Learning how to make affirmations more powerful is about learning how to create effective affirmations, use the power of emotion and visualization and to utilize the time of day and an effective affirmation strategy.
Affirmations do work.
It is a scientific fact. It is the way your mind learns in the first place.
Doing dull repetitions of words that sound great is a recipe for failure. Unfortunately this is what most people think affirmations are.
It is not.
These sorts of general ‘positive thinking’ affirmations do have a place but it is not a great strategy for creating real change or to manifest in your life.
What Is The Real Power Of Affirmations?
Affirmations have become a very popular idea and almost every self help book includes some sort of affirmation strategy.
The idea that our minds are like a computer and that we simply run certain (self created) programs that keep us stuck in set patterns is more than a theory.
It is a fact.
There is a powerful idea in the Buddhist tradition that says: we first make our minds and then our minds make us.
The early years of your life your mind soaks up everything and through complex patterns of perception is gets ‘programmed’.
For the most part this is necessary and very important as it helps us function as human beings.
The problem is when the mind creates associations and beliefs that do not support you – especially when you get older and start making more conscious choices in your life.
The power of affirmations is the power to choose again – consciously this time.
Many of the beliefs you learned unconsciously can be changed and ‘replaced’ with ideas and beliefs that support what you really want through the use of affirmations.
Many people misunderstand the real power of affirmations though.
Affirmations is not a tool that attempts to ‘install’ new ideas through repetition.
The power of affirmations lie in visualization.
The ability to SEE yourself differently is at the heart of all change you want to make in your life. Maxwell Maltz wrote a powerful book on self image psychology called Psycho Cybernetics.
The central idea of the book is that whatever you want to manifest or change in your life lies locked up in your self image.
Can you SEE yourself having it without actually having it? Can you visualize it? Can you experience it in your mind?
When you can and when you can repeat that feeling and mental sensation then it MUST and will be replicated in your real life experience.
This is where affirmations can be so powerful. While affirmations focus on words, it is the internal images, visualization and experience of the future reality that the words invoke that is the real power.
Forget the idea of simply repeating words that sound great. Words mean nothing. Affirmations in and of themselves mean nothing.
OIts like a warm shower. It makes you feel better in the moment but it rarely creates change.
If the affirmation can not move you into a different state of being (your vibration) and if it can not create a visualization then it won’t be able to help you change or manifest.
So, if the power of affirmations lie in the images and the emotions that it invokes in our minds and our consciousness, how can we make it work better, faster and more effectively?
9 Proven Ways To Make Affirmations More Powerful
There are a number of ways to make affirmations more powerful without gimmicks or theoretical ideas like brainwave audios and altered states of mind.
Those ideas can work but from my experience you tend to get lost in the detail and it can get very complicated and even weird.
The good news is that you do not need any weirdness to make affirmations more powerful – just some proven and very basic ideas that absolutely work.
The 9 most powerful ways to make affirmations work faster and better are:
- Create an Intention First
- Personalize Your Affirmation In The Present Tense
- Use Your Affirmation To Build an Image
- Use Your Affirmation To Raise Your Vibration
- Avoid Dull Repetitions
- Write Your Affirmations
- Use a Mirror
- Fall Asleep With Your Affirmations
- Wake Up With Your Affirmations
1.Create an Intention First
There are 3 important components to creating an intention. An intention is the first and most important step to manifesting anything in your life.
- You get absolutely crystal clear on exactly what you DO want
- You are able to clearly see yourself changed or already manifesting what you desire
- You make an absolute and definite decision that you WILL have that in your life
When you have these 3 elements in place you have set an intention.
Write it out.
Refine it.
Sculpt it until you are happy with it and it creates an intense desire within you to realize it in your life.
If your intention does not excite you, work on it more. Scale it up. Pimp it. It needs to stir you emotionally before you will be able to truly act on it at the superconscious level.
2. Personalize Your Affirmation In The Present Tense
I’ve written before on the fact that general lists of affirmations won’t do much for you.
Until and unless the affirmation is deeply person and has the ability to make you visualize and experience YOUR specific intention it won’t be powerful enough to truly manifest.
To make affirmations more powerful, simply turn your intention into an affirmation statement. Start with your name or with ‘I am’.
Avoid any ideas that make you feel like your intention is out there in the future. You need to feel like it is already part of your present reality.
3. Use Your Affirmation To Build an Image
I’ve already talked about this in some detail but when you say or write your affirmation it needs to invoke the image of you already having it.
To make affirmations more powerful you need to focus on the visualization aspect of it. The mind thinks in terms of images.
Become conscious of the images you are holding in your mind and the images that your affirmations invoke.
4. Use Your Affirmation To Raise Your Vibration
A consequence of the visual aspect of affirmations is that it can and will move you emotionally.
When you see yourself already having what you want to manifest it makes you feel good. It can not help but do that.
When you feel good it raises your vibration and when you match your vibration to what you want to manifest then the law of attraction truly starts working its magic.
Focus not just on the words and the images but become conscious of how you feel when you see, write or say your affirmation.
5. Avoid Dull Repetitions
The reason why so many people avoid affirmations is because they probably fall into the trap of doing dull repetitions.
You can repeat an affirmation 10 million times. Until and unless it creates a visual and emotional response within you it has no power at all.
It is not about repetition.
It is about intention, intensity and consistency.
Saying affirmations softly to yourself is effective but only if you have complete presence of mind. To make to make spoken affirmations more powerful, say them out loud.
The act of speaking it and hearing it can be very powerful.
6. Write Your Affirmations
I’ve written extensively on the value, the importance and the power of writing affirmations.
There are many techniques like the 55×5 method or the 111 affirmation technique to help you create a program for doing this.
When you write an affirmation it pinpoints your thoughts. It removes distraction and creates connection between your senses to really help you focus and visualize very clearly.
7. Use a Mirror
One of the most effective ways to make affirmations more powerful is to use a mirror. Often when we say affirmations or even when we write it it can seem like its outside of ourselves.
When you stand in front of a mirror, you look yourself deep in the eye and you repeat your affirmations.
You make it hit ‘home’ in a very real and powerful way.
At first this strategy can be hard and very confronting but stay with it. Do not break eye contact!
Talk to your Self. Instruct your Self and what you want it to be, do or have.
8. Fall Asleep With Your Affirmations
The minutes before you fall asleep at night are some of the most valuable minutes of your day.
At this time when you are somewhere between being awake and asleep you have a golden opportunity to ‘instruct’ the subconscious mind.
You can make your affirmations more powerful by spending the last 15 minutes of your day writing and repeating your affirmation(s) as you fall asleep.
That way your mind will simmer over the idea of your affirmation while you sleep.
9. Wake Up With Your Affirmations
Most people wake up and are almost immediately reminded about all the problems they need to focus on.
The way you start your day has a huge impact on the way the rest of the day will proceed and this all accumulates into what your life unfolds as.
By starting your day with your affirmations as soon as you wake up you take charge.
You consciously direct your thinking to what you DO want instead of allowing your thoughts to default back to ‘the program’.
To make affirmations more powerful, keep a written card of your affirmations next to your bed. Make sure it is the first thing you see when you wake up every day.
Better yet, spend the first 15 minutes of your day thinking about, repeating and/or meditating on your affirmation.