We’ve already established how important your thoughts are to the process of healing, and we will continue to discuss this in the coming chapters. So what do you replace your negative thoughts with? Positive ones! Thoughts that support what you want to create. Affirmations are positive statements consciously stated and repeated.
I am a huge believer in affirmations. They can help to dislodge deeply rooted, subconscious negative beliefs and open up enormous potential positive energy to flow in. They are an important tool for creating unity in your actions, thoughts, beliefs and goals, the unity that is at the core of your true power. Affirmations influence the flow of information in your body, allowing new biological information to be produced by the mind-body fusion.
Stating affirmations doesn’t mean babbling off statements written on a piece of paper with an underlying feeling of disbelief or “yeah right” in your head. You must be present for your new beliefs and generate enthusiasm and joy as you state them. To get the most benefit, affirmations need to be repeated regularly and with concentration. They should be declared and not stated as a question. Reading the affirmations that start in this chapter and appear throughout the book will enable you to begin the process of rooting out subconscious negativity, which is holding you back.
Deep down, many of us feel that we don’t deserve to be beautiful or thin or happy. But this idea of “not deserving” needs to be reversed. Affirmations can help to create change in your body and appearance … not to mention in your overall joy.
We’re so used to trying to isolate the one cause of what ails us and seeking the one remedy that we don’t realize we are practicing disembodiment. We need to be aware of our fusion, and we must consider the multiple areas that may require change in order for us to heal ourselves. Affirmations help to align what you consciously want to create in the world with your subconscious beliefs, and they can cast a light on negativity, which you may not have even been aware of, based on what comes up. A practice related to affirmations (in terms of allowing you to create unity and access your power), and yet distinct, is authentic self-observation.
How Consciousness Leads to Change
Self-observation is truly powerful enough to create change on the physical level. Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science discovered a phenomenon called the “Observer Effect,” which is the effect that an observer has on observed reality through the very act of watching.(1) The researchers demonstrated how a beam of electrons changes when it is being observed. Even more remarkable, they determined that the longer the observation period, the greater the change.(2)
In her book The Brain Revolution: The Frontiers of Mind Research, Marilyn Ferguson references research by scientists in the former Soviet Union on the effects of different stimuli (laser light, electrical stimulation and others) on electromagnetic radiation (called bioplasma) given off by the human body. These scientists found that when “a subject quietly directs his thoughts toward a specific part of the body, the bioplasma shows corresponding changes.”(3) Think about it. Our thoughts are more powerful than lasers! The results of this study reinforce how important it is to become conscious of your thoughts, especially your repeated thoughts.
Such studies also offer insight into how meditation, which is rooted in self-awareness or “watching ourselves,” can produce change in and of itself. By being present as we meditate and observing thoughts, emotions, sensations and other phenomena within us, we are actually able to shift and transform ourselves. The same is true when it comes to “observing” affirmations daily and repeating them.
Deepak Chopra states in Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, “Every thought you have activates a messenger molecule in your brain. This means that every mental impulse gets transformed automatically into biological information. By repeating these new statements of belief, affirming to yourself that your body is not defined by the old paradigm, you are allowing new biological information to be produced; and via the mind-body connection, your redefined sense of yourself is being received by your cells as new programming.”(4)
Affirmations will help you to create your new reality. Research has shown that self-affirmation improves problem-solving performance in underperforming, chronically stressed individuals.(5) Self-affirmation leads to an awakening and creates the belief that you have something unique and meaningful to contribute, as we all do, because we are all part of the interconnected whole. Whatever you withhold, the universe withholds from you, as well. Deep down, perhaps you are withholding because in your heart of hearts you do not feel you are good enough or smart enough. But when you do believe you are good enough (and you are!), your body will respond with more vitality and focused energy to create the changes you want. Affirmations are an aid to get you there.
Mirror Work
It’s helpful to say affirmations in the mirror anytime you pass one throughout the day. Mirror work, which is something I learned about from Louise Hay,(6) can be very helpful for increasing self-love. Whenever you pass a mirror, you come face-to-face with yourself. Whenever you pass or look in the mirror, get in the habit of gazing into it and saying to yourself aloud, “I love and accept you exactly as you are.” Look yourself directly in the eye as you say these words. It may be difficult to gaze at yourself at first, as this sometimes elicits buried emotions, so be extra patient and gentle with yourself and observe all the feelings that surface.
It’s great to say affirmations out loud. But my favorite method is to record them as a voice memo on my phone so that I can play them as I’m drifting off to sleep at night and as I’m getting ready for my day in the morning. I program my affirmations into my phone so I can listen to them after my home yoga practice and while I’m brushing my teeth. I play them on my speakerphone when I’m driving alone in my car and have some privacy.
What should you say? How should you word your affirmations? You should affirm the positive, as if it has already been achieved. Always use the present tense. Start with something along the lines of “I am fit and trim,” or come up with whatever positive body description that you like. Then write down on a piece of paper all the areas in your life that you’d like to focus on, body related and otherwise, and create positive affirmations around them. Remember to affirm what you want as if you have it now, and make sure that your affirmations generate authentic enthusiasm. Concentrate on what you are saying as you speak, or record your affirmations and play them back.
At first it may feel funny or unnatural to say these things out loud, but affirmations are the best way to begin creating energetic (and biological) change. Resistance is greatest when you are operating on the surface of your mind, which is bound up with ego. By declaring your affirmations, you can push past this surface level and delve into deeper levels, levels where change is possible. Affirmations are a way of saying yes to your true nature and essence. Remember, you are powerful, and your thoughts are powerful.
Because affirmations are so powerful, we are going to use them throughout the rest of this book to foster positive change. Just by reading affirmations, we activate them, set them in motion as catalysts to create positive change. Keep an eye out for them as you explore the pages that follow.
My thoughts now support my goals,
and I am in touch with my true power.
* * *
I love and accept myself just as I am
* * *
I have unlimited power to create
what I want and be joyful.
POWER TIPS
1. Begin keeping a journal in which you write down those aspects of your body and your life that you’d like to improve upon. Keeping a journal is a good exercise as it requires you to articulate your feelings and confront what you might be harboring or storing in your mind and body.
2. Create positive affirmations based on the themes in your journal. Record your affirmations on your phone or another recording device and listen to them in the morning and the evening, and whenever you have time during your day.
3. Recite your affirmations regularly— ideally daily. Saying them silently to yourself is still beneficial, and be sure to say some of them as you gaze into a mirror. Make them a part of your life in order to enact real change.