Every word that you say after “I am” and every thought you have throughout the day becomes a declaration to your subconscious mind. This statement acts as a command quietly shaping your future, emotions and goals.
This phrase or statement is an “affirmation”.
When affirmations are repeated often, they get etched into our subconscious mind and our mind then does its best to make them a reality.
Imagine saying “I am too weak” almost every day. Your mind will believe it and start working to convert it to a truth, and before you know it, you actually become weaker.
Another behavioral study conducted by mobile health-app found that higher “doses” of self-affirmation improved adherence to dietary goals (eating more fruit/veg) among participants.
Important Reading
To know more about what the subconscious mind is and how it works, read The Subconscious Mind: Your Best Friend or Your Worst Enemy.
What people think about you is not important. What you think about yourself means everything.Sandeep Maheshwari
What happens when you talk negatively about yourself?
Our subconscious mind is suggestive. It doesn’t execute decisions for us; it only suggests appropriate ones to our logical mind which then executes them.
When you feed negative affirmations to the subconscious, such as:
- “I can’t do it”
- “It’s impossible”
- “It’s very difficult”
- “She/He’s out of my league”
- “It’s too risky”
Your subconscious will keep suggesting actions; the actions whose result will end up with these negative affirmations. E.g., if you keep saying “I am overweight”, your mind will silently keep suggesting less exercise, more junk food, etc until “I am overweight” becomes the truth.
This has been true for centuries. It has been embedded in each one of us since we were born. That’s why the wisest keep saying the following:
- “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he.” — Proverbs 23:7
- “Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t; you’re right.” — Henry Ford
- “The mind is everything. What you think, you become.” — Buddha
- “Your subconscious mind cannot take a joke. It takes everything you say literally.” — Florence Scovel Shinn
- “Change your thoughts and you change your world.” — Norman Vincent Peale
What are daily affirmations?
Daily affirmations are not just simple feel-good phrases; they’re the tools of mental reprogramming. These need not just be words, but your thoughts work too.
When people you trust keep saying such things to you, it also affects you. If your parents, friends and loved ones keep telling you “you can’t do it”, “you’re not good enough”, etc, the mind takes them as well. However, your own affirmations are more powerful than the ones others feed you.
You are the average of five people you spend time with.Jim Rohn
This quote suggests that your social circle unintentionally keeps feeding you phrases and statements on a daily basis. Whatever they talk about, your mind listens and makes your mind exactly like them. If they have a failure-like mindset, you will develop it too.
How do daily affirmations work?
The affirmations work by conditioning your mind the same way as negative self-talk. You start telling yourself about the good things you want in the present tense.
What I mean is that if you lack self-confidence and you want to build it, you don’t say “I want to be confident”, instead you must say “I am confident” and repeat it every day.
When you do that, your mind starts believing it is true and even if it is not, it will do everything to make it true. It will start suggesting small things that you will not notice which will help you build confidence.
Let’s take an example of an affirmation and see how it works.
- I am confident (not “I want to be confident”)
- I am successful (not “I want to be successful”)
- I am courageous (not “I want to be courageous”)
- I am patient (not “I want to be patient”)
And you keep repeating them 10-15 times every morning. Gradually, your brain will start working to actually make them true. Sooner or later, without you realising, you will already be acting confident, courageous, and patient. You will have started working for success without you realising how it’s happening.
A day will come, in three to four months, when you will reflect on your past and present self and believe me, you’ll be truly surprised how you changed. You may not even believe that affirmations did that to you because they work silently in your subconscious.
Using positive affirmations
Positive affirmations make us believe in ourselves. They make us think of the present moment and at the same time improves our future. It makes us visualise the kind of life we want and work to get it.
Modern research (Queen’s University, 2020) used a method called “thought worms” to track when one thought ends and another begins. They found that an average human has around 6,000 distinct thoughts per day, not including repetitive or looping thoughts.
How many negative thoughts you get among those 6,000 depends on how you have been living. If you’ve always been negative, then you’ll get more negative thoughts, because that’s what your mind has become attracted to.
How do you work around it?
You have programmed your mind negatively from years of “negative affirmations”. All you need is to put yourself in reverse gear. Think and talk positively about yourself, to yourself.
- I’m beautiful
- I can do it
- It may be difficult, but not impossible
- It’s possible
At first, when you start doing it, your mind will attempt to play tricks on you. You will find these affirmations funny, even stupid at times. You will doubt whether they work or not, regardless you must continue to do them every single day.
The first few days or even weeks will be hard. But once you get past this phase, you’ll realise the power these daily positive affirmations have on you.
The affirmations work in the background. You just have to recite them in a calm and thoughtful manner. You’ll automatically begin improving yourself and start noticing personality or behaviour changes in under a month.
How do I start performing these affirmations?
There are many affirmations listed on the web, but as you may have guessed, everyone has different needs, wants and desires. We’ll just talk about the most common daily affirmations that people need.
Positive Affirmations for Success in Life
- “I am worthy and deserving of success.”
- “I am capable and competent in all areas of my life.”
- “I believe in myself and my abilities.”
- “I am confident in my decisions and choices.”
- “I am successful in all that I do.”
- “I am constantly growing and improving.”
- “I am filled with positive energy and enthusiasm.”
- “I am surrounded by abundance and prosperity.”
- “I am capable of achieving my biggest goals and dreams.”
- “I am a powerful and confident individual.”
- “I am worthy of love and respect.”
- “I am strong and resilient in the face of adversity.”
- “I choose to focus on the positive in every situation.”
- “I am filled with gratitude and appreciation for all that I have.”
- “I am a creative and innovative problem solver.”
So simple, right?
Don’t get caught up in the strictness of these affirmations. You can modify them as per your need. All you need to remember is that you feed your mind with only positive words.
Takeaways
Affirmations aren’t just motivational sentences, they’re commands to your subconscious mind that slowly shape who you become.
Every thought and word you repeat about yourself creates a mental pattern that your mind obeys, whether positive or negative. By consciously choosing empowering affirmations and practising them daily, you begin to rewire your thought patterns, attract better outcomes, and build a mindset aligned with confidence, success, and growth.
If this post helped you understand how affirmations actually work, share it with someone who needs to reprogram their mind too.
