Affirmations - Do They Really Work?

Two years ago you couldn't get me to do affirmations to save my soul. The irony is; now I do them all the time to save my soul! And guess what? They do work and, when done purposefully - with heart and consistency, they do wonders.

When I was first introduced to the concept of affirmations I found I couldn't get past having to say something that I knew in my heart wasn't true, much less having to repeat it. I felt like I was lying. To me affirmations ranked right up there with platitudes. "Don't worry, be happy." Right. I'll get right on it.

But one day I was listening to the Law of Attraction tapes from Esther and Jerry Hicks and something inside of me clicked. I began to see affirmations as a means to an end. I began to see the merit in the assumptive power of affirmations; that is to say, in thinking from the position of being there rather than from the desire to get there. Ahh! Now affirmations make sense. Saying, "I am joyful," doesn't have to be about my now set point, but it can very much be about the set-point I am intending to have.

There is a fine line between wishing you were something and knowing you are something and that fine line will make all the difference in your manifestation success. To make your dreams a reality requires the visualization and affirmation of your ideal. It requires the assumption that you are already that which you aspire to be. As this skill strengthens within you, when you persist with this assumption until it becomes your prevailing passion, the manifestation of your desire is inevitable. It's important to know that your success comes not from wishing for something to be true...but from being that which you are intending; from assuming you are already there. Your task is to focus on the end result only and not to worry about how it will come about.

All progress toward manifestation depends on your ability to use the power of assumption with increasing frequency and focus, to see and feel yourself from that position- heart, mind and soul- through the use of visualization and affirmations. You actually make your prospective dream a present fact with the power of assumptive visualization and by changing your self-speak about who and what you are. At first, you may feel like you're lying, but eventually the rest of you will catch up to the idea until it is no longer a wish or a pretense but an expectation.

So the first step in getting to where you want to be is defining where you want to be! One of my favorite affirmations is this, "I am living happily ever after!" That's it. And that's really what we want out of life in a nutshell, isn't it? How I get there and when I get there is the job of Source Energy; I certainly don't want to dictate the details from my limited perspective. My focus is just on being there and that means that life will just have to morph into it. What's important though is that your thoughts of happily ever after bring you joy now.

Sometimes you have to poke around at it with a stick for a while. If I'm mid-range on the emotional scale I have to start with something like, "Wouldn't it be nice if I could live happily ever after? Wouldn't it be nice if I could just BE happy?" By doing this I eventually make my way up the scale to that full blown, in the vortex, "I am living happily ever after!" It's exhilarating actually, knowing how your story is going to end. Having read the last page first, you can then just settle down and enjoy the story.

As an intuitive Life Coach since 2004, Diane Richard is skilled and experienced in the areas of personal growth, transformation, and leadership. Diane has a strong niche in helping others to align with the full awareness of their personal power in order to achieve happiness and a higher expression of the self. Visit our website at http://www.soulenoidlc.com and unleash the magnetic power of your soul!