Affirmations an introduction
Affirmations are everything.
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You recently read about how I meditate and how I practice gratitude.
Here’s another daily practice that I do and that is writing affirmations.
Affirmations aren’t the most hippy-dippy thing I do, but I’m self-conscious about the practice.
I shouldn’t be telling you about this but in my quest to not be ashamed of anything, here we are.
Affirmations is either writing down something that you want or stating it out loud to yourself.
I do both every day.
Part of my reason for telling you about all these unusual activities is that it’s to inform you.
To tell you that there’s no set way of doing things.
You do whatever works for you.
I want to break down my method for you now.
If you’re reading this and struggling, then I hope this will provide you with some help.
Scott Adams
You’re aware of affirmations, what they are, you make a positive statement about yourself. “I, Kieran Majury, am a confident person” was one that I used to use before going out in public. Over time I found myself becoming more confident.
You’re thinking, what a load of new-age nonsense.
I was in the same place as you. I thought, how the hell is that going to help?
It wasn’t until I read How to Fail at Almost Everything and Still Win Big by Scott Adams that I took affirmations seriously.
Scott Adams is a highly successful author. Adams created Dilbert, the widely syndicated comic strip and has written many books.
Scott wrote about several times that affirmations helped him out.
If anyone is living proof of the power of affirmations, it’s Scott.
Scott believes you and I are moist robots. Like robots, we’re programmable.
You may feel like that sounds a bit out there, fair enough. When I read about it I felt the same.
But then I thought…
What’s the harm in trying?
Summer of 69
Let’s take a trip back in time to the early 2000s. I was in Our Lady and St Patrick’s College Knock and a hormonal teenager. To put it less delicately, I had sex on the brain 24/7.
It was a time before the widely available internet. There was the “family computer” with 56k dial up. So access to naughty website wasn’t instantaneous the way it is now. The most a horny teen could hope for was some soft core Shannon Tweed film Channel 5 on a Friday night.
Due to my perpetual horniness, I saw something sexual wherever I looked. In particular I saw the number 69 as having great significance.
Where am I going with this I hear you ask, don’t worry all will be revealed.
I would consistently see the number 69, and it had to mean something, didn’t it? Otherwise I wouldn’t keep seeing it. I saw it everywhere. It got to the point that friends would point out the number out to me.
The joke became 69 would follow me everywhere except the bedroom. Was I being followed around by this number?
Short Answer
No.
Slightly longer answer
The number didn’t occur more than usual to me than it did to anyone else. What happened was that I had programmed my mind to see the number and ignore instances where I didn’t.
In other words, confirmation bias.
Humans have inbuilt biases. As Scott Adams puts it, we are pattern recognition machines.
When confirmation bias and pattern recognition combine you can get yourself to see whatever you want.
You can shape your reality.
Younger me had decided that it wanted to see significance in the number 69 so it saw the number 69 wherever it could.
Reprogramme yourself now
You’re probably wondering why I’m telling you this.
I’m telling you because it’s how I believe affirmations work.
I’m not a scientist or any kind of expert, so take what I’m about to tell you with more than your reccomeneded daily allowance of salt.
Affirmations are a way of manually reprogramming your brain.
I’m not one of those people who believes I’m “asking the universe to get me a car”. Far from that. In fact, I’m asking myself to see opportunity to get a car where I wouldn’t before.
In the end, I have to go out and do the work.
When you do affirmations your job doesn’t start and end with you writing them down. You have to get out there and do the work for yourself.
You’re adjusting your mindset.
Affirmations are a way of getting yourself into the right mindset.
Breaking out of any negative conditioning that you maybe exposed to.
As always the old joke is better able to explain it than I can: So there’s the man who asks God to help him win the lottery. Weeks turn into months turn into years “Oh God please help me win the lottery”. The clouds open and the man hears a deep, commanding voice “Buy a ticket”.
Possible evidence
If you’ve been reading my blog, you’ve probably heard me speak of how I need a new job. I’ve written about it a few times on Kieranmajury.com. Like the man from the joke, it would help if sent and application out every once in a while.
One of my affirmations was “I, Kieran Majury will get a new job.”
Recently I was offered a promotion at work. Was this because I did the affirmations? No, it was because through doing affirmations I became a better worker.
My time keeping improved, as did my attitude and I became a better employee. My employers recognised my improvements.
Do you want another personal example?
One of my daily mottos is “Kieranmajury.com will become a highly popular website”. Now it’s not blowing up or anything, but after a bit of a lull last month June is looking to be the best month since I started.
Do I believe that people across the globe are asking “I wonder what happens if I key Kieran Majury into the search bar?”
No.
Kieranmajury.com is becoming more popular because I’m uploading more consistently than before and because of that I’m becoming more visible. I’m doing a bit more promotion and am less ashamed of my writing.
For better or worse Kieranmajury.com is on the up.
How you can perform affirmations
Affirmations are easy.
Get yourself an A6 notebook and write out what you will do.
Write it out fifteen times.
I recommend you get Pukka Pad as they are lovely to write on.
This is the perfect size notebook for affirmations.
My current one: I, Kieran Majury, will be rich. (UPDATED 24/08/20 my current affirmation is “I Kieran Majury, am financially free” I don’t really care to be rich)
It’s basic but it’s what I need. The one aspect of my life that needs improvement is my finances.
I also put a date on the top of the page so that if I ever want to see how I have progressed I can do that.
So do it every day as soon as you wake up.
The only thing you have to worry about is someone catching you writing your affirmations.
You’ll get funny looks.
Praying and Affirmation: A hypothesis
Do you pray? There’s a chance if you’re reading this that you’ve prayed at some point in your life.
You only bother a higher power when you want something. Prayers are a series of words recited, and when doing so, you concentrate on what you desire.
There isn’t much difference between prayer and affirmations. They take on different forms, but the route purpose is the same.
If you’re too self-conscious about writing down or speaking out affirmations consider saying a prayer.
So see how you get on.
It worked for Chris Pratt.
Conclusion
Affirmations may seem like some kind of woo-woo way of thinking. Hoping things come together for you. While I understand that it is more like you are programing yourself. If you feel that writing out the same sentence over and over doesn’t work for you try finding something that does work for you.
I hope you are able to see the really you want for yourself.
Have a great day,
Kieran.
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Thank you and have a great day,
Kieran
Your “69” example is perfect. You see what you want to see in life. I always see 11:11 but I also know I chose to believe it’s good luck and my brain looks for and notices it. If I were a negative person, I would see something different. Perception is reality.
Affirmations well explained! I, too, have befefitted greatly from reading and following Scott Adams and have written about affirmations and his other ideas quite a few times. Your explanation of it is quite succinct. I linked to this post from my post about the topic.
Thank you Max.