The Power of Affirmations

For me, daily affirmations are a must! They really do affect me by lifting my spirit and keeping me going when things get tough, and sometimes that can be more than once a day! Daily affirmations keep me on track and help me to remain postive about life.

Affirmations work for me when I take the time to write them myself,  this makes them personal to me and are specific to some situations or circumstances.

Some tips for writing your own affirmations:

1. Make sure when you write them you use the word “I”. These are personal to you remember.

2. Use the present tense. Affirmations are built on the here and now, which is why at any point in time when you want to be positive you can say something like “I am strong and in control right now”.

3. Use your own writing style and be concise with each affirmation, really think through what you want to say.

4. Be short. Affirmations are meant to be simple and clear. If you can, make them a one-liner. If its too wordy you wont repeat your affirmation daily.

5. Affirmations are positive statements, so be sure not to include any negative words in the sentence.

6. Make them believable. Your affirmation has to be something you will take seriously and something your subconscious will believe. In my experience, affirmations have helped cure illness and certainly helped me to remain in control during the most trying of situations.

Take the time to sit down, write out your affirmations according to how you are feeling then double check and check your list to ensure it meets the above criteria. Remember to read your affirmations at least once a day. I read them in the morning before I get out of bed and again before I fall asleep, so discover what works for you.

Some people write their affirmations as notes and stick them to the ceilling and walls, others keep them in a small notebook they carry around with them, or you could put them on dvd and keep the dvd in your car! Affirmations will ensure you reach your goals, and daily practice will ensure that you very quickly begin to notice subtle differences in your life.

By MaryAnn Roche

10 Great Nutrition and Food Affirmations

My regular readers know I love the power of affirmations – today Im going to talk about positive affirrmations you can use when dealing with food and nutrition.

When everyone around you at the office is indulging in burgers, fries, and sugary drinks, it’s awfully tempting to join in, isn’t it?

But what if you could stop that temptation in its tracks and actually choose to make a healthy choice? You don’t need me to tell you that fatty and sugary choices are not the kinds of food that your body needs – you need to tell yourself!

When you have “convenience” food bombarding you from every direction, it can be difficult to choose options that give your body the nourishment it needs.

However, if you have daily reminders and effective tools at your disposal, you just may find that eating the right foods and feeding your body the best fuels becomes a lot easier.

Of course, there will always be temptation, but when you equip yourself with anti-temptation tools, you will be able to quickly re-focus your mind on your greater goal of getting healthy!

Using Affirmations to Make the Healthy Food and Nutrition Choices

It can be hard in moments of temptation to make the right choice, but with the help of positive affirmations, you can re-train your brain to replace the desire for junk food with healthy choices.

Affirmations can help you stick to your diet, say no to temptation, and eat nourishing and satisfying foods. How? By replacing the negative spiral of thoughts in your mind with powerful, positive ones.

But first you have to believe that it is possible to gain control over your thirsts, desires, and cravings. The first step in making a lasting change in your life is to make the commitment to success. Are you committed? Do you believe that you can overcome your cravings?

Once you’ve set your commitment in stone, you’re ready to learn the top 10 affirmations to get you through moments of weakness.

Top 10 Food and Nutrition Affirmations

Before reading the list below, you should know that affirmations are most successful when you internalize the saying and repeat it frequently. Whether you’re having a good or bad day, you need to be constantly repeating these positive statements in your mind. Temptation will strike when you least expect it, so it’s better to be prepared!

1. I am proud to reach out to my support network instead of leaning on food for comfort.

2. I can neutralize bad habits with good food, exercise, and healthy living.


3. I set aside time just for me.

4. My good health and productivity are the rewards for the nourishing foods I eat.


5. I am losing weight for me because I love me.


6. Weight gain happens over time, so my weight loss equally requires time, patience, and lifestyle changes.


7. I am firmly committed to staying active and healthy

8. I use self-care, not self-control.


9. I deserve a healthy body and mind.

10. The more I take care of myself, the better I feel.


But remember, you must first believe you can change. Once you make the commitment to your success, you will change your attitudes about food and you’ll be thankful you did!

When you look at these nutrition and food affirmations, they may seem like ideals – behaviors and thoughts that you only wish you could have – but each time you reaffirm them by saying them aloud, you’re slowly changing your mindset. Over time, these ideals will become a reality through your thoughts and actions.

To continue with my Diet Tips I am going to talk about How to Stay Focused on Losing Weight.

Watch the Video here or read the article below!

Losing weight can be challenging because we all want to shed the extra pounds just in time for Gina’s wedding or next weekend’s beach trip.

Its funny how us humans think! Even though it took time to put on the weight, somehow we want it to magically disappear instantly. The reality is that losing weight takes time for everyone. You’re not alone!

