Are you aware that you talk to yourself in your mind all the time? The thoughts you think in your mind are called "self talk." Your self-talk is like a playback of all the old programming that's been recorded in your subconscious. Even though you may not be aware of it, you are continuously "listening" to what you are "telling yourself" in your mind. This self-talk, as a result, influences your present life by coloring your perceptions and feelings about what's going on, attracting events and circumstances to you like a magnet. For example:

"What's the use in trying?"
"If I get it, I'll just lose it."
"Life is so unfair."
"Life is such a struggle."
"I'm not good enough."

Your self-talk has strongly influenced your life. That's why it's been said that we create our own self-fulfilling prophecies.

But you can just as easily make positive self-statements as hold negative thoughts. The subconscious will react just as readily to life-enhancing messages that bring happiness and fulfillment as it will to those that prevent you from having the kind of life you really want.

What You Tell Yourself is What Your Life is

Affirmation means "to make firm." An affirmation is a simple, present tense positive statement such as "Everyday and in every way I am more and more happy and successful." Positive affirmations can be about your health, success, or relationship goals or anything else. Affirmations can be spoken aloud, said silently, or written down. They are particularly valuable when used in conjunction with positive visualizations of the outcome you want. Affirmations are a way of strengthening or "making firm" what you are imagining in your mind's eye.

Repeating positive affirmations allows you to replace the negative thoughts that have been playing inside your head for years with positive, accepting ideas about yourself -- ideas that you deserve good health, love, abundance, happiness, and other ideas that support you in every aspect of your life.

Think You Can, Say You Can and You Will!

A big secret to making affirmations work is repetition. It's important to remember that a single affirmation, said or written once or twice is not going to immediately manifest in your life. Repetition is the key. Through repetition the ideal image of yourself gets embedded deeper and deeper, throughout all levels of your consciousness. In this way you can be your own success coach.

Just as water can wear away the hardest stone, so will repetition of your positive affirmations dissolve away negative thoughts and eventually work dramatic changes in your life. Affirmations are most effective when done as you are falling asleep or just after you wake up since your subconscious mind is most receptive at that time. To help keep your goals and positive beliefs on your mind, post affirmations on your mirror so you see them as you get ready in the morning.

Combining creative imagination with positive affirmations gives you a penetrating combination of techniques that take advantage of one of the major keys to the mind, its responsiveness to repetition. Thats usually how the negative, self-defeating messages and program got in there in the first place! Now, with visualizations and affirmations you can counteract the negative effects of your past.

It is repetition that impresses the subconscious mind. The constant flooding of your mind with positive affirmations and thoughts will cause any negative ideas to lose their power and completely dissolve. If possible, do at least one visualization a day in which you imagine yourself having and being the success you want. Do this while in a relaxed state and repeat your positive intentions and affirmations at least 7 times each.