Erica - HER LIFE Magazine

herlife | healthThe Power of Affirmationsby catie watsonI am powerful.I am filled with joy.I am surrounded by love.I have abundant energy.I love and accept myself.I am successful in whatever I do.I am strong and in perfect health.I am grateful for the people in my life.Each of us has an inner dialoguethat we carry on with ourselvesthroughout the day. This dialogueis so deeply engrained that we usuallyaren’t aware of it, but psychologists say thatit can control our moods and influence theoutcome of important events in our lives.When your inner dialogue is full of fearand negativity, it can negatively impactyour reality.Affirmations are a powerful tool thatcan change the course of your life for thebetter. If you were to spend a day focusedon your inner dialogue, you might beshocked by the level of negativity. You’renot alone—researchers have found that 80percent of the average person’s thoughts arenegative. What’s the harm? Each time wefear that we can’t succeed or expect that anevent will turn out badly, we send messagesto our subconscious mind that can keep usfrom trying our hardest or even cause us tofail. So if you spend the day telling yourselfthat you’re not good enough or smartenough or pretty enough, your subconsciousmind will accept it as reality.Affirmations are positive statementsthat are used to create a positive mood.Repeating an affirmation again and againcan actually train the mind. While theconscious mind focuses on the affirmation,the subconscious mind undergoessubtle changes. Through affirmationsyou can transform your attitudes,habits and behavior. These transfor-mations have the potential to profoundlyimpact external events.Writing in his Psychology Today blog,UCLA professor Ronald Alexander definesan affirmation as “a statement said withconfidence about a perceived truth.” Accordingto Alexander, the mind doesn’tknow the difference between reality andfantasy. By making affirmations a dailyhabit, you can “trick” the mind into replacingnegative thought patterns with positiveones. While it’s difficult to change yourthoughts with sheer will power, both philosophersand psychologists have found thatpositive affirmations are one of the mosteffective tools for altering the subconscious.Doctors have identified somethingthey call the “mind/body connection.”The body’s ability to stay healthy and resistdisease is strongly influenced by an individual’semotional health. Affirmations thatpromote good emotional health can alsostrengthen the immune system and helpthe body fight disease.To receive the full benefit of positiveaffirmations, they should be repeatedfrequently throughout the day. Affirmationsshould be brief, easy to remember and easyto repeat. People who have successfullyused affirmations believe that they shouldbe personal, specific, in the present tenseand employ use positive phrases. So insteadof thinking “I need to lose weight” youwould affirm “I am getting thinner.”The concept of positive affirmations12 HERLIFEMAGAZINE.COM