Affirmations can be enormously powerful - however:

Affirmations are positive statements that activate your mind to change your life, one thought at a time. They support you in making the improvements you have chosen to make.

Affirmations work because the words of our inner dialogue have power: the power to instruct / direct our deeper selves. Their impacts can operate over wide time-scales, from immediate behavioural changes to the strategic development of our identity.

It is very easy to get them wrong - at best these will be harmless bit, in all likelihood, they will be counterproductive. It is also easy to get them right - follow the guidelines below and you'll be off to a flying start.

I encourage almost all of my clients to craft their own affirmations and use them regularly.

As with anything new, there will be a learning process as you find your own way to get the most effective results for you. The good news is that affirmations can be used anytime, anywhere – in or out of trance. A strategy of ‘a little and often’ will serve you best. They can be highly effective as you drift off to sleep.

Observe your responses to your affirmation. From time to time, you may become aware of a little inner voice countering the affirmation. Pay careful attention if this happens. It is quite likely that the affirmation is triggering a limiting belief. Use this as an indication to explore your values, beliefs and limiting beliefs to identify, explore and resolve the underlying issue, then develop the affirmation based on your new insight.

How to construct your own affirmations

When crafting the affirmations for your self-hypnosis sessions, follow these rules:

• Use your own, natural, language and imagery.

• Make them personal to you.

• Summarise them in a few words: 10-20 is ideal.

• Stick to one straight forward idea.

• State them in the present tense.

• Start where you are now and move yourself forward.

• State them positively – from where you are now to where you choose to be.

• Presuppose the positive change.

• Make them semantically packed.

• You may choose to write your affirmation a few times before using them.

• Affirmations are ideal for frequent, short, self-hypnosis sessions.

• Make sure each affirmation is true – untrue affirmations are counter-productive.

I have posted more quick reads over on my own little corner of Reddit – it would be great to see you there.