Powerful Daily Positive Affirmations
Personal Growth and Attitude Training for Self Improvement
Feb 14, 2007
Self improvement and personal growth often require attitude training to counter the effects of bad attitude behaviors. Positive attitude and the power of positive thinking are linked to greater health, increased happiness, and longevity.
Properly constructed and appropriate daily positive affirmations are an important ingredient in correcting bad attitudes and negative thinking.
This can be expressed as a personal growth equation:
positive thinking + positive affirmation = positive attitude.
Positive Affirmations and Attitude Training
An affirmation is a statement of declaration, a reinforcement or affirming of a strong belief. Regular use of positive affirmations reinforces positive thinking and can overcome the effects of previously held bad attitudes. Daily use of positive affirmations can be effective attitude training when proper affirmation structure is understood and utilized.
What Is a Good Positive Affirmation?
The structure of an affirmation is vitally important. Word it wrong—as many people do—and it can have undesirable effects. Follow these suggestions and your daily affirmations will be positive, powerful, and life-changing, an effective tool of self improvement.
- The first and most important thing to know about an effective affirmation is that it must be in first person format. Begin a powerful positive affirmation with the first person pronoun "I."
- The next important structural requirement is often where people have the most trouble. Format the affirmation in the present tense. Many people resist this and in doing so diminish the power of their affirmation.
With few exceptions, the first two words of an affirmation should be "I am." The words "I am" incorporate first person, present tense which starts the affirmation on a strong beginning. Follow these two words with the desired end result you seek. If, for example, your goal is to have a positive attitude, you could finish your sentence like this:
I am a positive person.
Here's where many people go astray. Because they're not yet behaving as a positive person they resist using present tense, instead preferring to state a much weaker declaration like this:
I will try to be a more positive person.
Read those two examples out loud and you'll feel the difference in energy and power. Declaring something about the future sets an intention, but still lacks an important ingredient of positive attitude and the desired goal of correcting a bad attitude. The next steps address that deficiency.
Emotion and Daily Powerful Affirmations
Passionate people achieve. Passion for a goal brings a near inexhaustible source of energy and resilience to attaining that goal. The I am statement is a firm and passionate declaration. The I will try statement is hopeful and dream-like. Which conveys more passion?
For a more powerful positive affirmation add personal emotions, such as this:
I am proud and happy now that I am a positive person.
There's More to Correcting Bad Attitudes
There's more to know about using affirmations, such as the importance of visualizing, how habits of thinking can counteract a good positive affirmation, and being aware of accidental affirmations. These are addressed in this positive affirmation article.
The Power of Positive Thinking
Daily use of powerful positive affirmations will reinforce and habituate a positive attitude and positive thinking. Both are key components of a healthy, happy life.
Related Article: The Power of Positive Attitude
