Positive Affirmations???
Positive affirmations can be beneficial for those with high self-esteem, but they can also harm those with a lower sense of self. This is because negative affirmations have been ingrained in the unconscious mind and take precedence over positive affirmations.
As someone who suffered a great deal of my life in a place of less than, it felt like a battle in my brain for the truth, because I and others like me, received too many negative affirmations most of our lives.
They were spoken and unspoken statements like, “You're not good enough.” “You can't do that.” “You'll never amount to anything.” “You're not lovable and what's wrong with you?” All of these were told to us and learned through our experiences and our unconscious minds picked it up and took it as truth.
When we try to write out positive affirmations or say them over and over again, they feel foreign to us and rarely stick. It's because this speaks to our conscious minds, not the unconscious mind where so much negative self-view has already been anchored in.
To get the most from positive affirmations so they really work for us, we have to make sure that whatever we say or write is in the best interest of our unconscious mind.
We learn through the sensory channels: The see, hear, feel, taste, smell. It's very important to reteach our brain what we want it to learn through the same sensory channels.
So how does this work for an affirmation such as “I am exactly where I'm supposed to be.” As you go through each sense (what you see, what you hear, what you feel in your body), pay attention to what your unconscious mind is communicating to you.
Notice what you see in your mind's eye. What does it look like to be where you're supposed to be? What are you doing? Where are you? Who are you around? What else do you notice?
When you think about being where you're supposed to be, notice what it sounds like in your mind's ear. What are you saying to yourself? What other voices or sounds are you hearing?
And now notice what it feels like in your body to be where you're supposed to be. Does it feel good? Is it a comfortable feeling or is it a feeling of tension within your body. That tension is likely your unconscious mind's way of saying it doesn't necessarily believe what you're saying. And if your unconscious mind doesn't believe what you're saying, it's not going to adopt the new positive affirmations.
To make positive affirmations effective, it's important to address the unconscious mind through the sensory channels of sight, sound, and feeling. Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings that arise when you recite an affirmation, and if there is tension in the body, it may be a sign that the unconscious mind does not believe the affirmation and will continue serving you in the way that it's already learned how to do. Which probably isn’t something you want!
If you’re finding struggles with positive affirmations, let’s talk. Let’s clear the negative affirmations out so you can see, hear, and feel positivity in your life!
