Positive Affirmations: Can You Will What You Want To Happen?

Affirmations are simple – you repeat a positive mantra and it’ll bring what you want into your life.

Bingo! Time to start saying ‘I will win the lottery this Saturday’. Right? Well, it’s a bit more complicated than that…

First of all, best to confess I'm open to this kind of thing, so I decided to give it a try with an open mind – focusing on work goals. I'd just finished a contract with a magazine, and was looking for new opportunities.

So, under the guidance of my friend, Business Talent Coach Jennifer Potter I began saying a mantra – repeating it when I had time, for example while walking to work or cleaning my teeth, even on the tube (...no, not out loud).

My mantra was 'the work I desire is coming easily to me'. Now, I've worked with four brands I have wanted to write for! 'Coincidence!' I hear you cry. Maybe… I’m not so sure.

Of course there's the argument that you just make things happen yourself, and the affirmation is simply something that keeps you positively focused on your goal. But I think it takes you a step further towards success by harnessing the power of positivity.

Jennifer explains: “I had been aware of affirmations for a while but not actively practising them. Recently I was reminded of their value by a good coach friend when I was struggling to get my new business going and 'doing' desperate thoughts in my head, panicking about where my income was going to come from.  

“So I introduced a money affirmation ‘Money is coming easily and frequently to me’.  Every time I noticed I was doing ‘panic or desperation’ in the conversation going on in my head, I said my affirmation instead a few times. I tried to say it throughout the day too. Within two weeks I had received a rather nice refund cheque from the taxman and secured two new clients, which helped me to achieve 200 per cent of my target!

“What I noticed was that it completely relaxed me, I let go of my fears and replaced it with hope and faith.

“Since then I've been a massive fan and use them on a daily basis in all areas of my life from love and relationships to money and work.”

Ahh, now you’re getting interested, right? Well, my sister asked me, “Can I just affirm ‘I am ten stone, I am ten stone’?” and if you like, yes – if that’s what you want. Though maybe change it to ‘I’m a healthy weight and love my body’.

“I challenge you to try it and not get any results. You see it’s all about believing your own positive hype."

Frankie Sikes is an NLP coach and runs walkinginspirit.co.uk, and he says: “I think affirmations can definitely help motivate your brain to go for what the conscious or sub-conscious you wants but only if the unconscious you is already on board with it in my opinion.

“I think that a good affirmation confirms what is already real and true and desirable to the unconscious… and allows the conscious/sub-conscious to accept it and act on it. A bad affirmation achieves nothing and is just a desperate expression of wishful thinking.”

If you’re still on the fence, just try it for a week or so, and see how you turn that frown upside down just for telling yourself something positive, even if it doesn’t happen that day.

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