Johanna Kern’s article “The Secret to Affirmations that Work” was featured in the March 2020 B edition of OMTimes Magazine.

OMTimes Magazine is one of the leading online content providers of positivity, wellness, and personal empowerment in every English-speaking country – with millions of readers.

THE SECRET TO AFFIRMATIONS THAT WORK

by Johanna Kern

5 Secrets to Making Affirmations Work for You

What makes them effective and what makes them fall through

For centuries, successful and influential people have been using affirmations that have brought them extraordinary results. Step-by-step, with the help of effective affirmations, many ordinary people have turned failures into success, illness into health, and unhappiness into joy of living. However, also many people find out that the affirmations they have used don’t work. What is the problem? What has been missing in their affirmation techniques?

The purpose of an affirmation is to pass a message to the subconscious mind and to make it believe the message is true. Our subconscious will reject anything that it perceives as nonsense. 

Repeating affirmations such as “I am healthy” when we are ill, or “I am rich” when we barely can pay our bills are, in fact, ineffective.

There are simple steps to learn and practice successful affirming:

1. Take it step by step. The affirmation must agree with what is acceptable for our subconscious. We should begin by changing our beliefs about ourselves. It is good to first recognize that we are really worthy of having a better life, and that we deserve a better fate. You can say to yourself for example “I now know that life can bring me all that is good, I am ready for better and better days”.

2. You don’t have to repeat an affirmation thousands of times; several times of real-life proof will make it effective and believable for your subconscious mind. Here is a simple trick: repeat the affirmation at the moment that proves to the subconscious that what you are affirming is true. For example when doing “money affirmations”, you can effectively use the time when you are going shopping. When you take out your bills or credit card, it is an excellent moment to say: “I have more than enough to spend.”

3. What you are affirming needs to trigger your feelings. The subconscious mind does not communicate with words but with feelings and emotions. To fully benefit from an affirmation, you either need to become familiar with your emotions or use your imagination and visualize that the situation stated in your affirmation has already come true. Feel the pleasure, fun, delight, and satisfaction of “arriving” where you want to be or see yourself in that situation and imagine that you feel the feelings.

4. Affirmations do not have to always be in present tense. Remember, that all you are affirming needs to be acceptable to your subconscious mind. If you struggle with health issues and say “I am healthy”, you will trigger resistance in your subconscious mind that may further negatively affect your health. It is better to say “I am getting better and better” at a moment when you feel some relief, since that will truly help you to overcome your predicament. Or, even more effective will be the statement: “I choose to feel better and better” – repeated at any moment you want. The reason is that if you use such a form, you are not limiting yourself in how much better you can get.

5. Repeating affirmations is more effective when accompanied by a natural, pleasant scent. It is good to remember to repeat affirmations while walking in the park, or sitting in a garden, or you can simply bring some natural scents to your home. A scented candle, a pleasant bouquet, a freshly aired home, or even the scent of baked cookies will help you more effectively influence your subconscious mind by associating the topic of your affirmation with real, natural pleasure.

Take one day at a time.

You have been programming your subconscious for many years. Most likely, ever since you were a small child you have acquired patterns that led you to where you are in your life. If you were completely satisfied with your life, if there was nothing you wanted to change, you would not seek any new ways to get the desired outcome.

Remember, when a single affirmation is done right – it becomes a milestone on your journey through your subconscious. It will take you further and closer to what you want and lead you straight to a real change. However, for such a change to happen, your subconscious needs to be in tune with your mind.

You deserve a truly great life. Whoever taught you to think differently about yourself – was wrong. Do not believe them anymore. You can take your destiny in your own hands. You can give yourself enough time and enough caring to make right what went wrong.

And before all: relax and enjoy the moment. You do deserve the best, and you will get where you want to be. After all, look how far you have already come. You are the best thing that can ever happen to you. Please remember that.

Useful Affirmation to start:

“Today I acknowledge, appreciate, and thank myself for all I did, experienced and learned. I have a fresh start at becoming exactly who I want to be.

My new journey begins. This is the perfect place and time. I will become, welcome and enjoy the new and better me.”

Happy Affirming!

You can read this article on the magazine’s site: HERE And as PDF from the magazine pages: HERE

The above article is based on fragments from Johanna Kern’s book and MP3: