Using Affirmations for Healing

Affirmations are a simple and effective practice to begin the healing process. They are a way of consciously creating your own programming.

Today I have been working on my latest affirmations. It is a regular practice I adopt now as required if I feel myself slipping into old habits, if I have found a new layer of trauma I would like to reprogramme or if I am struggling to develop in a particular area.

Belief is core to our healing process. If we have been conditioned to believe false information about ourselves or we have been limited in our thinking or how we perceive our abilities, due to the opinions and ideas of others, we can be stifled and our body can not heal as it would like to. Affirmations help us to choose what we want to believe about ourselves or the world around us.

We are always running on old programming, either programmes we choose for ourselves and are conscious of or programmes that were imposed upon us by others. From birth to aged seven we are absorbing programmes that, we hope, will benefit us as we grow into adulthood. We are completely at the whim of our caregivers and the other adults around us to teach us about ourselves and our world. Their opinions can become our hardwiring.
If we are lucky we find ourselves around caring adults who teach us affirmative values and belief about ourselves. Reality is even the most caring parents, teachers or guardians pass on to us their beliefs and we, as children accept them as ultimate truth. It is required at this part of our life as it keeps us safe, we rely upon the adults in our lives.

If you are unlucky the adults around us can even teach us damaging beliefs about ourselves. It does not matter if this is intentional or not, this process shapes our minds and our bodies respond accordingly.

Part of a healing process is to begin to take charge of these programmes and decide for ourselves what we believe, think and who we are. It is important to notice the beliefs that drive our behaviours and the choices we make so we can change them if we choose.

My first introduction to affirmations began aged 25 or so. I had joined a “fat club” with some family members in order to lose weight. I had been opening my mind to new ways of being and although I was unhappy with my weight I was also uncomfortable with affirming the idea I was “fat.” It felt very negative and counterproductive to me. But I did want to lose weight.
During one of the weigh-ins, I looked at my aunty and thought she looked great. I mean she was a bit curvy but I thought if I look like her, at her age I would be happy. I also then considered her age compared t mine. She was 60ish at the time and I was 25. I realised that if I followed their behaviour until I was her age I would have to spend 35 years of my life thinking I was fat, restricting what I ate and worrying about my weight. Boom! The realisation came. No way was I going to live like that.
Maybe I was fat but so be it. I would rather be fat and happy and eat what I want and enjoy my life and my body that punish myself for 35 years. I literally decided in that moment to leave “Fat club” and change my beliefs to change my body.
Long story short; it worked. My weight before then always went up and maybe down after yo-yo dieting. I was size 14-16 and hated how I looked. I began telling myself “I can eat what I want and stay my perfect weight” any time I ate and three times if I felt guilty about what I was eating. I also spent time looking at myself naked in the mirror and would tell my body “I love my body, you look good to me.” Ay time I put on clothes that were getting too tight I would say “I maintain my perfect weight easily.”
It did not take long for my body to respond and apart from hormone changes that caused a temporary gain, I have never gained too much weight. Even then I lost the weight through the same method.  I eat what I want and trust my body to choose my food, my dress size stays between 10-12 and I am happy with how I look. I am 37 years old now and have never dieted in order to lose weight since I was 25.

This experience proved to me that affirmations work and I have used them periodically since. I have used them to improve and reprogramme many areas of my life. From small things like y ability to sing to bigger things like what I accept in relationships and how successful I can be. Over the years I have come to understand the most successful ways affirmations have worked for me in order to use them effectively.

An affirmation is a statement that is repeated again and again so it is accepted as fact by our subconscious mind. You can choose it and it is best to use the present tense and a statement in the positive. For example, I love... I appreciate... I am... I have...

For best results use the following methods:

1. Write them yourself in your own words. Keep them simple and to the point.
2. Repeat them aloud, in front of a mirror if you can, and feel attached to the words, believe them.
3. Write them out and place them around your environment in word form so you can read them often.
4. Record your voice saying them and listen to them on repeat while you work or as you fall asleep. (This is a great method as it taps into our subconscious mind very easily).
5. Say them in your mind or aloud (if you can) three times, any time you notice yourself replaying an old programme.
6. Use apps or other tools to flash messages on your screens, you can access these for free.

If you are still unsure how effective affirmations can be just consider how widely they are currently being used by the government to affirm we "Stay Safe, Keep your distance, Wear a mask" etc etc. The reason this type of tool is used by them is that it is so effective.
Think about how annoyed and confused you would be if a door said “Push” and you had to pull it to open. These simple instructions our brain reads as fact, it does not ever assume it could be a lie or false information, our brain just accepts what it is told. The more we see or hear a statement the more our brain accepts it as truth. Now you are aware of affirmation statements, you will start to notice just how often they are used to programme your behaviour, by others and hopefully realise how important it is to chose your own.

Affirmations are a safe and effective way to choose for yourself how you would like to live and take charge of your healing process. I hope you enjoy the process!

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