Do you know what happens when you say “Can’t” to yourself?
Here’s a simple test for you!
Hold your arm at 90 degrees to the side of your body, make a fist and think of something you can do really well. Ask someone to try to push your arm down, and your task is to resist. Now, repeat this test but this time think of something you believe you can’t do.
You will discover that you will have difficulty resisting the person pushing down your arm the second time, and that much of your prior strength will be gone. It has been proven that when you think or say you can’t do something, your brain decreases the amount of electrical energy going to the parts of your body that would be used to do those things. Here is where affirmations roles come to play!
An affirmation is any statement you regularly repeat to reaffirm to yourself what you intend to achieve or what you will do. An affirmation is a positive declaration of what you believe to be true, or the truth by which you choose to live. It is like an insurance policy for your goals and objectives.
For Example, Churchill’s “We shall fight them on the beaches” speech was an affirmation to motivate the British to overcome their enemy. John F Kennedy’s statement, “Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country” was an affirmation to change American thinking. Muhammad Ali’s “I am the greatest” helped rocket him to becoming one of the world’s most successful athletes.
Affirmations help us express what we feel, in words. Your brain doesn’t know the difference between reality and fantasy, so it accepts the affirmation as reality and creates the neural connections that drives your body towards your goal.
The key to making your own affirmations work is to choose the ones you want for yourself. Then visualize them and repeat them over and over again until they become part of your being. The exciting thing about affirmations is that you have 100 percent control over which ones you put into your mind. This is also the exact same process that negative thinkers use to get their lousy outcomes.
“You are a living magnet.
what you attract into your life is in harmony
with your dominant thoughts”
Brian Tracy, Entrepreneur
What the Skeptics think
Some people may be skeptical about this. They may find it difficult to accept that what they say over and over again can make a difference in their outcomes. The truth probably is that, they have been practicing negative affirmations for years without even realizing it!
For example, think about public speaking. If you find the courage to deliver a speech but tell yourself that you won’t be any good, chances are that you will screw up. This further confirms your negative affirmation. Conversely, if you affirm that you can speak well and repeat this to yourself and visualize it often enough, your Reticular Activating System begins to believe you can do it.
If this all seems too good or too simple to be true, understand that it is the identical process to the way your current outlook on life was developed. Always remember, no one else is responsible for your current circumstances. You created them with the help of your affirmations, whether you knew it or not.
“You are today where your thoughts
have brought you; you will be tomorrow where
your thoughts take you.”
James Lane Allen, American novelist
Written by: Rtr. Naseef Ahamad
Edited by: Rtr. Kalani Siriwardena
Editor