Affirmations: Do They Really Work?

A common topic you hear when you get into spiritual or esoteric circles is the top of affirmations. These are especially prevalent in the feel good only circles that focus on positive affirmations and rejecting anything negative. But the question is do they work? This week in Deeper Thoughts we’re going to take a look at the ways affirmations work and don’t work, good and bad. And yes, there are negative affirmations.

So do affirmations work? Well, yes and no. There are caveats when it comes to using affirmations. One of the first things you need to know about using affirmations is they take time. You have to be consistently using them for them to stick and take root into your subconscious. But why do they need to take root in the subconscious?

The subconscious is the part of the mind that is tied to the spiritual side of the universe. This is the part of the mind that is tied to your intuition or those gut feelings you get about people, places, and situations. The subconscious is the part of your mind that radiates out those frequencies into the universe that get mirrored back to you.

Understanding that the affirmations you’re using have to take root into your subconscious for them to be effective is crucial because it is your subconscious that ALIGNS you with what you want. When your subconscious is aligned to your goals and aspirations it causes you to form habits and patterns that take actions to those desired results.

Why is this important? Because anything rooted in your subconscious prior to these affirmations will either aid or oppose those affirmations you want to work.

If you want more money to come to you so you don’t have to stress about bills you have, but you think money is hard to come by, that you have to work incredibly hard to get it, or that money makes you evil, then those affirmations won’t work. You can’t attract and achieve what you’re in resistance to. You can say all day long, “Money comes to me easily,” until you’re blue in the face every day, but if you have parts of you that are in resistance to money, (due to conditioning and programming as a child) it won’t happen. You have to do work to adjust that on the subconscious level. And no, just saying affirmations to change the way you think about something won’t work either.

Trying to use these affirmations that you subconsciously don’t believe can actually cause more harm. As you keep using them over and over, while you’re in resistance to what you’re trying to affirm, you can create ruptures of trust in yourself subconsciously, which over time will cause you to distrust your own choices, putting you in resistance to future actions you take in other matters.

You can be using affirmations to affirm negative things and not be aware of it either. This is the bad affirmations mentioned earlier. Saying or thinking things like, “Every time things seem to start going well for me something bad comes along to mess it all up!” or “Every time I think I’m finally in a relationship with the person meant for me, they leave!” only adds fuel to that fire. This is because you keep thinking that and when you’re doing things (subconsciously usually) that brings this about, confirmation bias kicks in, it stands out to you like a massive bon fire in the night, and reinforces those thoughts in your subconscious.

So yes, affirmations can work, but there’s a lot of work you have to put forth in order for them to work. You have to heal what parts about the affirmations you’re subconsciously in resistance to, which requires lots of self understanding, parts work, and shadow work. Then you have to take the time to rewire your mind's way of seeing things. You might have to reframe certain views and thoughts. You might have to use some confirmation bias so you can let your mind focus on the things that are aligned with what you’re trying to achieve. And then over time these new affirmations can take root into your subconscious and help you align with your goals and desires. And then even as they are taking hold, you can’t just sit and wait for whatever it is you’re trying to achieve to just fall into your lap. You have to be taking actions towards those ends.

Affirmations, just like the rest of spirituality aren’t all sunshine, rainbows, and unicorn farts.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you all have an enlightening day.