What are Affirmations?

What are affirmations and what can they do?

Simply put, affirmations are positive statements. But many believe thay are much more than that. A quick survey reveals that:
affirmations can improve your life,
affirmations help you take control of your life,
affirmations program the subconscious mind to attract success,
and an affirmation is a declaration that something is true.

Many authors advocate the use of affirmations: Louise Hay, Sonia Choquette, Shakti Gawain, Wayne Dyer,and many others.

I was surprised when I read a book by Suze Ormond, who advocated the practice of writing affirmations 20 times each morning. She didn't refer to it as an "affirmation," though, she called it a "Truth."

So affirmations are statements that could be true. They might be true now, or could become fact some time in the future. The important thing is persistence. Suze Ormond urges you to write the affirmation 20 times every day until it IS true without any doubt and then move on to a different one.

So it needs to be stated in a certain way and need to be measurable in some way. But Suze also recommends that if you are using numbers, always be sure not to limit yourself. For example:

I am independently wealthy, earning $10,000 every month.

should be stated

I am independently wealthy, earning $10,000 OR MORE every month.

The use of affirmations helps you become more optimistic. Optimists see life in a certain way. The positive perspective is not just more enjoyable, it seems optimistic individuals are more resilient, more healthy, AND more happy than pessimists. It cannot be dismissed as unrealistic, because looking for the silver lining and focusing on it turns out to be good for you.

Remember:

Every cloud has a silver lining.

--American proverb