Effective Affirmation

What are the best practices of effective affirmation? How many should you do, when should you do it and how should it be structured?

Kathy from New Jersey, USA raised an excellent question about the good practices of an effective affirmation.

Question 1 Is there a quantity of affirmations you should say on a particular issue? Like five variations for example? Or is it best to find one and keep affirming that one phrase? Question 2 Also, is it better to concentrate on one issue at a time or can you say affirmations of several areas in your life? For instance, five on health and weight, five more on wealth etc? Kathy WEST DEPTFORD, NEW JERSEY USA

Hi Kathy,

First of all I want to thank you for the excellent questions.

Question 1 Answer

With regards to the quantity of affirmations to do, it is better to stick to at most a few variations of an affirmation. The power of affirmations lies in the repetitions of it. The more you repeat an affirmation, the more it gets ingrained into your subconscious. Having too many variations may not be ideal as it add complexities which may confuse the mind.

It is the same as choosing between a spotlight and a laser. The spotlight has a wider coverage but the laser's highly focused beam gives it a very powerful force.

When it comes to affirmations, it is good to keep things simple.

Having variations of affirmations may be good when there are multiple aspects to an improvement area which you wish to cover.

For example, the affirmations "I respect who I am" and "I can achieve anything that I put my mind to" - each covers different things although both are affirmations for improving self esteem. One is about having self acceptance, while the other is about having belief in one's ability.


Question 2 Answer

As for the number issues to concentrate on at a time, it is totally fine to cover multiple issues during your affirmations routine, as long as you focus on one issue at a time. Meaning, if you’re doing wealth affirmations first, just do only wealth affirmations for say 5 minutes. After you’re done with that then only move to another category.

It generally doesn't matter how many you go through, as long as it doesn’t take too long a time. Doing affirmations for 15 to 20 minutes in one sitting is a good duration.

The mind doesn’t do well in keeping focus for long periods of time. That is why 15 to 20 minutes is recommended. Anything longer and the mind will start to wander and lose focus.

As such, if you were to keep to 3-5 minutes of affirmations per issue (which again is a good duration to have based on my personal experience), this will give you about 3 to 5 improvement areas to cover each time you do your affirmations.




Other effective affirmation tips

For effective affirmation, the best time to do it is during early in the morning before you start your day and tasks, and at night before you go to sleep. Make it a daily habit and routine.




In conclusion…

These are just some general guidelines. I've found that doing affirmations following the above tips works well for me.

But in the end there is really no single rule. Different practices works for different people. So try it out and vary your approach till you find something that works best for you.