This article by Robin Gardner appeared in INNER REALM MAGAZINE, July 2004.

Well, I’m sure over the years, you’ve heard your share of affirmations… “I am good enough”, “I am healthy and whole”, “I accept myself unconditionally” and the list goes on and on from here. But for most of us, the real underlying concern was always, how can you simply put a statement over an old belief and expect it to magically cancel out the old negative messages? So with all the information and the hype, the age old question still stands, do affirmations really work? Well, I’m actually here to say – they do work and here’s why…

The mind does NOT know what is real or imagined. You see our brains are actually wired in such a way, so that they hold information while never actually knowing what is truth or not. It simply registers thoughts and then we in turn associate a feeling to that thought. But we never truly know what is fact or fiction because we simply store perceptions and judgments that exist from our past limiting beliefs. This means that you can basically feed your mind any variety of information that you choose whether it is negative or positive.

With that said, take a moment and look around in order to see what you have created in your life. Are you satisfied with your present day circumstances? Since our thoughts produce feelings, which then lead to actions, it’s now easy to see what we have produced in our lives. If there’s a sense of scarcity around you, then you’re obviously still operating from an old belief that reinforces this sense of lack. So, in order to counteract that old belief you will need to replace it with a positive affirmation. For example, you might say, “my life is filled with abundance and the Universe supports me”. In order to further reinforce this message you will want to verbalize it and write it out several times a day for at least a month in an effort to recondition your mind. Remember consistency really counts here. Therefore, it stands to reason that if you focus on a positive thought or affirmation rather than a negative one, you can accomplish better actions and more desirable results. So, don’t you think it’s time to produce different results?

In fact a great way to begin is to first remember the classic slogan….“act as if”. This valuable principal definitely applies here. In fact, by implementing this saying in our everyday life, we reinforce a powerful message within ourselves. Why don’t you try it out this week and see for yourself? Think of one new positive message that you can begin affirming in your life today, and then use it everyday in everyway! Before you know it you will soon see the subtle changes occurring all around you.

Here’s some helpful guidelines for affirmations – keep it short, keep it simple, keep it in the present tense, use it as often as possible and refrain from using negative adverbs such as not, never, etc.. Good luck!