“Every thought we think is creating our future.” — Louise Hay
You can use positive affirmations to reprogram your subconscious mind to improve how you think, feel, and act.
Positive affirmations can help you break out of negative thought patterns and find your breakthroughs.
But to get the benefits of doing affirmations, you need to make sure you are practicing them the right way.
That means you need to learn how to talk to your subconscious better, so that your subconscious understands your affirmations.
What People Do Wrong with Affirmations
There are several things that many people do wrong when they practice affirmations. Here I’ll just call out the key things:
- They focus their affirmation on the negative, what they don’t want, or what they want to avoid..
- They don’t visualize in their minds-eye what they want to be true.
- They don’t feel their affirmation, they simply chant or repeat it, and say the words.
So for example, might say, “I am not afraid.” The subconscious doesn’t understand “not”, so it just hears, “I am afraid.”
What you really want to be is courageous or brave or fearless. So you might instead say, “I am courageous.”
And when you picture it in your mind, don’t just think it. Don’t just say it. Feel it.
Dandapani on 3 Keys to Doing Affirmations Better
I watched a video interview where Dandapani explains how to use positive affirmations better. He outlines 3 keys to success:
- Choose Concise Words
- Clear Visualization
- Corresponding Feeling
Dandapani said to focus on one affirmation at a time. And repeat that affirmation 108 times (out of tradition).
The most important part of this is to “feel” your affirmation as if it’s true.
#1—Choose Concise Words for Your Positive Affirmation
You want to create a simple positive phrase or statement of your desired state, behavior, or result.
Don’t state your affirmation in the negative. Don’t do this:
“I am not afraid.”
State your affirmation in the positive. Do this:
“I am confident.”
#2 – Visualize to Clarify Your Positive Affirmation
Create clarity through a mental picture, in your minds-eye of your afirmation.
Dandapani shared an example of how if he just says “apples” it could mean a lot of different things.
But by creating a vivid picture, he clarifieis for his subconscious, what he means by “apples”.
Dandapani said:
“I Love Apples
When I say, “I”, my mind knows I’m talking about me.
When I say the word “love” my mind knows that he likes it, he enjoys it, he adores it, that’s what love means to him.
When I say the word “apple”, my mind gets confused, because it’s searching my entire hard drive, my entire subconscious from the day I was born, for every occurrence of the word “apple”:
Red apple, green apples, yellow apples, honey crisp apples, red delicious, Fuji apples, Washington apples, Apple Macbook Pro, Macbook Air, Apple Watch, iWatch, Apple iPhone, Apple iPad…
What apples is he talking about?
I have no idea!
So words alone is not enough. So that’s why we have visualization.
So when I say “I love apples” and I visualize a bright, red apple, my mind goes “aah, that’s what he’s talking about.
I love apples.
He loves bright, red apples.
This particular type of apple.
It’s a Washington or Honey crisp apple which has a little yellowish tint to it.
So that’s why words and visualization are important.”
#3 – Feel the Feeling of Your Positive Affirmation
This is actually the most important part, according to Dandapani. You need to “feel” the feeling that corresponds with your affirmation.
Dandapani said:
“And then feeling. Feeling is emotion.
Emotion is energy.
And you know the famous scientist Tesla.
He had this beautiful saying which kind of encapsulates Hindu philosophy really well.
He said that, to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.
“If you want to find the secrets of the Universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.” — Nikola Tesla
So to find the secrets of the universe, think in terms of energy, frequency, and vibration.
Everything is made up of energy..
That’s vibrating at a certain frequency.
So the chains, molecules, and atoms that are vibrating at a certain frequency, binding it together, creating a certain matter,
So, what we believe is that if you…
your subconscious if filled with patterns that are vibrating at a certain frequency.
Anger could be vibrating at 20 Khz (Kilhertz)
Happiness at 30 Khz
I don’t know what the numbers are, I’m just making stuff up in terms of numbers, but everything is vibrating at a certain frequency.
And if you could go into your subconscious and create a pattern, infuse it with energy that’s vibrating at a certain frequency, you can attract things of a similar nature to it.”
Putting It All Together (Practicing Your Positive Affirmation)
Use a short set of positive words to focus and reinforce your affirmation. See it in your mind. Feel it with all of you.
Repeat your affirmation.
As you repeat your affirmation, see it, and feel it, you are teaching your mind, body, and emotions your new pattern.
Dandapani said:
“So if I go into my subconscious and I repeat an affirmation that has a concise choice of positive words, clear visualization, I infuse a feeling into it, what does it feel like?, and it starts to vibrate in my subconscious, with that pattern, at that frequency, now it attracts anything of a similar vibration or a similar frequency towards it.”
Call to Action
- Create a concise positive phrase for your affirmation.
- See your affirmation in your minds’-eye.
- Feel the feeling of your affirmation (what I tell myself is to “feel it in my bones”).
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