★Help! How do u keep from using too many affirmations??

One of weaknesses, i believe, in using affirmations in the past is to add so many to my list I almost get overwhelmed and often do not follow up with correct daily repetition. I just discovered this great site a few days ago, and I’ve now listed about 125 affirmations on my list already! Ouch!

I just read Lee’s comments that he uses “only a few affirmations.” That really amazed me. How do you limit them?

Does anyone have any thoughts on how you deal with this issue?

Thanks

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 09/06/2009.

Obviously everyone is different. The act of writing is very affirming, that’s why I write:
- in the fresh eyes thread almost daily
- write many affirmations
-write my intentions

With regard to affirmation-lists, depending on what I feel and think at the time,and what I’m up against in life, I choose my words, or someone elses. In my profile I have over 1000 affirmations; I don’t use a 1000 a day(:

Think of your affirmations as choices; choices you can grab your best of the best for where you’re at right now. See how the words feel.

I don’t limit myself. I love words. You don’t have to use all of them them everyday, choose what you need.

If you’re making a tape, think and feel what it is that is important to you at this time in your life. When you change, change your tape.

You know, there are many different ways you can handle it. Me, I have a little bit of a compulsion to organize everything. How I choose to handle it is to organize my affirmations into categories that are meaningful to me. I use broad categories such as health or wealth. I choose one area to focus on in a certain time period. It may be a day, week, month…whatever until it isn’t my main focus.

Normally, I start with health or self-improvement because these two topics generally have larger ramifications that tend to improve all areas of my life. I also pick the three to five best affirmations in that category that really speak to me and focus on them very intently.

You know, when I have down time (very infrequently for me), I like to go back and read all my affirmations not for meditation or visualization, but more for a nice “feel good” moment. They always improve my mood or focus my thoughts on more positive areas. Sometimes this process brings to the forefront an affirmation that really needs to be dealt with. It is as if my inner wisdom takes over and speaks to me as well as provide guidance.

Good luck and I’m so happy to see you really utilizing bMindful. This is an awesome place.

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 09/06/2009. Last edited on 04/11/2015.

MeditatingMama’s System I like it!

Here’s a related wonderful thread by Pure Essense

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 09/06/2009.

In response to meditatingmama’s post:
And yes, organizing your many affirmations is a wonderful idea! And MM, you do that with an awesome flare(:

Thanks, you all. You mention “organizing” affirmations. I’ve only been on the site for 2-3 days, but I don’t see a way to sort or group them. How do you do that?
Thanks for your great feedback. Tim

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 09/06/2009.

Everyone has a system, Here’s is Meditating Mamas’s I think you’ll love hers

Though, my question to you is, do you have specific things that you’re working on? With that in mind begins the organization.

Definitely agree with Laurie, organization begins with the mind.

What is your number one priority right now? What is the single most important change you want to make?

I think it’s in Think and Grow Rich that Napoleon Hill says if you have a why, you can get over any how. Think about the reasons why you want to change, this will help you isolate the most important changes to make. Once you’ve figured this out, choose just one of them and focus on making just that change – so only use affirmations related to that one change for a while.

Check out this thread (Thanks Laurie!) which is a follow up to This one and read about how the change process works. This is only an analogy of course, but unfortunately all we can do is use analogies. Western science knows so much about the brain, and so little about the mind.

Another common analogy is a computer. This is pretty accurate, because people think a computer can do more than one thing at a time, when it actually cannot! It can only do one thing at a time and switch between tasks very quickly.

We humans are the same but it takes us a LOT longer to switch between tasks. Because of this, the most efficient way of making noticeable changes is to do it one at a time. It might seem like the long way around, but I assure you it’s not.

There was a study done recently that suggested you would be better off smoking pot and doing one task, than multitasking. Why? Because multitasking lowers your IQ more than Marijuana does.

A couple of clarifications, there are some computers that have multiple ‘cores’. If you have a quad core CPU (Central Processing Unit) you can do four things at once. Unfortunately we only have one brain, and one mind so we can only do one thing at once :)

Also, I’m obviously suggesting we FOCUS and not multitask. I’m not suggesting we all sit around smoking weed. :)

btw, thank you for asking such great questions and promoting such interesting discussion! Threads like this help countless other people who, for whatever reasons, haven’t yet asked the very same questions. Thank you!

I love this discussion! Here’s what I do…I definitely agree about focusing on one or two areas or I get overwhelmed. I used to post affirmations on my bathroom mirror, so I’d be prompted to use them regularly.

Then I went to a Prosperity Circle facilitated by a wise friend, and we wrote affirmations about the material things in life. The one I settled on was, “I deserve good financial hygiene and practice it daily.”

