What Are Affirmations and How Do They Work?

Think about all your friends. Some you’ve known since childhood, some are colleagues from work, others you met in college, and some you might have met at a book club or on a trip. 

Now, think about what they all do for a living and how much money they earn. 

Chances are, if they are around the same age as you, they are making almost the same amount of money. Sure, some might be making a bit more, and some a bit less, but the overall slab must be the same.

Most of us fall into that middle-class category where we make enough to cover our needs and enjoy the occasional dine-out, party, or vacation, but not much more. 

We’ve learned different skills, come from different backgrounds, and have had different opportunities, yet we somehow belong to the same financial bracket as those around us. 

It’s like there’s an invisible barrier that we just can’t seem to break through.

We can’t blame it on a lack of resources or opportunities because there are more available today than ever before. 

So why is it that we’re stuck in this pattern while some people, like Dhirubhai Ambani, Oprah Winfrey, J.K. Rowling, Ralph Lauren, Leonardo Del Vecchio, and so many more started with nothing and became one the most successful people in this entire world? 

What sets them apart?

The difference lies in their belief in themselves. 

All these people had far fewer resources and opportunities compared to what many of us have today. They faced so many challenges and setbacks but they managed to overcome all those obstacles and achieve great success.

Take Oprah Winfrey for example, she grew up in poverty and faced so many challenges in her early life, yet she became one of the most influential and wealthy women in the world.

Similarly, Dhirubhai Ambani started his journey in a small village in India. He initially worked as a gas station attendant and later as a clerk in an oil company in Yemen.

He then returned to India and started his own business with very limited resources, which eventually grew into Reliance Industries, one of the largest companies in the world. 

These stories are a testament to how far belief in yourself can take you, even if you’re from the most humble beginnings. 

And one of the most powerful ways to build that self-belief is through affirmations.

Affirmations is a new buzzword in today’s world. You’ve probably seen it mentioned on social media or read about it in books. 

But what exactly are affirmations, and why are they becoming so popular?

That’s what we’re going to find out in this blog. 

Welcome to our blog series on affirmations! This is the introductory blog where we’ll learn what are affirmations and how they work. 

In the subsequent blogs of this series, we’ll dive into how you can use affirmations in different areas of your life to make positive changes.

So, let’s get started by understanding the logic behind affirmations and why they are so powerful.

What Is the Logic Behind Affirmations?

We, humans, are at the top of the food chain in the entire animal kingdom, and what sets us apart is our ability to use our brains to make complex and logical decisions.

It’s the front part of our brain known as the prefrontal cortex which is responsible for making critical decisions. It is the control center for planning and problem-solving.

Every time we learn something new or make a first-time decision, it is handled by our prefrontal cortex. But as we repeatedly do the same thing over and over, it becomes a habit and is then handled by our subconscious mind.

That’s why you can walk around the house without looking up while typing a message or scrolling through social media on your phone. Or drive to work without actively thinking about the route or the turns.

Because our subconscious mind is at play, it handles all those tasks and decisions that don’t require our active decision-making.

Throughout our day, usually, 95% of our decisions are guided by our subconscious mind.

So we can safely assume that whatever is in our subconscious mind guides or influences most of the decisions throughout our lives.

Now think about it, most of us have around 60,000 to 80,000 thoughts in our minds every day. 

About 80% of those thoughts are negative, and around 90% of them are repetitive.

That’s a lot of negative and repetitive thoughts.

If that’s not bad enough, understand that it’s just for one day. And it happens every day, which has a compounding effect.

Just take a moment to fathom the amount of negativity our minds are dealing with every day, yet keeping us sane and functioning.

The next time you lack confidence while doing something or second guess whether you’ll actually be able to do something or not, you’ll know the reason.

Now, what if you could rewire your brain to think positively?

You would have probably guessed it, that’s where affirmations come into play, and that’s the logic behind practicing affirmations.

Why Are Affirmations So Powerful?

So, we’ve just explored how our subconscious mind controls most of our decisions and how it’s heavily influenced by our daily thoughts, most of which are negative and repetitive. 

