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Daily affirmations are a way to utilize the benefits of autosuggestion in a way that will benefit your life. Autosuggestion is simply the process of telling yourself something over and over again until it becomes ingrained in you (drilled into your subconscious) and you actually believe what you're saying.
Just as an athlete performs the same physical activity over and over again in order to develop an instinct. You tell yourself something over and over again until it becomes natural to think and act a certain way.
Affirmations are typically said in the present tense, as if the thing we desire is already happening.
This poses a natural challenge because we typically try to affirm things that we want to fix or correct in our lives. In other words, we don't have the things we are affirming. Instead, we might have the exact opposite.
For example, what traits do you think the person has who uses the following daily affirmation:
"I am a good conversationalist and find social situations inviting."
Do you think the person is already a good conversationalist in social situations? Or, is it more likely that the person is a little shy and tends to sit in the back and avoid social situations?
Typically, it's the latter of the two.
Most people would accept the above affirmation as a good one. They're wrong!
The majority of the affirmations that you find on the internet and that people use don't work.
Why? Because they're lying to themselves!
Think about it. What thoughts do you have when you tell yourself something you're not? Do any of these sound familiar? Yeah right! You wish. That's not me. Liar!
In order to make affirmations work, you have to stop lying to yourself.
Let's continue with the example and drill down to the core issue. Let's say we identify the core issue being that we had a speech impediment as a child and were made fun of because we didn't talk properly.
In our example, this is a more appropriate affirmation: "I used to be shy and struggled with social situations because of a speech impediment I had as a child. However, now I talk clearly and effectively. I am a good conversationalist and thrive in social situations. I seek them out and love the opportunity to share the things I've learned."
Do you see the difference? While the first affirmation simply states what I want to become - Affirmations that work acknowledge the core issue as a past behavior and replace it with a productive, positive one.
By acknowledging the issue as something that used to be, you remove the conflict in your mind.
What you are telling yourself is now true instead of a lie. As a result, there is no conflict and you are able to adapt to the desired behavior more quickly.
Acknowledge the issue you're trying to correct (hey, no one is perfect) and state it as something that used to be and then include how you will act beginning today and in the future. When you remove the conflict - stop lying - the affirmation is more believable and you will act accordingly.
Be sure to check out my other tips for making Affirmations that Work For a practical approach to self improvement and straight-forward advice on what works and what doesn't check out Self-Improvement-Resource.com
