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Why do results diminish as I use an affirmation?

Why do results diminish as I use an affirmation?

Question: When I first begin using an affirmation, the results are great, but why do they  diminish as I continue using it?

Answer: There are several things that could be happening, and you’ll have to consider which one might be happening for you. It could be that as you first use the affirmation, you’re very conscious of it, you are dedicated in its use, you say it with feeling. Then, as you get results, and get used to the affirmation, you begin to say it by rote, without emotion, almost automatically. The solution is to stay aware when you say it, and say it with feeling, again.

Or you could simply be getting so used to the affirmation that it loses its punch, or you could be getting bored with it. In that case, change to another one that with the same idea for awhile. Switching back and forth between affirmations on the same topic is sometimes a good idea to keep them fresh.

Or there could be an inner resistance or conflict to the changes that are occurring. In this case, you’d need to create an affirmation that would address the outdated ideas. I have one on my affirmations page to deal with blocks – “Whatever has been blocking what I desire is an outdated thought form which now dissolves in the Light of Spirit.”

Or as things taper off for awhile, as the changes you’ve experienced begin to become more solid, you begin to “feel”  frustrated, lose faith in the affirmation, or feel desperate. The subconscious will respond to your feeling before it responds to your words, because feeling and imagery is the language of the subconscious. In the same vein, you could be holding an image/mental picture of the opposite of the affirmation.

These are some of the most common reasons an affirmation begins to flame out. It’s not the affirmation, it’s the attitude or belief of the person saying it. With everything, you have to be patient and persistent.

If it takes longer, you can have an attitude that the longer it takes, the better the results are going to be. The affirmation is working in the background, making changes that you may not be aware of yet.

Copyright 2005, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

As a speaker, personal and professional development coach and hypnotherapist, Linda-Ann Stewart empowers business and professional women who are stuck, immobilized or overwhelmed get focused, prioritize and break through so they generate more business and create consistent income. If you’d like some help to reach your goals, email her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com with “Complimentary Consultation” in the subject line.

What Habits Are You Cultivating?

What Habits Are You Cultivating?

Like everyone, you have habits that make your life run smoother. You don’t have to think about whether you put your right or left shoe on first. Brushing your teeth is part of your morning and evening ritual. When you drive to work, you follow the same route you’ve followed for years. Habits free your mind to attend to more important details, like planning your day, deciding on dinner and formulating that email to an important client.

But not all habits are helpful. These are ones that don’t give you the results you want. They may be physical habits, such as eating too much at a meal which causes you to gain weight. Or they might be mental habits of self-doubt that undermine your success. Some are outdated, formulated to help you when you were younger but no longer serve a purpose. Procrastination, perfectionism and seeking approval fall in this category.

Habits develop by what you pay attention to and repeatedly act on. You make small decisions each day, that compound over time. They create pathways in the brain, and you eventually operate on them automatically.

You can choose what your habits are, by consciously deciding on specific actions and following through on them. Or you can drift, and choose the easiest course. Taking the path of least resistance may be the simplest in the short run, but it will probably detour you from your desired goal. And this, too, may become a habit.

Just as you exercise your body to make it stronger, you have to repeatedly choose constructive actions and thoughts you want to make into habits if you want a better life.

Athletes train their reflexes and to build muscle-memory. This allows them to respond more quickly to specific situations, such as a starter pistol or ball coming at them. They perform in the way they’ve trained to achieve maximum results. They’ve drilled the reaction into their bodies. In a competition, they don’t have to think about how they’re going to respond, they just do it. Each movement was considered and implemented ahead of time to result in a specific outcome.

Are your habits positive or negative, beneficial or self-sabotaging? What routines have you created for yourself? Do they further your success or have they undermined it? What behaviors have you cultivated in your life? If you want to make a change in your life, practice different thoughts and actions. The Law of Attraction will then begin drawing better conditions to you.

Here are some tips to help you create new habits.

Decide on your outcome. Do you want to have a healthier lifestyle, more friends or greater success? What do you have to do to achieve that? Develop a series of steps that will take you in the direction of your goal.

What do you have to let go of? Whenever you invite a new idea into your life, you have to let go of something else. If you want to exercise more and be healthier, you have to leave the comfort of the sofa. To reduce weight, you have to reduce portions and avoid fast food. For greater prosperity, you have to release the belief in lack.

Compare each choice to your goal. Ask yourself, “Does this bring me closer to it or push me farther away?” It may be tempting to ease off if you’re overwhelmed, but you will ultimately pay the cost of a delayed or sabotaged achievement. Persist each day, one decision at a time. Those decisions build up to create the habits you want.