What is the hardest thing you have ever tried to do? If you ask 100 people from all walks of life, I’d bet the majority would mention losing weight. It doesn’t matter how many diet tips you have heard or read if you can’t keep on track!

Here’s a book that might interest you! – Click Here!

Unfortunately, weight doesn’t just fall off our bodies, and that’s why most of us find it difficult to stay focused on our weight loss goals. Fortunately, there’s a solution and it all begins with a positive mindset.

Defeating Self-Defeating Thoughts

We all want to think we have the self-control needed to lose weight. However, when the weight loss takes more work or time than we expected it’s easy to get discouraged and give in. The problem is that when we get frustrated or impatient, we lose sight of why we initially started on the journey.

If you decide to give up or are tempted by a forbidden food, you can pull up your list of affirmations and use them to combat the self-defeating thoughts and attitudes.

When you are about to quit and get that bucket of ice cream, you can tell yourself, for example, “If I stumble, it’s okay! I have already made the conscious decision that I will not revert to old habits.”

When you say this aloud, you are taking power back from the negative thoughts and replacing them with positive ones. Taking back this power is a key step in re-establishing control over your negative actions. Besides, it’s okay to stumble along the way. Overcoming obstacles only makes your victory even sweeter!

Part of my diet tips is to create and use your own wieght loss affirmations!
Weight Loss Affirmations and You

The problem that many of us have is that when the weight doesn’t disappear right away, we get frustrated or discouraged, and then we easily give into temptation. We have all had those, “Nothing’s ever going to work so I might as well just eat” thoughts that set us back when we are just getting started in the weight loss process.

Instead of allowing these thoughts to plant a seed in your mind, you can use affirmations to positively react to negative thoughts. Doing so will also serve as a reminder of your goal. Weight loss affirmations can help you shed pounds by encouraging you to stay focused and motivated, even in times of struggle and disappointment.

The greatest thing about affirmations is that they can be used any time of the day or night. After all, they will become embedded into your subconscious! The more you use them, the more your behavior and decisions will change, and the more power you will have over self-defeating thoughts.

Just want some great recipes to help you lose weight? – Click Here!

When you use weight loss affirmations, you will suddenly realize the power of words. Affirmations help you replace negative thoughts and actions so you can combat the cravings and deal with frustrations and pain directly without resorting to food.

I’m a big believer in affirmations. You can read more about how they work, how you can make your own and how to best utilize them under the affirmations category in the menu.

Make up some weight loss affirmations now!
You can consider this information part of my diet tips series because sometimes we need tips on how to stay on track, and for me, that’s especially relevant when I’m thinking about how to stay focused on losing weight!

What’s the Bad News about Affirmations?

I write about affirmations a fair bit because, the good news is that I believe that positive affirmations can make a big difference to your life if you use them properly.

So, what’s the bad news about affirmations?
If you use them the wrong way – it backfires!

Find Good News here about your best chance at Total Life Success!

Negative thinking reinforces an internal belief that we’ll never be able to change ourselves and that we’re destined to continue repeating our self-destructive behaviors. When we re-affirm our negative thoughts, we enter into a vicious cycle that leads to even more negative thinking.

How many times in a day do you tell yourself how stupid you are for forgetting something or how fat you are when your favorite jeans feel tight?

As you go through life, you’re constantly affirming your own thoughts and beliefs. Throughout each day, you consciously and unconsciously tell yourself things based on your belief system.

The problem is, much of the time you may actually be re-affirming negative thoughts rather than positive ones. This is bad news. After all, if your affirmations are negative, you can expect only negative outcomes!

Imagine how different your life would be if you began using positive affirmations to reinforce the positive!

Your subconscious mind accepts things on a very literal basis, so for affirmations to work effectively, you need to follow a simple formula.

Affirmations work wonders if you use them properly. By making a few simple adjustments in the way you phrase your inner dialog, you can begin using this powerful technique to change your thinking and change your life.

Here is some great help with Affirmations – Click Me!

Follow these tips to create positive affirmations that can change your life for the better:

1. Your subconscious mind is very literal.
It can’t process the concept of “not.” The statement, “I am not going to lie on the couch watching TV when I should be exercising” won’t do anything other than re-affirm how you should lay on the couch in front of the television.


* “I enjoy exercising in my spare time” is more likely to motivate you to get up and go to the gym, instead of reaching for the remote control and a bag of chips.


Form your intention in a positive way, even if you haven’t made the behavior change yet.


2. Your subconscious needs to know you’re doing something now.
Not in the future. For example, if you state an affirmation as something you want to change, such as “I will quit smoking,” your subconscious cannot distinguish what you mean by “I will.”


