Affirmations are a form of positive self-talk. The opposite is negative self-talk, which so many of us are so good at. The idea here is to replace that negative self-talk with something far better, positive self-talk. This will have a long lasting effect on your self of self-worth and your ability to accomplish whatever you want to achieve.

Let’s try this (it’s a test of the emergency affirmation system:) Start by saying, “I like myself” 10 times, in a row, quickly: “I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself, I like myself…”

How does it make you feel? Did it make you feel good? Silly? I picked that one up from one Michael Clouse, who got it from Brian Tracy.

It made me feel… odd when I first did it. How about you? Most of us aren’t trained to like ourselves. Perhaps unintentionally, we are generally trained not to like or respect ourselves. After all, we’re the ones with a true handle on our own value, right?

We all participate in our own self talk. Whether or not anyone is listening we say and think things about ourselves. Our thoughts count, too. How many of us treat ourselves like we’d treat someone who we’re tying to encourage? Not many of us.

Generally, we’re our own worst critics. After many years of this criticism, where are we? That’s what we have to reverse. We want to learn to say things, to ourselves, that are a much more positive and uplifting than what we have been saying. Many benefits come from positive thought, such as an improved sense of self-worth and greater achievement.

Our lives, and the lives of those around us, can be changed remarkably by the use of positive affirmations.  After all, we may tease the person who is always positive, but isn’t it much nicer to be around him (or her) than the one who is always tearing himself/herself, and others, down.  And then the positive (and focused) person always seems to accomplish more and have more fun doing it.

You can go about creating your affirmations, depending on what you need to work on, or you can start with the basics, such as the “I like myself,” above. Other basic affirmations are along the lines of, “I am Happy,” “I am confident,” “I am attractive,” and so on.

There’s a trick, though. If you say them once, they won’t work. Pick one affirmation, just for today, to start, and look in the mirror and say it ten time in a row (Ok, we’re getting tough here. 😉 ) Do it in right after you wake up, at some point mid-day, and again when you go to bed. You don’t have to do it with other people around.

The nest step is to keep doing that for a week. See how it makes you feel. it will become a habit if you can keep it up for three weeks and you will be feeling a lot better about doing it.