Affirmations Not Working For You? How To Supercharge Them - Part1

by: DebbieThomas
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If you have spent any length of time studying Personal Development these days, you must have heard that what you think about is what you will bring about in your reality. If you focus consistently on what you want you will start to really Believe it. When you really Believe it, you will begin to take the appropriate action that will move you closer and closer to what you desire. We often hear that Seeing is Believing, but it's the reverse that is really true. It's called the Law of Attraction and was talked about in the movie 'The Secret.'

When it comes to the way our brains learn things, REPETITION is key. Think about it - how did you learn your times tables in 5th grade math - repetition. How does an actor learn his lines - repetition. How did we all learn to walk and talk - repetition. So it stands to reason that if you want your mind to believe in a different way than it currently believes, you are going to have to teach it how to think that way by repeating what you want to believe.

That seems logical doesn't it? If you repeat something over and over, your subconscious mind will begin to get the message and agree with you, right? So we make up affirmations about what we want to believe. Affirmations, repeated as often as possible are the mainstay of most self help programs and THE method of choice to 'Fake it until you Make it', and keep a positive attitude, because you are essentially repeating over and over what you want to believe.

OK, that makes sense too. If we all keep repeating affirmations, we'll all be rich and happy, right? Sounds simple enough. So then.... Why aren't we all rich and happy? Because we DON'T KEEP DOING THEM!! At least not long enough for them to take effect. This happens to so many people. I think there are two reasons for this:

1. We start the process hoping for instant change, but we don't really believe what we are saying, so when the instant change doesn't appear, we stop before we ever even start, and

2. We don't know how to turn things around when something puts us in a bad mood or makes us unhappy, we let the negativity spiral downward and we have nothing to grab onto to stop the spiral, so we quit and tell ourselves that 'this was stupid anyway.'

So, one of the main reasons we don't keep doing our affirmations, even though we know they should work is because we are talking about trying to change deep seated Belief systems here. It's not as easy as changing your mind about what you want for dinner. Research has shown that most of the things we believe about ourselves were implanted deep into our subconscious before the age of 7. So if you have a deeply rooted belief that all rich people are money grubbers, you can repeat that you are fabulously wealthy until you are blue in the face and you won't get anywhere. If your affirmations keep bouncing off the walls of your Beliefs and returning with "We don't want to be like that" - eventually you will either lose interest, get bored, get too busy or just plain give up in frustration long before the the affirmations even begin to take hold.

Now if you did keep on practicing diligently, you would eventually see a change, but since you belief filters won't allow you to change instantly, most people give up in frustration far too soon. But it's really not your fault, at least not your conscious mind's fault.

You see, we really are of two minds, our conscious mind and our subconscious mind. So what it comes down to is that your subconscious mind - the one that breathes for you and keeps your heart beating - has been running the show all of these years, and it likes you just the way you are, even if it is broke, sick and miserable. It's got being YOU down to a tee and doesn't take kindly to being told that it's doing it all wrong. It has you wrapped up in the shell of your ego - who you believe you are - and it will put up a royal stink if you try to change. So you say statements like "I am a millionaire" - and it comes back at you with "Yeah Right!" This belief filter, or 'Belief Detective', as it were, ironically really thinks it is helping and protecting you. If you can't get past that filter, then your affirmations are doomed to fail.

So, what you need to do is come up with some way of bypassing your ever present 'Belief Detective'. How do you do that? One way is to make your affirmations into a song. When we sing a song, our subconscious stops being on guard, it's just a song after all. It's called suspending your disbelief, much like you do when you see a movie (Like Never Never Land), and if you can do that, you are half way home. Plus, once you get a song stuck in your head, you usually sing it over and over again on autopilot and not get bored, all the while those affirmations are slipping right in past the guard Think about it and stay tuned for Part 2 where we will talk about how you can instantly change your negative attitude.

About the Author

Debbie Thomas is the creator of AttitudeZapz! Affirmation Jingles. These short, catchy jingles with affirmations as lyrics will help you keep motivated and focused on your dreams and goals.  

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