how “you are” affirmations work
Positive affirmations are an effective way to counteract the negative inner monologue, dialog, and narrative. Positive affirmations can be first person or third person statements. Positive self-affirmations in the first person address the negative inner critical voice. For example, if you are in the habit of saying things like “I am a loser” or “I’m such an idiot”, intentionally changing the inner dialog to “I’m a winner” or “I’m so bright” will help transform your self-concept. Positive affirmations in the third person help with the negative self-image that was created by third parties, such as parents, teachers, coaches, siblings, and friends. If someone in your life repeatedly called you “stupid”, “dumb” or “incompetent”, it’s very possible that you integrated these statements into your consciousness.
There’s the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones, but names will never hurt me”. This is a great adage and it’s very possible for this to be true. However, until you learn to deactivate the effect of negative toxic labels, they can hang heavy over your like a dark cloud or a tight rope of bondage. Once we have absorbed a negative statement…whether this statement came from us or from another, the words or statement create file folders in the mental library. Each statement or negative character assault has its own label in your mental library. So, there are all these file folders in the brain’s mental computer, storage space or library. So, in the Idiot folder, there are memories of all the times you felt like an idiot. In the Shameful folder, there are all the recollections of times you felt shame or embarrassment. The Worthless folder has experiences and examples of all the times you felt this emotion.
The subconscious doesn’t ever forget what was recorded. This is true for the good and the bad…the positive and the negative. So we can’t erase the negative memories of difficult experiences or labels from others. BUT we can neutralize negative thoughts and make them non-effective. We can deactivate their power and we can clear the energetic residue associated with all the negative labels and images. Let’s deactivate the lingering residue of negative comments, accusations and labels of third parties. We’ll use ‘You Are Affirmation Statements” to do this.