Now, let’s flip the script and see what happens when we introduce positive thoughts through affirmations. 

If negative thoughts have a compounding effect, so do positive thoughts. 

When you regularly practice affirmations, you’re feeding your mind positive and empowering messages. 

Over time, these messages start to rewire your subconscious mind, just like negative thoughts do. This rewiring process is what makes affirmations so powerful.

Every time you repeat a positive affirmation, you’re creating a small but significant shift in your mindset. 

It might not seem like much at first, but just like a small drop of water can eventually fill a bucket, these positive shifts add up over time. 

The more consistently you practice affirmations, the more these positive messages compound, gradually transforming your overall outlook on life. 

Your subconscious mind is always at work, even when you’re asleep. By using affirmations, you’re essentially giving your subconscious mind a new set of instructions to follow. 

Instead of being guided by a stream of negative thoughts, your mind starts to operate from a place of positivity and empowerment.

Think about it like this, if you’ve spent years thinking negatively, your subconscious mind has been trained to expect and create negative outcomes. 

But when you start to introduce positive affirmations, you’re retraining your mind to expect and create positive outcomes instead. 

This shift doesn’t happen overnight, but with time, you’ll start to notice a difference. 

Also, your subconscious mind remains active even when you’re asleep. It keeps processing thoughts and experiences from the day. 

So, you can ensure that even your unconscious thoughts are influenced by positive messages by practicing affirmations regularly.

What Is an Affirmation and How Is It Used?

Now we know the logic behind affirmations and why they are so powerful, let’s understand what affirmations are and how you can use them in your everyday life to make a positive shift in your mindset.

Affirmations are simply positive statements you say to yourself to encourage a positive mindset and overcome negative thoughts. 

These statements are said in the present tense and they are generally about what you want to achieve or how you want to feel as if it’s already happening. 

This helps you align your thoughts with what you want to achieve or what you want to be.

How to Use Affirmations in Your Daily Life

There are so many ways in which you can use affirmations in your daily life. Let’s talk about different steps that will point you in the right direction so you can create your own unique practice.

1. Identify the Areas of Your Life That Require Positive Change

The first step is to identify the areas of your life in which you want to bring positive change. 

These areas could be different for different people, so take your time to think about what areas or behaviors you want to work on. 

If you’re working towards your goals, you can use affirmations to strengthen your belief that you can actually achieve them. 

Affirmations can help reinforce that you have the skill and the right mindset to achieve all your goals.

Maybe you want to deepen your relationship with your partner or your family, improve your health and well-being, want a promotion at work, or just improve your self-confidence.

The goal is to identify the areas of your life that you want to improve or bring about positive change. 

Once you’ve identified them, you can tailor your affirmations to align with those areas. So, take some time to reflect on what you truly want to achieve. 

2. Prioritize the Areas and Write Down Your Affirmations

Once you’ve identified the areas of your life where you want to bring positive change, the next step is to prioritize which of those areas you want to work on first. 

Make sure you focus on a few key areas rather than trying to tackle everything at once, as this can become overwhelming and less effective. 

You can give each area the attention it deserves and make steady progress by prioritizing them.

After you’ve chosen the areas to focus on, write down affirmations for each of them. 

Make sure your affirmations are positive, specific, and written in the present tense as if they are already happening.

This helps your mind believe these statements are true and helps in rewiring your subconscious mind.

For example, if one of your goals is to lose weight and get fit, your affirmation could be: “I am committed to my health and fitness. I eat nutritious foods, exercise regularly, and am steadily losing weight.” 

This affirmation is positive, specific, and written in the present tense, making you believe that you are already on the path to achieving your goal.

If you want to increase self-confidence, an effective affirmation might be: “I believe in myself and my abilities. I am confident, capable, and worthy of my success.” 

If you want to improve your career, your affirmation could be: “I am skilled, professional, and valuable in my career. Opportunities for growth and success come to me easily.”

Similarly, write affirmations for all the prioritized areas. 

Whether your focus is on improving relationships, advancing your career, enhancing your health, or any other goal, tailor your affirmations to reflect what you want to achieve in those specific areas. 

