Sometimes speaking out positive affirmations can get a bad rep. and that’s often because we misunderstand the reason for them and the power they can actually have to change our lives. We feel depressed, despondent and disappointed with ourselves or our lives and then repeating a seemingly nonsensical affirmation like “I am happy ~ I am at peace ~ I am confident” feels almost useless and definitely didn’t improve how we felt, right? I get it! It really can seem like a kick in the teeth at our lowest point in life, and you could quite easily (if you weren’t SUCH a nice person) tell them where they can stick their positive affirmations!!!! I mean lets face it, you’ve been struggling for years with debilitating beliefs about yourself that impacts the way you see not only yourself but the world around you. Or maybe I’m just talking about myself right now?

So, let me explain WHEN affirmations ARE important. Let’s see if I can make this a whistle-stop tour for all you folk out there who get bored reading blogs that are tooooo long!!! (and I count myself in this category, lol )

Your conscious mind can only retain a certain amount of information at once. In fact, the conscious mind can only retain around 50 bits of information per second whilst the subconscious or non-conscious mind takes in around 11 MILLION bits per second!!! Say what now?? I know right?? Mind blowing!

Throughout your life you have been gathering absolutely billions of bits of information from childhood and that information has determined the beliefs you have and the rules you find yourselves living with ie. “for me to feel loved a person has to (fill in the blanks)” now the person might do a lot of other things to show their love for you but because you have this “rule” that you have developed from goodness knows where, you find yourself struggling to feel loved, even though they really are in love with you. We can make it either really hard or really easy for ourselves to be happy based on these often non-conscious rules. But these can be identified and changed. Our subconscious is like a cassette recorder (remember those) that is continually playing and feeding us information. It’s there to serve us and thinks it is giving us the information we want. If we’ve been hurt by rejection in the past then it will think that we will obviously want to avoid that feeling again so will show us how we can avoid being rejected and sabotages our chance for happiness with someone as we gave it the message that we DO NOT want to feel rejected again so does what it thinks we want it to do. So, where do affirmations come in?

Well, we need to rewrite the subconscious message that we have been receiving ~ especially if it has been particularly negative and detrimental to our well-being. Our brain waves play a big part in this. Our brain waves are electrical impulses in the brain and our thoughts, emotions and behaviour are communicated between neurons within our brains. We’ll look at two out of the 5 frequencies today. Beta & Alpha.

Beta brainwaves are small and fast and they are firing when we are busy at work or needing to function at a task. We’d be no use to anyone if our beta waves weren’t functioning as we need them.

Alpha brainwaves are slower and larger and they occur when we are in a time of relaxation or meditation. Often just before we drift off to sleep. At this point our subconscious is open to receive and THAT’S when we need to listen to or speak out positive affirmations, so that we can send a positive message to our subconscious which will in turn send us a better and healthier message. This will then affect the way you see yourself and the world around you in a positive way that will result in you …

Being transformed by the renewing of your mind

So, I’ll end this blog with a few of my favourite affirmations. Speak them out loud to yourself!

• I relax and recognise my self worth
• I am worthy of being loved, respected and valued
• I release past versions of myself with love, that no longer reflect who I am
• I can start making small choices that lead to bigger changes
• I attract what I talk about so I choose to only speak positive words
• I am in control of my life and choose to let go of negative beliefs
• Beginning again just means that I have the courage to know when to walk away from what is no longer serving me
• I trust that I am on the right path
• Loving myself makes it easier to love others
• My past does not equal my future
• I will become the person I have always dreamed of
• My sensitivity is my strength
• I bring unique and valuable talents to the world
• I breathe in confidence and breathe out all fear
• I have the power to make positive changes in my life
• I banish all self doubt from my mind and embrace hope, optimism and compassion
• Small achievements are the secret ingredient for growth and confidence
• I will become the person I have always dreamed of

So take some time to reflect on your self beliefs and whether they are serving you well. Are they undermining you and making you sad? Or are they helping you to be fully who you have been created to be? YOU are unique! There was never another YOU created before now, and there never will be again ~ so what YOU bring to the world is precious! Find it ~ nurture it ~ and know that who you are is WONDERFUL!!! Yep ~ full of WONDER!!!! Amazing! Spectacular! Awesome! Yes, I’m talking about YOU! Give yourself a round of applause and I’ll See you next week,

Love & blessings, Sam xx