What are the useful formats of Affirmations? I work with three different formats: positive statement, no-longer statement, and affirmation groups.
Before getting into the useful formats, let’s clarify one frequent demand about “perfect” affirmations.
There are no perfect affirmations. The demand for perfection is critical judgment and is usually an effort to set yourself up for failure.
The most useful affirmation is the one which resonates with you and your intention for your life. This means what’s useful for you will shift as intention shifts and as the context of your focus shifts.
Sometimes what’s useful is several affirmations used together.
Sometimes one powerful affirmation is more than enough.
Plus, when you are diligent in your practice, an affirmation can no longer be useful in less than thirty days.
Follow how an affirmation feels. Check in to see if the affirmation enhances alignment or distracts from your sense of self.
Stay away from demand. Follow what feels truthful and in balance with who you are and who you want to become.
When we get to creating affirmations, I’ll show you how to use your words, feelings, and awareness to create affirmations which resonate deeply and support growth and transformation.
I think of affirmations as having three primary formats.
Positive Statement
This format is the standard form and is the type most think of as an affirmation. The affirmation states the positive direction intended usually as an I-statement. For example:
I firmly believe in myself.
I trust myself to hear my truth.
This positive format can also be extremely brief with just two words:
I trust.
I believe.
Even just one word works:
BELIEVE.
Sometimes positive affirmations begin with a context or a starting point.
Even when I feel fear, I trust my choices.
To step past fear, I believe in myself first.
Then there’s the positive statement without an I-statement included. This affirmation often reads as a statement of truth or the ignition for new belief.
Truth is in my heart.
Words of personal power ignite my self-belief.
No-longer Statement
This next type of affirmation, acknowledging what is no longer, is used as a fulcrum for lifting away a strong belief or experience which no longer is useful or applicable to your life and your process.
I use these affirmations of as a path towards the stronger I-statement of new intention.
I no longer believe I’m not trustworthy.
I no longer don’t trust myself.
As your use of affirmations becomes more nuanced, you can work with a couple of affirmations at a time. For example, the first can address what you are looking to release. The second can focus on the new direction.
I no longer don’t trust myself.
I trust myself to hear my truth.
The first affirmation holds the old belief and the no-longer bit signals what is being released. This can make it easier to feel truth in a brand new direction. Using the two together creates a clear sense of direction and supports release.
Part of the reason old beliefs are held onto beyond any sense of benefit is due to worry and fear. Also, release can be slow because sometimes it’s hard to feel that when one door closes, another opens. Affirmations light the path forward and fill the newly open space with clarity and direction. This brings reassurance and a sense that the empty is filled with benefit and positivity.
Affirmation Groups
This third form is simply more than one affirmation used together. As I’ve already described, creating a group of affirmations forms a ladder for awareness to climb away from whatever is no longer useful or beneficial toward choice and new truth.
The group can be a set of one format or a combination of formats. For example, using several affirmations already mentioned, here is a combination of three: a truth statement, a no-longer, and an I-statement:
Words of personal power ignite my self-belief.
I no longer believe I’m not worthy.
I firmly believe in myself.
When a combination works for you, the first affirmation may bring up a bit of resistance. However, the second acknowledges what has been and, through personal choice, is no longer. The third settles into the new direction.
This is especially helpful when the third affirmation seems too challenging in the beginning. The ladder of affirmations creates the path to ease into claiming your truth.
This is a short piece I have written for a new book on Affirmations. Read more in this column: A View from the Boundlessness.
