I learn so much from my clients. Anyone who is a coach will attest to this. It really is a blessing to work with people who are striving for a better life and way of living…. these people are such an inspiration to me and they are some of my best teachers.
Recently, I was working with a client who has having trouble feeling good. He was feeling so miserable about his job, about his current situation and about his responsibilities. He was feeling overwhelmed and he didn’t know what to do.
One morning he woke up feeling really bad. So I taught him how to use affirmations to change the way he feels.
So he started saying the affirmation, “I feel great,” “I feel great,” “I feel great,” “I feel great,” … over and over again for 5 minutes straight and realized he still felt like shit.
But he didn’t give up…
He kept using the affirmation (“I feel great”) on and off for the rest of the morning in 5 minute mini-segments… and later that afternoon he started feeling better. In his own words, “I had a few insights and started to really enjoy myself. I started to feel really good.”
So with that in mind I thought I would share with you 6 affirmation secrets to make you feel better:
#1. Repetition
Affirmations don’t work unless you work them. Repetition is what lays the ground work for this exercise. It requires attention and concentration if you’re going to make it work, but it shouldn’t be forced, which brings me to number two…
#2. Be Persistent but not Forceful
You want to gently repeat the affirmation to yourself. Don’t force it on yourself… just gently insert it in your mind repeating it out loud or quietly to yourself. Either way will work. What’s more important is that you focus on the affirmation and exclude any other distractions or random thoughts. Keep at if for 5 minutes to get it going and then you want to…
#3. Let go of it
Once you use the affirmation for 5 minutes… let it go. Don’t hold on, don’t dwell on it, don’t ask yourself if it’s working. Just repeat the affirmation and then forget it. You don’t have to hold on to it… just let it go and trust. You’ll be surprised what surfaces and how you feel; which reminds me that…
#4. You Don’t Need to Believe What You’re Saying
This is so important. I’ve heard on more than one occasion that affirmations only work if you believe them. You don’t need to believe what you’re saying! Absolutely not. My client didn’t believe it; he felt like crap and he still persisted… over and over again saying to himself “I feel great,” and the rest took care of itself. What’s more important is that you…
#5. Get Into the Rhythm of It
Stop taking everything so seriously and start becoming more playful. Lighten up and have fun while you’re doing this. Make it a game and get into the rhythm of it; get into the flow of it so that you begin to feel it. The very last thing you want to remember is that…
#6. There is a delay
You won’t change how you feel immediately. The thoughts you repeat to yourself now will affect the way you feel later. Said another way, the way you feel right now is because of what you were thinking – not what you are thinking right now. So take the time to create good-feeling thoughts right now.
Here are a few affirmations you can start using right away:
- “I feel great”
- “Today is light and easy”
- “It’s getting better and better everyday”
Try them and change the way you feel.
15 Comments
Brain
December 20, 2010I’ve always thought you have to have some sort of belief in it. It seems like if you don’t believe it you’ll just undermine all your efforts.
Steve
December 20, 2010Hey Brain,
That is one of the biggest myths of affirmations. You do not have to believe in the affirmation in order for it to work for you.
Anthony Basich
December 26, 2010There is much debate over the use of affirmations that are “believable” but I totally agree with you on this one. The whole point of using affirmations is to change your beliefs, right? So if you only used affirmations that you believed in then you would get absolutely nowhere.
Remember that the subconscious doesn’t discriminate. It will eventually believe anything that you keep telling it, good or bad. That is the point of using affirmations and why affirmations are to be repeated day in and day out. Repeat something good to yourself over and over and eventually you will believe it.
Thanks for a great post,
Anthony
Steve
December 27, 2010Hey Anthony,
It’s great to connect with like-minds :)
As you said… any thought, word, sentence or even any “idea” that is repeated to your subconscious mind over and over again (with the restrictive filters of your logical mind removed) will eventually plant new beliefs, thoughts and perceptions…
Stan
December 30, 2010I’ve always thought that affirmations can set you up for disappointment, but I guess you take care of that in “Let it go”.
The core principle of CBT is that your thought’s control what you feel, so affirmations seem like a good thing, maybe they never worked for me because I never tried it to repeat it for 5 minutes straight. Maybe I should try and see what happens? I have nothing to lose and apparently lot to gain.
kelsey
July 24, 2011Hi Steve,
I have been reading books like the secret since I was in middle school. I am going into my last year of college and I feel like I have finally got the idea of the law of attraction down, however I feel like I have hit a wall and every time I visualize or do affirmations I am just not seeing results. Have you seen this before? Thanks I LOVE your website!!
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December 12, 2012THanks for your post
Short Term Loans
January 20, 2013Hello! My name is Justina and When I just wanted to say your blogging site is great!
It really is funny simply because I use to have a website that practically had an identical web
address: http://freedomeducation.ca/2010/12/16/6-affirmation-secrets-to-make-you-feel-better/ mine was only
a few characters different. Anyways, I’m a big admirer of your blog and if you at any time want a guest article you should email me personally at: cindanation@yahoo.com. I take pleasure in writing!
Danny
March 18, 2013Hot diggity dog, this was first-rate stuff. Who produces
this for you? I have got 3 blokes that manage my blog content, but they kind of horrendous after reading this.
Do you do all your own content or do you contract out?
Steve
March 18, 2013Hey Danny… I’d say 98% of the content on this blog was written or created by me… this article included… thank you :)
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April 10, 2013I wish there were more such blogs.
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Sameer
May 5, 2016Remember that the subconscious doesn’t discriminate. It will eventually believe anything that you keep telling it, good or bad.
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