Healthy Lifestyle

How to Snuff Out Negativity

Before we can benefit from self-affirmations, we need to learn about the effects of negativity in our lives. We need to stop the negative self-scripts that play over and over in our minds. These negative self-scripts are:

Negative beliefs you have about yourself and of which you remind yourself on a daily basis. This is the constant worry and guilt self-talk that you drum up everyday to punish yourself with.

Negative statements about yourself which sprinkle your every action and response. It seems like you can’t think a positive thought without a negative one trying to snuff it out.

Affirmations are positive statements that describe a desired situation, and which are repeated many times, in order to make an impression on the subconscious mind and trigger it into action. In order to ensure the effectiveness of the affirmations, they have to be repeated with attention, conviction, interest and desire.

Imagine that you are running a race. You start running, and at the same time keep repeating in your mind, “I can do it, I can do it…”. You keep thinking and believing that you are going to reach the finish line. What is this act that you are actually doing? You are using positive affirmations.

More often than not, people repeat in their minds negative words and statements concerning the situations and events in their lives, and consequently bring upon themselves undesirable situations. Words and statements work both ways, to build or destroy. It is the way we use them that determines whether they are going to bring good or harmful results.

Often, people repeat negative statements in their minds, without even being aware of what they are doing. Do you ever find that your keep telling yourself that you cannot do something, that you are too tired, lack inner strength or that you never succeed at anything? Your subconscious mind accepts these repetitions to be true, and eventually attracts corresponding events and situations into your life. Your mind reacts by only recognizing the things that it expects like failure, instead of grasping at opportunities that lead to success.

Affirmations program your mind much the same way that an IT professional programs a computer, by feeding it commands and scripts. They work in the same manner as visualization. The repeated words help you focus your mind on your aim, and automatically build corresponding mental images in the conscious mind, which affect the subconscious mind. This process allows you to change your habits, behavior, mental attitude and reactions, and even reshape your life.

Sometimes results appear quickly, but often more it happens over time. Depending on your goal, sometimes you might attain immediate results, and sometimes it might take days, weeks, months or more.

It is important to understand that repeating positive affirmations for a few minutes, and then thinking negatively the rest of the day, neutralizes the effects of the positive words. You have to refuse thinking negative thoughts, if you wish to attain positive results.