe – affirmations are not a tool for persuading you to believe something you don’t believe. They are a tool to help you create and multiply thoughts that support the action necessary to achieve the things you believe you can achieve. However, you can use what I call “aspirational affirmations” to help manifest a distant goal. You just need to be able to believe you can achieve that goal one day. (Read more Incremental Affirmations and Unrealistic Affirmations)
- Use clear language – the language of your affirmation should be clear and powerful for you. It’s OK to use phrases and terms that are very personal to you as long as the language resonates and feels empowering when you say it. Be as specific as possible.
- Present Tense – in most cases, it is more effective to use the present tense when writing, speaking, or listening to affirmations. In other words, state your affirmation as “I am…” rather than “I will..” or “I should”. The lone exception would be those discussed in the Incremental Affirmations article.
- First, second, and third person – most affirmation gurus will tell you to always put your affirmations in the first person, such as I am a magnificent dancer, rather than the second person you are a magnificent dancer. I agree that first person is the best if you are only going to choose one. Why stop with first person, though? An affirmation can be very powerful in the second person and using your name. I recommend using all three. I am a great writer. You are a great writer. Ray is a great writer. This holographic language creates a more powerful and holistic affirmation. (Read more Adding the Power of You to Your Affirmations)
- Use them, use them, use them – once you have written an empowering affirmation, use it. Like so many other motivational tools, affirmations are created and then cast aside after a day or two. Read them aloud, read them into the mirror, post them places where you can see them throughout your day, record them and listen to them passively (Listening Passively to Affirmations) or actively over and over until they infuse your mind. The goal for an affirmation is to have it replace the negative or disempowering thoughts and become thoroughly embedded in your thought process so that it becomes the automatic response (How Do You Know Your Affirmations are Working?) to your negative thoughts.
- Take action – affirmations without action is just wishful thinking. You must think and then act, if you are to achieve.
Follow your bliss! Experience your bliss! Become your bliss!
Ray
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The Affirmation Spot Blog 
So I take it that you agree that the 60 post-its (which I change up as necessary) shaped in a tree on my wall sized bathroom mirror is a good thing. 😉 I’ve been flying solo on my journey, always in a classroom, always looking and seeking to learn more and I can’t thank you enough for these helpful hints. I always use “I AM” “I DO” “I WILL ALWAYS” I CAN” … but I love the idea of “you” … second person makes sense, I like it – I think I”ll change a few up on my next overhaul to a few “you” rather than “I.” Any other helpful hints you have, please do share, I welcome them.
Thank you for this. Much love & light … Kimba (K, Kimberly Kimba … I answer to all, but Kim) hehe.
Affirmations saved my life…literally. I nearly died at 25. I was crushed financially, physically, and spiritually. I started writing and recording affirmations on cassette tapes (dating myself) and listening to them while I slept. Pretty soon when I’d have my negative thoughts, they’d be answered by a positive affirmation I’d absorbed while asleep. I got the idea from a high school friend who was a state level math whiz. He listened to math problems while he slept and credited it for his success. Those are all awesome start phrases. *I CHOOSE* is another one I like and even though it goes against orthodoxy, I like some negative phrases that I believe have immense power such as I refuse *I REFUSE*
What results have you seen in your life that you credit at least partly to your affirmations?
Ray, to the best of your knowledge (keep in mind I’m using a wordpress.com site, and a free one at that, so there are many widgets and other tools that aren’t available to me) is there a way to save someone’s post. I don’t mean copy it and save it locally, I mean to highlight it, save it so I can easily find and reflect back to it at a later date?
You should be able to get the URL for the post and save it to your favorites. On my posts, you’re welcome to save them locally. Please add away if you have other things that can help others stay optimistic about life. Where we start in our minds each day determines much about where you finish.
Where you’re doing your HUGE part in affirmations (so very needed), I’m trying to do my part by sharing love, a loving feeling, a loving experience and loving and higher vibration experiences. We make a good pair!
And TY, doy – great idea, I’ll save the URL to that page, thanks, I had a brain blip hehe.