About Positive Affirmations
What is a Positive Affirmation?
A positive affirmation is a statement
that you tell to yourself. It is a form of positive self-talk that can make you
feel better through association of the words, thus creating a Positive Mental
Attitude (PMA). Positive affirmations
are quite powerful (from a holistic point of view, ie Mind, Body & Spirit)
and they have many benefits. Positive affirmations work on every level-
physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. When a positive affirmation is said over and
over again, it will train the mind to believe what it is being told. The
subconscious mind holds many belief systems that we have acquired throughout
the lifespan. We don’t always re-examine and evaluate our belief systems but to
do so is vital for growth and learning. Some of our beliefs serve us very well
while others are self-limiting. Some beliefs change and flow as we move through
life while others stay fixed. Sometimes we change our beliefs naturally without
much effort, while others are harder to change because of the time or intensity
it has taken to form the belief. The mind will generally believe what is told
if it is being told often enough, and especially if it is not in the habit of questioning
everything it is told.
What influences the mind?
It is a good idea to get into the habit of
discernment, ie question everything you are told. Become more aware of what
your mind is being told in everyday life, what you are observing, the
conversations you have with others etc. It is most important though to be aware
of what it is that you are telling yourself.
A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself “would I employ someone to be
with me 24hrs a day repeating to me what I am telling myself?” Have a think
about the beliefs you hold, what statements do you think about yourself and
life? Do they sound like “I really deserve good things.” “I love myself so
much.” Or do they sound more like “Im not good enough” “Bad things always
happen to me.” How self-aware are you? What statements should you be telling
yourself? What kind of beliefs are you affirming to yourself on a continuous
basis? You are the biggest influence on yourself and your thoughts are the one thing
that you can take control of with some practice.
Think of the mind as being a
computer system that takes in information, processes it, stores it and believes
what it is told. Think of the spirit or life-force being the driving force behind
the mind. Think of every cell within the body as having its own memory that
sends information to the mind. Think of your emotions as being the messengers
to tell you what you are thinking about. Think of the mind sending signals to
the body to do its job. Think of your memories as being old movies that
rerun.
Mainstream medicine and society
have recently realised the importance of minding our minds, looking after our
mental health, and developing a PMA (positive mental attitude). It is important
to note though that we should not be pressurising ourselves to become positive
about everything in life. Negative thoughts and emotions are part of who we are
and are an important guidance tool to help us work with ourselves and the world
in general. Awareness is the key.
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Reprogramming the mind
There are numerous therapies and
tools to change something within the subconscious mind and thought patterns,
like Hypnotherapy, Integrated Energy Therapy, Cognitive Behaviour Therapy.
However using positive affirmations can be a powerful way to reprogramme the
mind if used correctly. Scientists have proven that our DNA can be reprogrammed
using words and frequencies. Our minds are constantly busy, working and
`talking`, either processing the boundless information and data being brought
in continuously throughout the day or it is telling ourselves what has
happened, what might happen in the future, what we think of ourselves and
others, what others think of us, the list goes on.. Meditation is one of the
most powerful ways to train the `monkey mind` and using positive affirmations
within meditation while the brainwaves are at their most receptive is a sure
way to change the thought processes.
A simple example of a positive
affirmation is, if a person is lacking in self-confidence, and they use the
affirmation “I love and approve of myself” their mind will eventually start to
believe it and self-confidence will increase. A term for this is
`self-fulfilling prophecy`, or more generally known as brain-washing!
When the mind is told something over
and again (by a child or parent or others or self) then it will eventually
believe it. A child who is consistently told by a parent “You always do that wrong” will grow up to
believe that they always do that particular thing wrong. And likewise if they
are told “You are good at learning new things” and encouraged to try again or
do it differently or practice, then they will be able to do it right, and the
child will grow to have more confidence in their own abilities. This is the
foundation for `positive parenting`, however it is just as important to give a
child the skill of creating their own
positive affirmations in order that they can learn how to independently
influence their own minds in a positive way.
The
mind and body working together.
Our thoughts are energy waves that can
be measured- (beta, alpha, theta and delta brainwaves). Physiologically, a
positive affirmation will make changes to the neurological pathways and change
the memory at cellular/DNA level. There is plenty of research for this. The
cells that make up the whole body are continuously communicating with each
other and receiving `instructions` at a neurological/hormonal level from the
`computer` brain. Every cell also has a memory and stored info. The body runs
itself holistically like a well-oiled engine as long as the person feeds it
with the right fuel, exercise, loving emotions and thoughts & words.
Researchers, Doctors and Health-care
workers are now agreeing with complimentary therapists that physical dis-ease
in the body is not only caused by poor diet, lack of exercise, free radicals
etc, but also by mental and emotional factors, all under the term `stress`.
There has also been an increase in chronic conditions including undiagnosed chronic pain that are a
result of chronic stress and unhealthy lifestyles. Pain Management Clinics run
by the Southern Trust are now promoting the use of Meditation, Mindfulness and
Positive Mental Attitude alongside healthy diet and exercise. One of the main
recent discoveries around chronic pain is that it is caused by a neurological
pathway malfunction or pain memory, as opposed to pain continuous inflammatory
response from an injury.
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There is no doubting the power of the
mind over the body, the placebo effect alone gives weight to this. Many
therapists and spiritual gurus will advocate that if you heal the mind then the
body will heal. Louise L. Hay is a respected practitioner who recommends
positive affirmations for healing physical dis-ease. Louise has helped
thousands of people to heal from every type of dis-ease including cancer and
Aids through positive affirmations combined with a healthy diet and exercise. In her bestselling book “You Can Heal Your Life” Louise L Hay maintains that 90 to 95% of
physical dis-ease can be traced to a particular emotional state or mental
thought pattern. Louise also highlights the particular emotional/mental state
that has caused a particular physical dis-ease in the body. For example, the
ears represent the capacity to hear. Ear problems would indicate that there is
something going on that the person does not want to hear, or they have
unreleased anger about hearing something. Repeating the positive affirmation “I
listen with love to the pleasant and the good” will counteract the ear problem
mentally, emotionally and physiologically.
How to use positive affirmations
The
most important aspect of saying an affirmation is repetition. Repeating them
over and over as often as possible is vital in changing the neural
imprint.
There
are different ways of repeating affirmations, including: saying them inside
your head, saying them out loud (more powerful), saying them into a mirror
(even more power), writing them down (where traditional school lines
originated), reading them, writing one out and sticking it on the wall or
beside a mirror for the mind to take in subliminally. Recording an affirmation
and then playing it back (especially while sleeping during the Delta sleep stage)
is an excellent way, however always replace “I” or “me” with “you” during a
recording. Using an affirmation during meditation is extremely powerful, as
this is when the brainwaves enter the Alpha and Theta stage of deep relaxation.
It is advisable to stick to one or two affirmations at a time, and to repeat
them at least one hundred times a day! The results are always worth it. The more difficult an affirmation is to say, the more it is needed!
The spiritual aspect of positive
affirmations is where the magic is. When a person closes their eyes and asks a
box of random affirmations to tell them what they need to know, they will pull
out the exact right affirmation that they need to say at that time. Within
energy science and quantum physics, like attracts like, therefore this is the
magical power of a persons energy working at its best!
There
is no such thing as coincidence, and picking an affirmation at random is
excellent for gaining self-awareness, and is especially useful for parents to
gain insight into anything troubling a child.
Further Reading:
www.meditationsuk.com/blog/index.php/2009/12/meditation-and-brainwaves
