SEPTEMBER 6, 2020
Any thought that is passed on to the subconscious often enough and convincingly enough is finally accepted.
-Robert Collier
Think about this question, “Do you want to achieve success?” What was your answer? Most probably, it was “YES!” because everyone wants to succeed in their life. However, there is a simple thing we need to do to achieve success and understand what it truly means to us. We need to affirm what we want to achieve and who we want to become in our lives so that we know where we are going and where we want to end up in life. And, this is the simplest reason why we need to use affirmations.
But, before we understand how to use affirmations efficiently to achieve success, we must understand what affirmations are and why they are important. Well, affirmations are simple statements that one says out loud in order to train and prepare the mind to achieve success in life. Now, let’s break this down and understand the core meaning of the word affirmation. To do that, we will divide the word into three parts; af-firm-ations. The word ‘firm’ simply means strong and rigid. When we add the prefix ‘af-’ to it, it becomes a verb which tells us that something is being talked about with a very firm and strong belief. Now, we add the suffix ‘-ations’ and it becomes a noun which means – “The simple action or the process of affirming something.” So, when we say that we need to use affirmations to achieve success, we need to tell ourselves that we are capable of achieving what we want to with full belief and determination. This is what affirmation means.
Now that we have understood what the word affirmation means, we need to understand the importance of affirmations so that we can use this powerful tool to its fullest potential. The reason behind affirming what we want to achieve is that we need to train and program our mind in a certain way so it only believes that what we want to achieve is possible and we are capable of doing it. In the Bible, it is stated, “As ye sow, so shall ye reap.” This simply means that our life is shaped by our thoughts and beliefs. Whatever we believe to be true, becomes true. You may be wondering how does this happen? Well, here is the answer.
The human mind has unlimited potential and it can do anything. The only things that limit it are the beliefs we have in our mind. So, if we simply change our beliefs, we will be able to achieve success in whatever field we want to. Affirmations play a major role in changing and shaping beliefs, and that is exactly why we need to use affirmations in our lives. Affirmations will help us get rid of limiting beliefs and form new beliefs which are strong and positive. Affirmations help us in realising our true potential as when we change our beliefs, we can take the right actions fearlessly and tread onto the path of success and fulfilment.
Our minds are like the land a farmer has. If we plant the seed of wheat, we will get wheat. Likewise, if we plant the seed of success in our mind, what we will get as a result is success. The reason behind this is that our mind doesn’t think in terms of right or wrong; it is just curious to explore and learn new things. The concept of right and wrong develops as we grow and our surroundings instil certain beliefs in us. Thus, whenever something goes into our mind, it accepts it as it is without any judgment and believes that it is true. The differentiation of true and false also comes when we stick to certain beliefs that have been continuously put in our mind. So, now we need to learn how we can break the old beliefs and form new ones so that we can achieve success.
The first thing we need to do is understand what it is that we want to achieve because until and unless we don’t know where we want to go, we will not be able to form the new beliefs. This quotation by Earl Nightingale explains this point beautifully – “Success is the progressive realisation of a worthy ideal.” This means that success is simply bringing a definite goal and dream into reality and through affirmations, we are taking the first step towards doing that and here’s how.
Our subconscious mind thinks in the present tense and memories are just experiences that are recorded and stored. The concepts of time in the form of past, present and future exist in the conscious mind. All of our beliefs are stored in the subconscious and they take form and shape in the conscious mind because of which we take certain actions based on certain beliefs. Now, we are going to use our conscious mind to instil the positive beliefs in the subconscious. The only thing you need to do is turn your future dream into present reality and speak it out loud to yourself with full determination and belief. What will this do? Well, the subconscious mind will notice this and as it thinks in the present only, it will take into account whatever you are saying and will believe it. However, the old beliefs have strengthened in the conscious mind, so you need to do the same thing with the new ones. Therefore, it is important to repeat this action again and again as the subconscious mind will be continuously bombarded with the new belief and the old beliefs will slowly subside. Now you may ask – why does this happen? Well, the reason why this happens is that we are continuously putting the new belief in our mind and now, we know that what we sow in our minds is what we will get and this principle is what is working over here.
Imagine that you have set the goal of writing a book. Now that you know what you want to do, you can use affirmations to achieve this goal. You may be told that you are a pathetic writer, you are not good in english, you have weak vocabulary and many more things like this. Now, when you constantly hear this from your family, friends and people close to you, these things seep in as beliefs into your subconscious mind. However, this is not the truth and you break your limiting beliefs by using affirmations like this – “I am an amazing writer!” “I am writing a great book!” “My book is helping me to spread my thoughts far and wide!” “My book is reaching readers across the world!” Now, you must have noticed that all these affirmations are in the present tense when actually nothing of this sort is happening. Well, this is the power of affirming. When you want to achieve something, you need to talk to yourself as if you already have it, and you know that the subconscious mind thinks in the present only, so by repeating these phrases and taking concrete action, you are making your mind believe as if you are an author right now and once your mind believes it, it will become a reality.
It is important to note that affirmations are not the only thing that will bring success. Just planting a seed doesn’t give a farmer the produce; caring for the land, watering the plants and making sure that the plants grow surely gives the produce. And, it is the same with our mind. We need to consciously think about what we want to achieve and with affirmations playing the role of the seeds, we need to take constant action and we need to give more and more of ourselves into this task without worrying about the returns. When you believe that you are capable of achieving success and when you sow this belief in the subconscious as well, then even if negativity and doubtfulness arise, you will be able to overcome it easily because you know that your actions are aligned with your goal and you know that you are capable of achieving success.
Thanks a lot for reading and I hope that through this blog, I was able to add value to your life in some way or the other! Do share your reflections and learnings in the comments below!
Well wishes,
Prabhsimrat