Be careful about what you say to yourself. The statements you make to yourself will either support and encourage you, or undermine your progress. Pay attention to what you’re saying to yourself about your intention, and make it positive. Habits are created by what we focus on, because action follows attention.

Ultimately, to create a new habit, you have to break the old one. Then you have to substitute the new decision in its place. When you’re consistent and persistent in your actions, you’ll develop your new habit within a short time.

It may not be easy, because your subconscious doesn’t like change. But your determination and resolve will persuade your inner mind to support you on your quest. Stay the course and soon you’ll have cultivated a habit that produces the results you’re seeking.

Affirmation
I create habits by what I pay attention to and act on. My decisions now align with the success that I deserve and create the habits that bring the outcomes I desire. I easily make the necessary shifts, knowing that the Universe is on my side. My thoughts, words and deeds now reflect the path I choose to take in creating the life I want.

As a speaker, personal and professional development coach and hypnotherapist, Linda-Ann Stewart empowers business and professional women who are stuck, immobilized or overwhelmed get focused, prioritize and break through so they generate more business and create consistent income. If you’d like some help in reaching your goals, email her at LAS@Linda-AnnStewart.com with “Complimentary Consultation” in the subject line.

Make Self-Talk Your New Best Friend

Make Self-Talk Your New Best Friend

Everyone carries on conversations with themselves. Unfortunately, most of these conversations are carried on just below conscious awareness. You don’t even realize what you’re telling yourself. Learn a secret to using self-talk to coach yourself for encouragement or through a stressful situation.



~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Linda-Ann Stewart helps business and professional women who are stuck, immobilized and overwhelmed to focus, prioritize and break through so they generate more business and create a consistent income.

How do I stay focused on my goal?

How do I stay focused on my goal?

Question: How do I keep my conscious mind from trying to control how a goal comes to pass, while staying focused on that goal?

Answer: Your question is one many people have. We’re taught to try to control the result. The answer takes a lot of discipline and trust. To keep the desired result in your mind, write it down on a card and read it several times a day. This helps to keep your subconscious focused on what it is you want. Then trust that your subconscious knows how to bring that goal into reality, and remind yourself that it’s working on it.

Take any action toward the goal that you know to take. Follow through on any ideas you may have for it. The more actions you take, the more you’re convincing your subconscious that you really want that goal. Keep affirming that “My creative/subconscious mind knows how to bring this to me, and is doing so now” whenever you think of the goal. That gives the subconscious the power and direction of what to do.

It is the subconscious’ role to figure out how things get done, not the conscious mind’s. The conscious mind’s role is to keep the mind focused on the goal, and follow through on any opportunities. It sounds simple, but it’s not easy for most people to do this.

Copyright 2005, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

New iPhone App for Depression

New iPhone App for Depression

Jessica Tanner, a nursing student, contacted me about an app she created for iPhone that will be released on April 15, 2014. It caught my attention, because I’ve had friends and clients with this debilitating disorder. Jessica has been an intern at a psychiatric hospital for patients with depression and bipolar disorder, and has learned a thing or two about this problem.

The iPhone App, called “REACH OUT – Fight Depression and Anxiety”, helps people with depression and anxiety disorders. It gives them some tools, such as cognitive therapy, meditation and anxiety reducing strategies, and allows them to always have these tools close by, whenever they need them.

These are tools and processes I heartily endorse and know they have a significant impact on this problem. I’ve used them in my hypnotherapy and coaching practice to help my clients. To have such tools in the palm of your hand, so to speak, is incredibly powerful.

The app also has audio: recorded guided meditation in mindfulness, breathing meditation, grounding meditation and chakra meditation, which has proven to be an excellent stress reduction technique. These are techniques I’ve used in my practice, as well, with great success.

Plus the helps them to focus and not let their many thoughts control them. For people that suffer from
anxiety attacks, there will be some strategies, a 6-step process, on how to reduce it no matter where they are.

The app will cost be be for sale at the Apple App Store for $.99 on April 15th. You can read more about it at Reach Out App. There’s also a 7 minute motivational video on the home page for those suffering from this issue. And on her About Me page, there’s a link to an MP3 recording for depression.

I do not reap any benefits from posting this, except to share a potentially valuable resource for those with depression and anxiety. Nor can I endorse it or guarantee it. However, if you experience these disorders, I think it would be well worth your time to investigate this inexpensive app for yourself.

~ Linda-Ann Stewart

Am I lying to subconscious with declarative affirmation?

