What are Affirmations?
Affirmations are positive statements that can be used to change the way you think about yourself and your health. Since the unconscious cannot tell the difference between a real or imagined idea, it responds to whatever suggestions you give it, eventually helping to create the reality that matches your most predominant beliefs, attitudes, and thoughts. By repeating positive affirmations each time a negative, self-defeating thought comes to mind, you can retrain your mind and learn to feel more confident, as well as improve your overall health. Over time, old, limited thoughts and mental patterns that contributed to anxiety, depression, or stress will lose their charge and eventually stop arising altogether.

Using affirmations does not mean suppressing any thought that is not “good”, however, Instead, affirmations are used as a reshaping tool that you can call upon to rid yourself of thoughts that serve no positive purpose. For example, if your are prone to headaches and your thoughts keep informing you that you haven’t had a headache in a while and are therefore due for one, instead of giving in and feeding such thoughts, you can overcome them by using an affirmation, such as “I am headache free and I deserve to stay that way.” Initially, this may seem to be silly, or an attempt to fool yourself, but if you pay attention and keep repeating the affirmation, before long you will say it and mean it and the results you expect will follow.

Affirmations can be used in any area of your life. To be most effective, choose one or two affirmations that feel most comfortable and memorize them, so that you can say them whenever a negative thought enters your mind. You might also consider mentally repeating your affirmation 10-20 times once or twice a day. Useful affirmations include :

• I am healthy, relaxed, and free of pain and disease
• I love myself, and I deserve to feel healthy and alive
• I approve of myself, and I’m safe to be who I am
• Every day in every way, I am getting better and better

Extract from The Holistic Shop Glossary