My last blog, It’s Positive Thinking Day: Don’t Think Positive Thoughts, Think Powerful Thoughts, generated some questions from readers wondering why affirmations wouldn’t work. I am writing this blog to answer these questions.
Many folks swear by the use of affirmations, or positive affirmations, as they are often called. Then there are those
who use affirmations as a form of positive thinking to no avail and those who don’t use them at all because they do not what to be that Stuart Smalley character from the Saturday Night Live television show. Psychotherapists have told me that there are clinical studies that show that positive affirmations do not work. This doesn’t surprise me.
Affirmations don’t work when they are not true or sincere. We are all about telling the truth. It is impossible for us to be at peace or inspired and to receive ideas on how to bring our “happy thoughts” or positive affirmations to reality if we do not feel true to ourselves.
For example, if I repeatedly affirm, I am calm, and I am really not calm, the affirmation will not move me one step toward being calm. If I find myself thinking thoughts such as There’s no way you’ll ever be calm in this situation…or When pigs fly!, while I am affirming, I am calm, then affirming, I am calm, won’t work because I cannot imagine or believe in the possibility of being calm. If I believe I should be calm and I am masking or distracting myself from my true feelings, then the affirmation, I am calm, is not true or sincere and won’t work.
In addition, affirmations won’t work if we cannot see what is, for example, affirming to go east looking for a sunset. (It is comforting to note that when we are thinking powerfully, we know in which direction to look for the sunset.)
Affirmations don’t work when they are not inspiring. We are not inspired when we are focused on what we don’t want (for example, being less stressed), instead of what we do want (for example, being calm.) And we are not inspired when we can’t imagine or tell the story with enough detail to picture how we can live the word calm in the moments of our day or move in the direction of being calm and the good that results for us and others.
So I don’t use the term “positive affirmations.” I use the term “powerful affirmations,” which, to me, are positive affirmations done right!
When we think powerful affirmations, we feel good. We feel at peace. We feel a sense of inner power. We feel lit up and energized. We feel inspired. We feel true to ourselves.
We are all different. Affirmations that work for others may not work for me. Affirmations that work for me in one situation may not work in another. This is where self-awareness comes in. It is up to me to choose my affirmation, say it out loud to test it, feel it, practice it, and make adjustments, until it serves my purpose.
Do you feel inspired as you are thinking your affirmation? Do you feel at peace? True to yourself? Do you feel you can make a difference? Do you feel a sense of wonder? If not, there is another way to think the affirmation to make it powerful and serve your purpose.
©2009 Managing Thought. All rights reserved.
For more on this topic and how to manage your thoughts in everyday circumstances and how to deal with the challenges you face in practicing self-awareness and being on purpose, Click Here.
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