I will help to clarify and set straight the usefulness of affirmations as a viable tool in your self improvement efforts. The topic of affirmations is one of those places where understanding and balance is needed. There is what I call “A fine line" between the two opinions of their value, but you can easily go too far one way or the other. To realize the greatest value from affirmations you must find that center position where valuable benefits are available, yet not to the point of blind over reliance and false expectation. Investing time and effort with affirmations can be helpful once you understand the role they play.
First, one of the main misconceptions comes when individuals seeking to improve their life are looking for the quick fix. We all can probably relate with how it's very easy to read into something what we want when we are looking for a specific result, the human mind tend to see what it wants. And this certainly is that case when we are seeking to make improvements in our lives, however, there is no quick fix and this includes affirmations. There are many related factors which must be addressed in order to make real change occur in our life experience. Affirmations do play a role in your overall self development efforts but are surely not the only component to changing your thinking and behavior, and certainly they are not useless as some portray.It's common to find within the personal growth and self improvement field some people focusing on just one or a few of the overall needed components to realize real change. This practice can give many people the impression that those practices are the only ones needed, usually leaving a person wondering why it's not working for them as it supposedly has for the teacher. Basically human change is fairly simple when all conditions are right, but that is where the trouble lies. For most, all the conditions needed for smooth change are not always in place to fully support the new thinking and behaviors sought, there are many 'between the lines' aspects that are factors, including affirmations. If you feel that one certain aspect of the process is important to focus on , that's fine, just don't neglect the supporting factors and the overall picture.
Now those who say that simply utilizing affirmations can fix your life, look to 'forget' throughout the parts of action, with other things, that we can't holiday as we are in this physical reality. Yes, your thoughts and your feelings play a essential role in how you manage and enhance your life, but that is not all. You have to take appropriate actions, it is your job, your design right here in that physical truth we enjoy. If we weren't believe to be faced physically why are we here?
I think those who say affirmations are not valid are missing out on a powerful utility which has some definite purpose when one is attempting to change their thinking. Yes, your thoughts and feelings are absolutely critical as everything you experience revolves around them and any tool that helps change our thinking is viable. Another reason I think some look down on affirmations may be in reaction to how some others have said affirmations are all you need to do in order to change your thinking, but this all or nothing approach doesn't validate either position.
Here are a select few ways that affirmations are useful in your self improvement, thought change efforts:
* Affirmations can help with your overall daily attitude. Your general attitude throughout the day will effect how you see everything, how you react to it all and of course your choices. It affects how you think about yourself and how you interact with others. Your attitude is a filter that everything passes through. Using affirmations can help you reprogram your thinking on a daily basis and improve your attitude.
* Affirmations can help you learn to think positively about what you do want and help you get away from thinking about what you don't want. If this is all you can gain from affirmations they are well worth using. If all you do is use affirmations to replace undesirable thoughts and feelings with those more desirable you have won big. One of the most important and usually toughest parts of thought management is to learn to stop focusing on what you don't want and onto what you do want. Using affirmations to help replace the incessant negative mind chatter will help your thinking immensely.
* Affirmations can be a tool to help you develop your mental self discipline. As you figure out affirmations and in fact use them regularly, you are training your mind to be in command of your thinking. You are learning how you can think about what you want when you want and how you want. Being able to take command of your thinking is very powerful, in fact a required ability for creating real change. Most people most of the time are just allowing their automatic unconscious programming to run everything, but you can change this if you choose.
* Affirmations help you to evolve your thought into more detail related to what you want. As you create individual unique affirmations for yourself, you are accomplishing two little noticed yet powerful skills. One, you are in practice training yourself to think deeper, allow your intuition to come alive, and get more creative with your conscious thought. Second, you are gradually developing a grander, more detailed vision of the life you want. The more you expand your vision the more empowered you become, the more motivated you will be to continue on. It a deep excitement for a grand vision that really powers an individual to take appropriate action. Working with affirmations is great way to help you to get thought the murky old thoughts holding you back through to a clear vision of real possibility.
Now, if you already have a crystal clear vision with full detail of what you want and your thinking is currently 100% supportive of this and you never slip into any thoughts of fear, doubt or worry, or about what you don't like, you may not want to bother with affirmations. Actually if such is the case, you have actually already assimilated the affirmations which support your desires into your everyday thinking. Your conscious mind is now constantly trained on the positive, supportive and congruent thoughts fully supporting your desired vision. For everybody else, affirmations can be a useful tool.
Affirmations are an effective tool for helping to change your thinking, which vital in your self improvement efforts. Just don't get stuck thinking affirmations along will take care of everything, there are other aspects to work with. And you will want to use other methods to work with your thinking, your feelings, your beliefs, your vision, your perception and more. Affirmations do have a place in your life growth toolbox and if used properly will assist you a great deal.
Article by - John Halderman - http://www.effectivepersonaldevelopmentblog.com/
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