5 Affirmation Starters You Need To Know To Make Them Work!

"I think I can. I think I can." Those are the immortal words of the Little Engine That Could, the train locomotive from the children's story who against all odds pulled his heavy load over the mountain. Those words were his affirmation to himself that pushed him to keep trying until he finally succeeded. That's all fine and dandy for a children's story. The real question we must ask now is, Do affirmations always work? The answer is yes, so long as certain “criteria” have been met. First off, what is an affirmation? An affirmation is a carefully worded statement that aids in our ability to solidify a belief. There are hundreds — if not thousands — of resources available as it relates to affirmations, yet many people struggle with making them work. Thankfully, there is a reason and a solution! An affirmation is said to be most effective when worded in the present tense. Meaning, what we say or think must reflect what is happening now rather than in the future. The reason is if we were to word an affirmation using future tense, we would continually reach for our desire rather than attaining it. This makes sense because our mind takes what we say to it quite literally and when said often enough, produces the exact results we are implying. With that said, this poses an interesting dilemma. One's mind is extremely intelligent. You have been living for a very long time, a lifetime so far, in fact. Therefore your mind knows when you are attempting to trick it. When this happens, it can — and often does — retaliate. For example, if a person’s desire is to be rich, they may use an affirmation similar to this: “I am wealthy beyond my wildest dreams.” This affirmation is worded in the now and sounds very motivating. What this affirmation can also produce is an internal battle between what one consciously desires versus what one truly believes one can have. Without being aware of it, the person who uses this affirmation is taking a risk of producing an increase in doubt, anxiety, frustration, and struggle. Your mind plays the association game. It works with patterns and stores data on a continual basis. It assesses all stimuli, determines the pattern from previous information, then produces natural reactions internally. Therefore, when your conscious reality is contradictory to what you are affirming, your mind disagrees because it is associating with lack of money rather than an abundance of it. In other words, if you were to say “I am wealthy beyond my wildest dreams” and you look in your wallet and see five dollars, your mind would think “You’re full of poop!” An instant reaction of disagreement occurs. From there you have to “remind” yourself that “It is coming,” which then causes you to affirm future events. That, of course, is counter-productive, since you are making your "affirmation" in the future tense. So what can you do? You do in fact word affirmations in the present tense. You also word your affirmations in such a way that it is accepting in the mind. Using words that embrace the journey of acquiring the amazing things you desire makes it much more believable and therefore causes the mind to accept and work cooperatively with your conscious efforts. From now on, here are the five Affirmation Starters you can use to make your affirmations work for you: "I Am" – Use this starter when affirming an action you are taking each day toward your goal. "I Have" – Use this starter when you know you have it now and wish to maintain it or expand on it. "I Do" – Use this starter when affirming your ability, through the actions you are taking, to create amazing results. "I Attract" – Use this starter when you are affirming your faith in your ability to attract great things. "I Achieve" – Use this starter when you are affirming the journey and the end result of a goal/desire. Remember, if at any time you are using an affirmation and you are feeling emotions less than enthusiasm, confidence, motivation, and undeniable faith, they may be counter-productive. Assess your affirmations and make certain they work for you! Have a fabulous day and keep smiling that gorgeous smile of yours. After all, it’s contagious! rnKindest of Regards, Claire McGeernAuthor: I Believe Therefore I Amrnwww.IBelieveThereforeIAm.com