3. Repeat and Visualize Your Affirmations with Emotions

As we’ve discussed in our blogs on manifestation, the universe gives us things we truly believe in, and visualizing with emotions is the most powerful way to manifest anything in your life. 

When you repeat your affirmations, make sure you do so with genuine feeling and emotion, as if what you are saying or expecting has already happened. 

This practice helps to cement these positive beliefs in your subconscious mind.

Start by repeating your affirmations multiple times a day. You can say them out loud, write them down, or even think about them silently. Immerse yourself in the affirmation and feel the emotions associated with it.

When you visualize, create a detailed mental image of your desired outcome. Engage all your senses to make the visualization as vivid as possible. 

For example, if your goal is to improve your health, visualize yourself feeling energetic, vibrant, and strong. Imagine the taste of healthy foods, the sensation of a good workout, and the sound of your doctor congratulating you on your progress. 

The more detailed and emotional your visualization, the more effective it will be.

Incorporate your affirmations into your daily routine by writing them down in your journal, on sticky notes, or somewhere you can easily see them every day. 

Keeping them in front and having visual reminders around you keeps your goals at the forefront of your mind. 

You might place sticky notes on your bathroom mirror, your computer monitor, or your refrigerator. These constant visual cues will keep reminding you of your affirmations and the things you want to improve. 

Do Affirmations Actually Work?

If you’re thinking that affirmations sound a lot like wishful thinking and you’re doubting whether they actually work or not, I wouldn’t say you are wrong. 

It’s natural to question how something so simple can be that effective. But let’s think about it from a different perspective.

If you want to lose fat or gain some muscle, you work out for a certain period depending on your goals, right? You do repetitive exercises over and over again every day. 

These exercises gradually shape your body and help you reach your goal. 

Affirmations are like exercises for your brain. If you want to overpower negativity and foster a positive mindset, it makes sense that you’ll need to repetitively practice positivity. 

You need to consistently feed your mind positive thoughts and emotions that will counter those negative ones.

Affirmations do work, and they can work like a miracle, but the key is consistency. 

Just like there is no end to the need for physical exercise to maintain your health, there is no deadline for negative and repetitive thoughts. 

They will keep coming every day, trying to creep back into your mind. To remove them and keep them at bay, you have to be conscious and proactive in your efforts. This means practicing affirmations regularly, every single day.

When you make affirmations a part of your daily routine, you’re essentially retraining your brain. Over time, these positive statements start to take root in your subconscious mind. 

They help you build new thought patterns that are more constructive and empowering. The more you practice, the stronger these positive pathways become.

So, if you’re wondering whether affirmations actually work, give them a try. Make them a daily habit and stay committed. Over time, you’ll likely find that they make a significant difference in your life.

Wrapping Up – How to Get Started with Affirmations

In this blog we’ve explored what affirmations are, the logic behind them, how they work, and whether they actually work or not. 

Affirmations will give you that initial boost of motivation, confidence, and a positive outlook on life. They help you believe that you are worthy and capable. 

But real change will happen when you take action toward the things you want to achieve in life.

Affirmations will give you that initial push and help build your self-belief, but you still need to take steps to achieve what you want. 

You must be realistic in your expectations. 

If you want to start a blog or a YouTube channel but doubt if you can do it, practicing affirmations will give you the confidence to start, yet, it’s you who must take the action to make it happen.

So many of us are stuck in our current situation because we don’t take action. 

Almost all of us have something in mind that we want to do, but taking that first step is hard because it takes a lot of energy to get out of our comfort zone and gather that confidence to get started.  

We either lack that confidence or don’t want to put in the work. 

But half the battle is won once you take that first step, and affirmations can help you do just that.

So, make a list of your goals, prioritize them, and write affirmations for each goal in the present tense. 

Keep those affirmations where you can see them all the time and say them out loud ten times a day. Feel the emotions and visualize your success.

The journey to becoming a better version of yourself and living your dream life starts with a single step, and affirmations can help you take it. 

If you’ve already been practicing affirmations, please share your experiences in the comments. 

We’d love to hear from you and learn from your journey. Namaste!