I stuck it on the bulletin board next to my computer when I returned home, as I often do with souvenirs or “found” items. I soon realized I sit at my computer when I pay my bills and check my bank balance, and there was the affirmation to quell the uneasiness in my stomach.

Since then, if I’m using written affirmations (and I nearly always am, as it’s hard to remember in middle age!) I post them where they have the most import. Right now, as I look for a job, I have one posted next to my exterior door that says, “A world of opportunities awaits me outside this door.”

˚state of wonderful  

Posted on 09/06/2009. Last edited on 10/06/2009.

In response to backtotheuniverse’s post:
Wonderful ideas! Nice to meet you Back to the Universe!(smiles)

Nice to meet you, too. I feel so much better since I happened upon this site!

In response to bueny1’s post:

I think the most important thing on organization is that it is meaningful to you. I like physical things in my hand that I can manipulate. My daughter prefers all her stuff electronic.

Just make it so that it is easy and accessible for repeated use. Affirmations aren’t something you can simply say once and then sit back and wait for the goody basket to appear in your lap. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. (bummer, I know!)

One more thing, Tim. Please be aware of all the negative thoughts that enter your mind that may be canceling out the good stuff. It is such a waste to put effort into change and positive affirmations – and then sit back and talk garbage to yourself the rest of the day if things aren’t perfect.

In the beginning, I don’t think that you can say enough wonderful things to yourself. Take time and appreciate all the beauty and good things in your world. Pamper yourself in ways that indicate your value – a walk in nature – a phone call to an old friend… Saturate your life with nothing but pleasant realities. You will be amazed how quickly that it becomes your permanent reality and something you no longer have to “try” to create. Once you retrain your brain to accept this new world, the better your life just automatically becomes.

This may sound like a lot of hocus pocus, but I would like you to actually try it for some time and let me know how much more wonderful your world becomes. :)

PS: I have come from a position of incredible debt, job loss, deep depression to a world of peace & tranquility, prosperity, ease and unending blessings – and the only thing I did different was change my “mind”. Sure, I have bad days and things that trip me up, but they resolve themselves quickly. I am safe and the universe treats me well.

Another thought, Tim, building on something meditatingmama said about not being able to just sit back and wait.

Early on, and still quite frequently, I need to do more than repeat affirmations, I must “talk back” to my negative or Shadow self. Watch what you say to yourself. You may find, like I have, that I say horrid things to myself that I would never of say to others.

I don’t know where these tirades come from – some likely originated with parents or teachers or even ex-husbands – but I find myself saying things like, “I really screwed that up! I can’t do anything right!” or “Jeesh, no wonder my house is a mess, I’ve been sitting around being lazy and selfish all day.”

So I’ve had to learn to say, “Whoa, there!” just as I would if someone, in my presence, verbally attacked a friend. I say, “I do LOTS of things right, and everyone makes mistakes. If we’re alive and moving, we’re going to make mistakes! And I’m not lazy, I know I’m a very industrious and generous person. I may just be tired today, or discouraged.”

Until I do that – shush the harsh critic – I can’t begin to absorb the affirmation. With practice, I’ve learned to be as kind to myself, MOST of the time, as I am to others. When I first began working with affirmations, this this active silencing took even more energy and focus than repeating the affirmations themselves did. Peace.

Thank you all for your responses. What great thoughts and ideas. I can tell I am very good company on this site. I had no idea so many people would respond. Tim

In response to bueny1’s post:

Please see your other thread ‘affirmations on alcoholism’. We have also posted lots of helpful advice there for you too. Unfortunately as your profile is private I cannot reach you any other way.
Hope you read this.
Take care,
Anoushka ;o)

In response to backtotheuniverse’s post:

Love the ‘shush the harsh critic’ post. Its so true. We are often silently hard on ourselves and these can become very powerful affirmations – ones which are way too damaging. All those thoughts at the back of your mind are much more powerful than saying the good ones in the mirror in the morning with desperation that they may manifest and stick.
I agree, be kind to yourself.
Thanks backtotheuniverse!
Blessings and smiles to you! ;o)

OK, I can not let this thread go without my comment :-)
I too get overwhelmed by too many or too long affirmations and lose concentration. So I prefer keeping them short and reduced to only a few, also on bmindful, I remove ones that I am not concentrating on at the moment. (I can always go back and search and add them to my list again)
For the ones I use actually telling myself, I reduce them to even less and today I decided to reduce it down to one on daily basis.
Just focusing on one aspect.

As to the negative thoughts, which is my big challenge, the minute I recognize that I am having one or two, I replace it with one of my positive affirmations, depending on the thought. Usually it is either ‘EVERYBODY loves me’ or ‘All is well and I am safe’.

I use the fresheye thread that I love, to affirm how I want my day or weekend to be.