Positive Affirmations
You are what you think.

Positive affirmations are statements that help alter the way we think and feel.  They change negative thought patterns into positive and beneficial thought patterns, and assist in creating an inner world that is confident, content and accepting.  Positive Affirmations can be expressed in thoughts, words written or words spoken.

Positive affirmations are meant to help you live a more productive and enriching life.  They reprogram the way you think by replacing poisonous and negative self-talk into nourishing and positive self-talk.  According to Deanna Reiter, author of Dancing with Divinity: Positive Affirmations for Any Situation, it is necessary to examine our thoughts and take note of the dominant, reoccurring negative ones.   When we repeatedly have the same negative thoughts, they turn into core negative beliefs.  Core negative beliefs need to be destroyed because they not only hold us back from reaching our true potential, they can sabotage success in all areas of life.           

After we become conscious of our core negative beliefs, we must then change the statements into positive affirmations.  For example, the negative thought “I am out-of-shape. I am so fat!” can change to the positive affirmation “I love and approve of myself. I choose to exercise and eat foods that are healthy and nutritious.”  Another example is “This city is terrible for dating.  Everyone I date is horrible!” can be transformed to “There are many, single men/women in this city who are ideal for me.  I am ready to meet Mr./Mrs. Right.”   Positive affirmations are stated in the present tense, as if what you want or need already exists or is happening.  One should avoid starting statements with “I will” which suggests something will or may happen in the future.  Instead, positive affirmations should start with phrases such as “I am” or “I have” which declares that something is occurring right now.  

Many of us do not realize the true effects of our thoughts.  There are people who live day to day thinking the same sabotaging thoughts and wonder why things are not changing or moving in the right direction.   Using positive affirmations is a great method to change how we think by clearing out the harmful negative thought patterns and replacing them with new positive thoughts and words.  In doing so we change our behavior, and we make better life choices.  We learn to think and act in ways that serve our greatest potential.  Relationships improve because we are pleasant to be around and because we have high-quality words to express.  With a positive outlook life doesn’t seem like such a battle, but more like a playground in which our thoughts create the idyllic world around us.