Positive Affirmation to Achieve Your Goals and Dreams

By Health First Assist On Dec 1, 2023

Tree growing toward beams of light illustration in positive affirmation

pDo you ever feel like your goals and deepest desires are always just out of reach no matter how hard you try? Do fearful or negative thought patterns repeatedly sabotage progress towards the life you envision? There is an incredibly simple yet powerful solution accessible to all: embracing positive affirmations.

Table of Contents

Positive affirmation is short statements declaring personal growth and life desires in the present tense, helping to rewrite our mental programming to transform limiting beliefs holding us back.

Science confirms that thoughts influence emotions, behaviours, even physiology down to a cellular level. With consistency over time, affirmations in a sense “trick” the nervous system into believing our declared outcomes are already our present reality, opening up all kinds of possibilities.

John Assaraf, a leading expert on human behaviour and neuroscience in business says:

I’m a firm believer in using affirmations that bypass the critical filter of your conscious mind and go into your subconscious mind where they take root.

Let’s examine the incredible benefits of affirmations, break down how they work, and reveal an easy system anyone can use to start achieving once impossible-seeming goals.

How Do Positive Affirmation Work?

On the surface, affirmations seem too simple to create real change. But science reveals even basic neural remodelling through consistent repetition of desired behaviour or thought patterns over time.

The Conscious vs Subconscious

Breakthrough new research, including functional MRIs – has shown affirmations work primarily by accessing the power of the subconscious mind.

Our conscious minds can only process 40 bits of information per second. But the subconscious handles 40 million bits! Tapping into subconscious processes massively increases our capability to learn skills or manifest goals.
When focused on affirmatively with enough repetition, neural networks restructure to perceive desired outcomes as our new inevitable reality.

Basically, if we convince the much more powerful subconscious through simple repetitively layered affirmative phrases, it directs the conscious mind to make choices supporting our affirmed destination.

Physiological Effects

Beyond influencing neural networks related to thought patterns and behaviour, consistent positive affirmation induce measurable physiological changes. For example studies found affirmations impact:

Immune function: HIV patients using positive affirmations showed increased T-cell counts.
Wound healing: Faster healing among those exposed to supportive words/imagery.
Stress reduction: Reduced stress hormone cortisol levels for chronic pain patients using affirmations.

Now that we’ve explored the science backing why positively focused phrases lead to very real mental and physical shifts, let’s discuss how you can harness affirmations as part of your own success toolkit.

A Positive Affirmation System for Achieving Any Goal

Follow this step-by step guide below to start leveraging affirmations building neural pathways to pull your biggest dreams within reach:

Step 1: Identify Underlying Limiting Beliefs

Start by considering some of your biggest goals and dreams. Then reflect – what persistent fears or negative thought patterns could potentially sabotage your progress?

Frequent self-doubting narratives like “I’m not smart enough”… “I’m too old”… or “I don’t have the money/time/resources”.

Pinpoint these specific limiting beliefs. The transformation process begins here.

Step 2: Create Positive Affirmation Directly Targeting Those Beliefs

Craft 2-3 short positive present tense statements directly neutralizing each limiting belief and planting the seeds of your new empowered identity.

Examples for common limiting beliefs:

I’m not smart enough -> “I am extremely intelligent and capable of quickly mastering this”.
I’m too old -> “My age contains solid wisdom and experience that strengthens my success.”
I don’t have enough money -> “I welcome increasing abundance into my life every day.”

Step 3: Integrate Repetition Into Multiple Environments

Record audio of the affirmations and play on repeat during down time to maximize repetitive neural stimulation through the auditory channel.
Write them down visibly where you’ll see them frequently – bathroom mirror, office desk etc. The visual reinforcement helps positive affirmation imprint deeper neurologically.
Attach words to actions by reciting affirmations when engaging in related goals. For example saying financial affirmations when saving money primes the mindset for abundance.

Step 4: Monitor Changes in Thought Patterns + Behaviour

Check in with yourself regularly. Are fearful negative thought spirals arising less often? Are you noticing more impulse decisions supportive of your affirmed vision?

Consider keeping a daily journal to track the transformation. Gaining consciousness of how self-talk shifts empowers you to purposefully direct thoughts aligned with goals.

Conclusion

While accomplishments ultimately come down to taking action – embracing positive affirmation reprograms self-limiting subconscious beliefs holding us back and opening up new worlds of possibility.

Thoughts form beliefs. Beliefs drive actions. Positive affirmations help reshape our mental frameworks around what we believe we can accomplish so we show up differently in the pursuit of dreams.

So, discover those hidden limiting narratives undermining your goals, and overwrite them through purposeful positive declarations. With consistency over time, you’ll be amazed how dramatically reality around you shifts in turn through the miracle of the mind.

References

Assaraf, J., Smith, M. (2015). The Answer: Grow Any Business, Achieve Financial Freedom, and Live an Extraordinary Life. Simon & Schuster.
Dilantin, K., Sergeeva, A. G., Banaji, M. R. (2017). Neural correlates of maintain beliefs in the face of counterevidence. Brain and Behavior, 7(7), e00715. doi: 10.1002/brb3.715
Dulaney, E., Gillis, B., Graupmann, V., Levin, M. E., Herbert, J. D., & Forman, E. M. (2020). Self-affirmations activate brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and are reinforced by future orientation. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 15(4), 421–432.
Erickson, K. (2015). Evidence Considered to Support IDA Hypothesis. Physics of Life Reviews, 15, 40–56.
Razza, L. B., Moffa, A. H., Moreno, M. L., Carvalho, A. F., Padberg, F., Fregni, F., Brunoni, A. R. (2018). A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis on Placebo Response to Repetitive Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Depression Trials. Progress in neuro-psychopharmacology & biological psychiatry, 81, 105–113.

Learn More

Self Care: Maintain Your Mental Health

affirmations positive affirmation