* “I am free from the desire to smoke” is an effective affirmation and will begin to program your subconscious mind into thinking as a non-smoker, even before you put down the cigarettes.


It has no sense of planning for the future. In fact, your subconscious mind will accept what you tell it, even if the behavior has not yet happened, that’s why you should state your affirmation as if it’s already a fact.


3. An affirmation must be personal for your subconscious to accept it.
Saying, “You need to eat healthy” won’t help you change your diet. When your subconscious hears the word “you,” it doesn’t interpret it as a statement directed at yourself.


* “I enjoy eating healthy foods” is a positive, first person affirmation that will help you begin making better choices when you reach for a meal or snack.


Instead, phrase your positvie affirmation in the first person. Stick to “I” in your affirmations and you’ll soon notice a strong positive effect on your behaviors.


Make an effort to stop reinforcing your old, negative thinking that keeps you caught in a rut. Try using these three simple techniques today to create affirmations that can change your subconscious programming, your actions, and your life for the better.

Positive, personal, present tense affirmations are extremely powerful in changing how your subconscious affects your behavior.

So, it’s not bad news after all! Now that you know how to use affirmations properly you are on the way to enjoying a much better state of mind!

As a gift from me to you, here is a great (and free!) affirmations handbook for you to download and enjoy!

I have these gorgeous little positive affirmations printed out and stuck up around my office – you can too! – Enjoy!

How You Can Create Your Own Affirmations

 I have written a lot about the power of affirmations and now its time for you to write up your own inspiring affirmations!

I am currently indexing all my posts so they will be easier to find and you will be able to read all my articles on this subject, under the category of “Affirmations” very soon.

So, What are affirmations?

Well, they’re positive statements that you say out loud on a regular basis. The goal is to re-program your subconscious mind so you can remove any negative thoughts that prevent you from living your dreams.

Affirmations work by overwriting negative thoughts, which are stored in your subconscious, with positive ones.

These Affirmations are powerful tools you can use to help you live the life you’ve always dreamed of.

The Benefits of Affirmations

We all have mental recordings repeating again and again in our mind. Most of them come from childhood and have been directing our actions for years. Unfortunately, many of these old recordings are constantly feeding our mind negative information.

These negative recordings don’t always come from direct statements from people, but they tend to be general theories we’ve come to believe about our situation or ourselves.

If our parents always cautioned us about strangers, for example, we may have the mindset that sees the world as a dangerous place. If we came from a family without much money, we may have limiting beliefs about our finances that prevent us from attaining or keeping wealth.

The good news is you can override these destructive messages using the power of affirmations! Affirmations can reinforce good behaviors and change ones that need changing. To make those changes, you need to create affirmations you can identify with so they can help you improve.

How To Use Affirmations

Begin using affirmations by choosing a few short, clear statements about the things you’d like to see happen in your life.

Try some of these:

* I enjoy exercising every day.
* I love eating nutritious fresh foods in healthy portions.
* When I am free from the desire to smoke, I breathe clean, fresh air.
* I have everything I need to be content and happy today.

Keep these key points in mind to create your own affirmations:

1. For affirmations to work properly, they must be stated in the first person. In other words, don’t create an affirmation saying, “You must eat healthy foods.” In order for your affirmation to matter to your subconscious, it must be personal and use the word “I.”

* “I will choose healthy foods every time I eat” is a personal statement your subconscious can apply to your own behavior.

2. An affirmation must be stated in a positive manner. “I must stop eating junk food” sends your mind a distorted message; it interprets the same as “I eat junk food.” This type of statement will lead you in the opposite direction of your goal!

* Instead, “I choose fresh, healthy snacks when I am hungry” is a positive statement telling your mind the exact desired behavior.

3. An affirmation must be in the present tense. Your subconscious doesn’t have the ability to accept a promise of future behavior. “I will eat healthy foods” doesn’t give your subconscious a timeline or deadline to perform your promise to yourself.

* Instead, state your affirmation as though it’s a behavior you already exhibit. “I always make healthy food choices” is a present tense statement your subconscious can accept as a fact.

Using affirmations on a daily basis is a terrific way to boost the positives in your life. Start using this powerful tool today to bring the changes you most desire into your world.

State the positive affirmations in a clear, firm voice with a smile on your face as you say them. This will help you become more aware of the positive vibrations of the affirmations, allowing them easier access to your subconscious mind.

You can write your affirmations on note cards and keep them with you in your purse or wallet. Whenever you have a few moments to spare, take them out and read them aloud.
 
Ok, so I think that gives you a good idea of what affirmations are and how to use them! Why not try to create your own affirmations now? If you would like some idea’s, here is a free little affirmation ebook for you to look at!