Does listening to affirmations work? Yes, listening to affirmations does work if you have a present mind, engage fully and talk along in your mind or out loud.
Listening to affirmations also work even if it is just running in the background.
I’ve written previously about subliminal and supraliminal ‘messaging’ and there is plenty of scientific evidence that points to the fact that your subconscious mind is always awake and always paying attention.
The bad news however is that simply listening to ‘generic affirmations’ that are often designed to sound sexy and to sell well are the most ineffective.
Listening to affirmations should be part of your strategy but should by no means be your only strategy.
Affirmations can be used to great effect to help you manifest something or to make some sort of change in your mindset or behaviour.
It does take a massive effort though because the subconscious mind won’t give up its current habits without a fight.
The subconscious mind will cling on to what it has come to believe to be ‘the truth’. Changing this requires a lot of convincing and many call this ‘reprogramming’.
Affirmations is one of the most effective strategies if used correctly. Listening to affirmations does work and it does help but I want you to use it as part of a bigger overall strategy.
The Most Effective Affirmations
Does listening to affirmations work? Yes! They certainly do but it is definitely not the be all and end all of creating real and lasting change in your life.
Listening to affirmations certainly is a component of making affirmations work and is one strategy that can be effective.
If it is your only strategy then you may be at it for a very long time to see any real and lasting changes in your life.
There are 2 important components to making affirmations work really well in your life.
The first is to have the right affirmations – that means affirmations that are crafted the right way to speak to you and your own mind.
Secondly, you need to have the right strategy. That is the way you use the affirmations in your own life.
1. The Perfect Affirmation
Perfect might be a bit of strong word since nothing is ever really perfect. However, I believe that when you shoot for the stars you will at least hit the moon.
The very act of trying to make the perfect affirmations is what is important. It gives you the right mindset to really dig deep and create affirmations that are meaningful and effective.
So, what does the perfect affirmation look like? Here are some of the characteristics of the perfect affirmations.
Try and incorporate as many of these ideas into your own affirmations. When you do, you will see a dramatic difference in how effective they are.
- Be Personal:
Your affirmations need to be written and crafted by YOU. Downloading lists of affirmations or listening to generic affirmations does not have the same impact.
Use your own words, your own thoughts and your own ideas. I always start my affirmations with “I, My Name…”.
By using your own name you speak directly and indirectly to your subconscious mind and make it deeply personal.
- Be Specific:
Your affirmations need to be specific. You need to know exactly what the specific outcome or result is that you want from your affirmations.
Vague and generic ideas like “I want to be confident” mean absolutely nothing to your subconscious mind.
When your affirmation is “I am confident and sure of myself in any and every meeting with my clients” there is a specific focus that addresses a specific issue you have or want to change.
- Be Clear:
Clarity is power and when you start thinking deeply on exactly what it is you want to change or manifest then the clarity helps you develop an intention.
Be as clear as you possibly can be to describe in detail exactly what the ideal END RESULT will look like.
- Use Present Tense Only:
Phrasing affirmations as something that might still happen in the future ensures that your manifestations always stay one step in front of you.
You need to step into that reality and make it your present.
Always phrase your affirmations in a way where it is already part of your life and part of your reality.
- Be Emotional:
Words have very little meaning in and of themselves. When the words invoke an emotional response then and only then can you activate the higher parts of your mind and consciousness.
Emotion is the key to raising your vibration and truly activating the power of the law of attraction.
Using words and descriptions that move YOU and that cause you to feel good when you think about your intentions is what amplifies your affirmations.
Be careful not to try and inject ‘emotional words’ but focus on ideas and wording that makes YOU feel good and that elevates your vibration.
- Be Visual:
The most important goal of any affirmation is in the images and visualization that it invokes. An affirmation is not about words. The words are a means to the end.
The ‘end’ is the image that it creates in your mind.
Affirmations is a visualization tool.
A good affirmation will help you visualize without you trying to visualize.
2. The Perfect Strategy
Having effective affirmations is important but what is even more important is having the right strategy.
Even if you have weak or generic affirmations it can still be incredibly effective when you have the right strategy.
So how do we ‘reprogram’ our minds and emotions with affirmations and how do we use affirmations to help us manifest our intentions?