Am I lying to subconscious with declarative affirmation?

Question: Shouldn’t a person say “I’m becoming/getting/…” at the beginning of an affirmation, rather than “I am/have…,” because the latter is actually lying to the subconscious?

Answer: An affirmation gives the subconscious instructions on where you want it to go. Like driving a car. When you have your attention down the road, you automatically steer the car in that direction. If you look over to the side and keep your attention there, you automatically begin to steer in the direction of your vision.

An affirmation doesn’t lie to the subconscious, it tells it the results that you expect from it. There’s a classic auto-suggestion that states, “Every day, in every way, I’m getting better and better.” An affirmation can be stated in the present, “I am/have (your goal)” or “I am getting/becoming (your goal),” which tells the subconscious which direction to go.

Copyright 2005, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

“I want…” or “I have…” affirmation?

“I want…” or “I have…” affirmation?

Question: Is it better to write an affirmation or statement of desire as “I want…” or “I have…?”

Answer: Write the statement as if it is happening now (present tense) or has already happened (past tense) (whichever you can accept as an affirmation). The subconscious is very literal, so if you state “I want…” the subconscious will think you want to continue to want it. It will always remain in the future, like a carrot in front of a donkey to keep it moving forward.

If you state, “I have found the perfect car for me,” or “I am being guided to the perfect car for me,” (and believe it) then the subconscious must manifest that. This is one of the most important lessons to learn about writing affirmations.

Copyright 2005, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

Guided Visualization or Affirmations?

Guided Visualization or Affirmations?

Question: What’s the main advantage of self hypnosis and guided visualization over affirmations?

Answer: Affirmations and suggestions are essentially the same thing. They’re both statements designed to change old mental patterns in your subconscious mind. The advantage of self-hypnosis is that you’re in a state that is more receptive to the positive statements you’re affirming.

When you add visualization to self-hypnosis and affirmations, it helps to give the subconscious more information on what you want and helps to make it real for you. The subconscious cannot tell the difference between a strong image and reality.

But the real power behind any re-programming is feeling. If you can FEEL it to be true, the subconscious mind accepts that and creates it. That also is the main reason for visualization. It’s a mental rehearsal that gives the subconscious a pattern to follow in those situations.

Copyright 2004, 2014 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

How do I achieve self-image, prosperity and success?

How do I achieve self-image, prosperity and success?

Question: I want a better self-image, prosperity, and success, but what do I work on first to achieve these?

Answer: First, a good self-image is the basis of the other two. If you don’t feel like you deserve good, you won’t manifest more prosperity or success. So the first thing I’d focus on is the self-image. I usually tell people to focus on one issue at a time, but since these three items tend to run hand in hand, I think you can work on all three of them at one time.

Write down what makes you feel bad about yourself. Do you feel like you don’t deserve, aren’t enough, aren’t worthwhile? Turn it around and create a positive statement that affirms your worthiness. Work on self-acceptance. And to begin with, I’d state that you deserve prosperity and success in the amount that you want. That would be the first step.

When you start to feel comfortable that you do deserve prosperity and success, then I’d expand the suggestion. State how much prosperity and success that you want. And remember, you don’t have to know how it will happen. That’s what your subconscious mind is for, to work out the details. That’s not to say that you don’t have to take some action, or move in that direction. But you don’t have to worry about the how.

Copyright 2004, 2013 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved

How long does it take to release outdated beliefs?

How long does it take to release outdated beliefs?

Question: How long does it take for the subconscious mind to release outdated beliefs?

Answer: I could be facetious and honest if I said “It takes as long as it takes.” But that wouldn’t be very helpful. Actually, there are a lot of factors that go into how long it takes. How badly do you want to make the change? Do you keep your mind focused on the change, knowing that it’s possible? Do you flood your mind with affirmations and statements of the change? Do you take actions that ground the change?

For example, if it would be for smoking, do you cut down, change the places you smoke, etc? For self-esteem, do you treat yourself well, do things that build your feelings of self-worth?

The subconscious will only release its old patterns when it realizes that you don’t need or want them anymore. Your conscious mind must convince your subconscious through the conscious mind’s focus and commitment. And the length of time it takes is in direct proportion to the amount of energy you use for the change. It could be overnight, or it could take years of small changes in that direction.

However, in general, any idea, thought, or belief that your conscious mind stays completely focused on for a month becomes a part of you by becoming part of your subconscious belief patterns.

Copyright 2004, 2013 Linda Ann Stewart
All Rights Reserved