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The critical key to affirmations

They feel good don’t they? But do we believe them? Are they effective?

Affirmations are the potato chips of the self help world. Everybody’s consuming them and feeling pretty good about it. Cool. Except for one problem.

Nobody is talking about the fact that that affirmations are only effective when based on facts. Here’s what I mean:

If I keep repeating to myself “I am strong”, I don’t honestly believe it. Because I know that I’m just repeating a “thing” in order to feel better about myself. It’s too convoluted and conceptual. There’s nothing real for me to attach it to.

However. If I add the word “because” and use facts from own life, things become very different. Here’s an example: “I am strong *because* I made it through xyz trauma.” What I’ve done here is give indisputable factual evidence for why I am “strong”. Not only does the affirmation become real, it becomes meaningful. No matter what I think or feel, I *did* make it through that trauma. I really AM strong.

So go ahead and add the “because” to your affirmations. And if your affirmations don’t fit the “becauses” in your life, find affirmations that do. “Because” is the key to affirmations being a powerful tool.

And here’s the bonus: genuine affirmations are THE tool for substituting negative thought patterns with positive ones. They are THE tool that changes how we see ourselves and our lives. They are THE tool for making positive change and taking control of our circumstances.