There are dozens of strategies and techniques. The 55×5 Method, keeping an manifestation journal and even scripting are all techniques that can help you achieve better results.
The strategies don’t change though and the various techniques are only there to help you apply the strategies better.
Here are the 8 strategies to make affirmations work faster and better:
- Spoken:
Speaking your affirmations out loud is ideal but speaking it softly or even just speaking it in your mind all work.
Doing it out loud has the benefit that you not only do it (by speaking it) but you also hear it. This gives your senses another avenue of reception.
- Written:
Writing down your affirmations is an incredibly powerful strategy. The act of writing has immense benefits as it not only helps your mind focus but it helps you ‘think’.
You not only do it, but you also see it.
- Listen:
Does listening to affirmations work? Yes it does, but you can take it a step further. Instead of listening passively you can use it to guide you.
You can speak along either silently or out loud. That way you get the most out of listening to affirmations to make it work better.
- Mirror Work:
This is often weird when you first do it, but looking yourself in the eye in front of the mirror and saying your affirmations out loud to yourself is incredibly powerful.
Louise Hay was a huge proponent of this strategy because looking at yourself when you say your affirmations helps you cut through this idea that your affirmations are an external concept.
It helps you internalize the affirmations much faster and much more effectively.
- Repeated:
Repetition is a function of the human mind. We not only learn through repetition but we remember and create habits through repetition.
Everything in your life that you want to change or manifest was originally created through repetition. It may have happened mostly subconsciously but it was still the same process of repetition.
The more you can repeat your affirmations with an intense presence of mind and a focussed intention the faster you will see results.
- Consistent:
Habits of mind and subconscious beliefs take time to develop. The mind needs to be ‘convinced’ before it accepts something as an absolute truth (for you).
You need a consistent effort with your affirmations and it can often take an intense focus for months or years to see real and lasting results with affirmations.
If you have to override a lifetime of habitual thinking then you need to replace it which requires a consistent effort.
- Deliberate:
You need to be very deliberate with your affirmations and your intentions. If you want to change something or manifest something then you need to make a deliberate effort to change who you are.
Be deliberate in changing your language. Be deliberate in changing your attitude, your mindset and your thoughts. Its not always easy but the mere act of trying to change is often enough.
- Congruence:
You need to make a definite effort for your life and actions to align with your affirmations. When you deliberately try to change you need to become aware of what needs changing in your life.
You can not be the person you used to be as soon as you finished saying your affirmations for the day. You need to make a real effort for your thoughts and actions to align with your affirmations.
You need to be congruent in your thoughts and your actions and to make sure they align with your affirmations.
The 3 Main Benefits of Listening To Affirmations
Listening to affirmations does work but as we just saw it is only part of a comprehensive strategy.
Most people who ‘try’ affirmations without any real success fail to realize just how big an effort it takes to change the way you think.
When you change the way you think, you change the way you feel and you consequently change your actions and your behaviour.
When you change the way you think and feel for long enough, it becomes habitual and it becomes WHO YOU ARE.
Listening to affirmations can be very effective. The 3 main benefits I love are:
1. Using NET Time:
We all have phones and we have them with us all the time. Using your NET time which is No Extra Time – meaning that you use those otherwise waisted hours of the day.
If you are commuting, doing the washing or driving somewhere you can use that time very effectively by listening to affirmations.
You can easily squeeze out an hour of listening time for your affirmations every day.
2. Allowing The Subconscious Mind To Take Action:
When you listen to affirmations and you are not actively listening, engaging and paying attention, your subconscious mind IS.
The subconscious mind is always awake and always listening. Even listening to affirmation loops while asleep works from this point of view.
3. Focus and Guidance:
Listening to affirmations can work incredibly well if you create (or have) recordings that you can use to guide you.
The mind can easily drift if you try to sit still and focus on your affirmations.
By listening to them and using it as a guide to follow along with you can help your mind stay focused and cantered.
I had a friend who has some serious self esteem issues. She got her mom to record some affirmations for her. Hearing it in her mom’s voice really helped her address some of the issues that stemmed from her childhood.
There are also some online services where you can buy recordings where a voice artist will record personalized affirmations for you.