One of the secrets to creating powerful affirmations is to specify the result that we want and leave open the specifics of how the affirmation will manifest.
Suppose you want a new job. You look in the paper and find a job that you think is exactly right. You make an affirmation, “I get the job.” You phone for an appointment, send in a resume, interview for the job, and then discover that someone else got the position. How disappointing! Why didn’t the affirmation work? The affirmation narrowly specified the way to get the result, not the result itself, so the affirmation didn’t have scope to manifest.
It is also possible to make an affirmation that is too general. The affirmation “I own my own house” vastly expands the scope of possible houses to own. However, it is so general that the house we end up with may not fit all of our needs.
The secret is to narrow down the characteristics of the result we want without specifying exactly how the result is to happen. “I own my own house with shade in a quiet neighborhood with a mortgage I can afford” creates the shape of our dream house without limiting the way the house will manifest for us.
For example, to find a new job, we can list the qualities we are looking for in a new position.
- A short commute
- On a bus line
- A chance for promotion
- More money than I’m making now
- Enough money to pay my expenses
- A manager who appreciates me
- Flexible hours
Once we have the frame, we can work to focus the affirmation on the result that we want. Often we fix on one specific thing that we think will improve our lives. If only I weighed ten pounds less, I would be more attractive. If only I had finished college, I could find a better job. If only I won the lottery, I could do anything I want.
Losing ten pounds and finishing college are worthwhile goals we can manifest. But is that really what we want? If our goal is to be more attractive, instead of making an affirmation to lose weight, we can create the affirmation to generate the actual results we are working to manifest. “I am attractive. People around me tell me how nice I look.” Then we can think about many ways to improve our appearance: dyeing our hair, buying new clothes, even standing up straighter and walking more confidently.
Lack of focus is why affirmations like “I win the lottery” almost never work. It is actually a method masquerading as a result. We probably don’t want to win the lottery with all our hearts. We want what winning the lottery will get us. It is a means to achieve our goals. We can refocus this affirmation by thinking about the things we would do if we won the lottery, and making affirmations to achieve those results.
Affirmation
I create affirmations to achieve the results I want.
Practice: Creating focused affirmations
Is there an area of your life you would like to make better? Do you want a house, a job, a car, a new friendship? Create an affirmation to manifest that result. To create the affirmation, list the characteristics you want that result to have. For example, if you want a car, here are some questions you might consider:
Can you afford a car payment? How much? If not, do you need to own the car outright?
What do you want the car to do? Are you commuting to work, or driving the kids to their activities, or just taking the occasional trip out of town?
Is it more important for you to drive a safe car, or a fast car, or a roomy one?
Answering these questions helps you craft the affirmation. Different answers to the same question result in different affirmations. Here are some examples:
- I have a fast sporty car, with payments I can afford, that gets great gas mileage for my commute.
- I own a roomy car to drive to the beach.
- My car has the highest safety record to keep my kids safe as I drive them around town.