“Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

The Power Of Affirmations

Part 7 of a 7 part series by my friend Nancy Barry-Jansson

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3 Part 4 Part 5 Part 6

Now that we’ve covered the first six myths about affirmations:

MYTH #1: “I don’t do affirmations.”
MYTH #2: “Oh, I’ve tried affirmations…they don’t work.”
MYTH #3: “I’ll start doing affirmations when I figure out how I can meet my goals.”
MYTH #4: “Affirmations are a form of brainwashing.”
MYTH #5: “Affirmations are too ‘new-agey’ for me.” Or similarly, “Affirmations are only for highly religious people.”
MYTH #6: “Affirmations can be used to force other people to change.”

…we’re ready to address the final myth.

The Power of Affirmations MYTH #7: “Affirmations alone can solve all my problems.”

OK, I love affirmations and think they form the cornerstone to building positive self-esteem, a purposeful life, and higher consciousness (along with meditation and visualization), but even I know they don’t solve all your problems by themselves. What is most beneficial about powerful affirmations is the positive, motivated energy that they generate (when regularly spoken aloud, written, or read). That energy is needed to fuel the positive action that will help you overcome hurdles on your way to making your dreams come true.

For instance, imagine that you know you must network in order to grow your small business, but you just dread walking into a room full of people you don’t know. This fear is holding you back from taking action that you know would improve your business. So, you start saying affirmations, like, “I truly enjoy every networking event I attend!”, “Networking events are opportunities to meet new friends!”, and, “I relax, and allow myself to enjoy networking events!” After about a week of saying these several times a day, you begin to feel more confident about networking and start searching for events in your area (action #1).

After deciding on two events that you know you can attend, you schedule them and pay any applicable entrance fees (action #2). You attend the first networking event (action #3), and discover that you already knew a few of the people there and that the event was a lot of fun. This makes you look forward to the second networking event, which you happily attend with a large stack of your business cards (action #4).

The second event was also enjoyable, and while you met several new people, you didn’t hand out as many cards as you expected. However, you did learn about two more networking events with affiliated organizations whose members are likely to need your services. Upon returning from the event, you follow-up with those you meet (action #5) and schedule the two new events you just found out about (action #6).

After attending two events, you are no longer feeling fear around attending networking events, so you begin to evaluate your affirmations and create new ones that help you focus on connecting with the best clients. The affirmations themselves didn’t solve your fear of networking events, but they did motivate you to take actions to help you overcome the previous barrier.

In the past week, I’ve shared with you the top 7 myths surrounding affirmations. There are many more, and perhaps one day, I’ll delve into all of them. In the meantime, I hope that clarifying these myths has helped you gain a better understanding of the power affirmations. May you use them daily to make the best of your life!!

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