If you had Aladdin’s lamp, what would be the three
wishes that you’d ask for? And if I told you that the same wishes can be
granted to you even without having the magic lamp, and you needn’t limit
yourself to only three of them, then what would you ask for? No, I’m not
wasting your time by talking about fairytales. I am introducing you to the
world of affirmations – the art of fulfilling your deepest desires by using the
power of your mind. When I first heard of this concept, almost a decade ago, I
loved the idea of getting whatever I wished for, but wasn’t quite sure if it
would work. Or rather, I wasn’t sure if it would work without any voodoo or
black magic. I only took it up as an experiment and till date I am creating my
life exactly the way I want, step-by-step and day-by-day.
Here’s how to do it. The first step is to coin an affirmation
of whatever you want to manifest in your life. An affirmation is a positive
statement in the present perfect tense. For instance, if you want to be happy
in love, your affirmation will be: I am
happy in love. Why you need to affirm as if you’ve already got what you want
actually has a scientific explanation. We studied in elementary science that
all matter is made up of energy. Thus, even a wooden table is actually a moving
mass of molecules and atoms, and when these molecules and atoms are further
broken up it is discovered that everything in this universe is made up of one
single type of energy which appears in different forms, both animate and
inanimate. To actually understand how it all works you’ll need to delve into
Quantum Physics which is obviously beyond the domain of this article. The
bottom line, however, is that all this energy is in constant motion, and it vibrates
at the same frequency as our thoughts. Hence, we can actually create ripples in
the energy field of the universe just by using our thoughts. Rather than
knowing why it works, let me tell you how to make it work for you. So for now, let’s
get our focus back on getting whatever it is that you desire - whether monetary
or emotional; a change in your personal or professional life situation; or even
healing your body. Here is a step-by-step guide of using your thoughts to create
actual life situations.
1. Know what you want
More often
than not we are not even aware of what we really want. Smita, 30, a banker, is bored
with her job and desperately wants a break but can’t think of an alternative
career option. Her case is synonymous with zillions of other situations where
one knows more about what we don’t want rather than what we actually desire.
Therefore, the very first step is to figure out exactly what you desire. One of
the simplest ways is by using the green-eyed monster. The moment you feel the pangs
of envy you can immediately convert it into a positive experience of knowing
what you want. Another powerful exercise is to start writing a journal. Just
start pouring out your thoughts on paper: from all that you hate to all that
you wish and desire. You’ll be surprised by all the negative thoughts in your
head that you weren’t even aware of. All you need to do is to convert the
things that you hate into positive affirmations. For instance, if you feel “I
hate my job, my boss drives me up the wall, my love life sucks” all you need to
affirm is “I am doing a job that I love, I have a fabulous rapport with my boss
and my colleagues, my life is better than my fondest dreams”. Of course, things don’t turn around overnight,
but the process has certainly begun because how can you achieve anything if you
don’t even know what it is in the first place.
2.
Affirm
How often
have you experienced a sense of déjà vu or the fact that you have actually
willed a certain situation to occur? That’s because you will always see the manifestation
of your deeply held beliefs. Therefore affirmations become effective when you
actually believe in what you’re affirming. So once you’ve coined your
affirmations do anything you can to believe in them - you can write down them till
you’re convinced, say them out loud in front of a mirror, or simply feel how
you’d feel once you get it. For example, if you’re affirming to get a
promotion, close your eyes and imagine your boss announcing that you’ve got a
promotion - feel the joy that you’d feel when you get the news of your
promotion, feel the excitement in sharing the news with your family and
friends.
3. Remove all negative thoughts
The main
trap that you have to look out for on this journey of being positive is that of
being pseudo-positive. You may think that you are being positive but deep down
you are still bound by various negative beliefs. This is quite natural too,
considering that we are conditioned with all sorts of limiting beliefs since
the time we’re born. And although NOW is the time to change your thoughts, it
does take time for the new set of thoughts to become your beliefs. Now that you
have started making the effort, do not stop mid-way. This is the final test. If there is something for which you have been
affirming for a while that still hasn’t manifested just answer the question for
yourself – “why is it not happening?”. You’ll immediately start justifying why
not. If you’ve been affirming to become a model you may come up with answers
like “I can’t make it”, “maybe I don’t look good enough”, “I’m too fat”, “there’s
too much competition”, “it’s too tough to get a break in the modelling circuit”
.. these are actually all the beliefs that are holding you back and this is
what you’re experiencing. But once again when you’re aware of these thoughts
you can easily convert each and every one of these statements into positive
affirmations like, “I look great”, “I have got an unbelievable entry into the
world of modelling”, “I enjoy facing the camera”, “assignments are pouring in”,
and so on.
4.
Use
pictures to reinforce your belief and feel good factor, create a vision board
or a treasure map.
Shakti
Gawain, author of Creative Visualisation suggests creating a treasure map to
reinforce your affirmations. It’s a fun process. Just take a bunch of lifestyle
magazines and cut out pictures of all that you’d like to see manifest in your
life whether it is a cruise holiday or the owner of your dream home. You can
either put it all up on a pin board or create a scrap book if you like to keep
your desires to yourself. “Since I like travelling, the wallpaper on my
computer is of the next destination that I’d like to go to,” says Sabina Kapoor.
“It almost always works. While I was working for a travel magazine I really
needed a break and wanted to head off to the hills. I just placed a picture of
a view from the balcony of a house in the hills. And guess what, my next
assignment was to review a new resort, and uncanny as it may sound, the view
from the balcony of my room was very similar to the one in my wallpaper. When I
was back at work I changed wall paper to a gorgeous beach. And, you guessed it
right again.. I was off to Thailand soon after!”
5. Be thankful for the small
miracles that you’ve already started experiencing.
Try using these affirmations in situations for
which you can see results fast enough. As you see them manifesting for yourself
your conviction and confidence in using them to create almost anything in your
life will increase. Since we’re working on the principal that whatever you focus
on expands, focussing on all that’s already working in your
life will increase it. “When I used to focus on all the bills that had to be
paid I felt as if I was only earning to pay other people,” says Shantanu, 45,
writer. “But ever since I started focussing on my income, I was amazed that new
sources of income just kept opening up for me. And even if I continued to pay
the same mount of bills, I was happy that I could afford to pay for all that I
wanted. It’s all just about attitude!”
When you get the hang of how affirmations work you
can use them to create almost anything in your life. Whether these affirmations
work or not depends entirely on your belief and experience. But the least that
a positive mindset can do is to encourage you to take the first step towards
living your dream life.
