I’m seriously over 2020, but it begs the question, ‘How the heck do we prepare for 2021?’ Should I even make plans? Invest in more pj’s? Schedule more Zoom calls? Cancel Easter?

Sure, I’d like to think the world suddenly goes back to normal at the strike of midnight, but as 2021 makes its debut, I feel like we’re still trudging unknown, unprecedented, and underwhelming circumstances.

“Normal” isn’t right around the corner, but if 2020 has proved one thing, it’s that we can still accomplish goals even in the most dire of times.

This year, I saw clients build businesses, be incredibly innovative and adaptive, overcome old habits, try new things. It was very inspiring.

In my own life, I realized that I had a tendency to prioritize distractions 🙂

Pre-2020 there was always something to do, somewhere to be. Then time suddenly came to a screeching halt when Covid arrived. Nevertheless, I was distracted and preoccupied by the news. Everything going on in the world consumed me.

I finally stopped reacting to the world and its problems (I can’t control) and began focusing on things close to home…literally.

How could I improve my relationship?

How could I support my kids?

How could I improve my business online?

How could I grow personally from the lessons in 2020?

And that’s what I like about affirmations. They can really keep you on track, focusing on the things that matter most to you. A mind left to run wild can wreak havoc on our wellbeing.

So some of you may be ready to pick up the pieces and begin again even if it’s not exactly the fresh start we hoped for.

Affirmations can help you prioritize, maintain your focus, and be an incredibly powerful subconscious tool- easy to add into your life.

They’re basically a self-improvement shortcut to reprogram your negative thoughts and behavior and program positive thoughts and behavior toward your goals and desires!

They also don’t need to be as cheesy or robotic as you may have come to think of them.

But I have learned a thing or two about how to use them to boost their effectiveness.

3 Ways to Increase Effectiveness of Your Affirmations: 

1. Choose feelings: If your affirmation doesn’t invoke a jolt of enthusiasm or desired way of feeling when you first read it, see it, or create it, then it’s not right for you. You should feel something or even have a sudden glimpse of picturing yourself in that desired way. It doesn’t have to woo you every time, but there needs to be an initial attraction and excitement. There’s plenty of wonderful affirmations online (feel free to use the list of affirmations I created). Use ones that really resonate with you or even better, create some of your own so they’re extra meaningful and personal. Take the time to be clear about what you want and why.
2. Altered state: The goal of hypnosis and meditation is to induce an altered state where you can access the subconscious and Theta waves are dominant. Psychological wellbeing is associated with Theta wave activity in the brain. This is similar to “focused attention”, being in the zone or the flow and “relaxed attention” such as daydreaming and meditation. While in meditation, have your affirmations handy, or memorized. Recite them in your head. Zone in and out on them. Explore them. Feel them. Sit with them. In addition, use the natural times we all go into hypnosis (the hypnogogic state) right before sleep and right after we wake up to practice your affirmations. They will naturally sink into your subconscious during these times. Using them at the right time also means those times when you need motivation.
3. Repetition is learning: I’ve been known to record my affirmations on my smart phone and play it on my headphones before bed and whenever I have to wait a few minutes. When it comes to the subconscious, repetition is important! If you think about programming and programs, they run repeatedly. You must be consistent and repetitive with affirmations.

Affirm + Learn!

• If you’re a visual learner, make a vision board to affirm your goals and desires or visualize them in a meditative state.
• If you’re auditory, record them on your phone and play back consistently.
• If you’re kinesthetic, write them down.

Use the same rules of positive suggestions Hypnotherapists use:

1. Present tense: Affirmations should be worded as if they’re happening currently or have already happened (past tense).
2. Positive: This one is obvious, but we are more likely to accept positive statements into our subconscious than negative ones. Also, don’t be critical or judgmental of yourself when doing affirmations.
3. Imaginative: I think it was Einstein who said imagination replaces reason. A picture is worth a thousand words to the subconscious mind. Add details and words that conjure up a mental picture.
4.  Symbolize: The subconscious mind also works in symbolism- think about dreams! Use symbols that make you think of what wealth represents or good health or any other symbols that represent what you want. I use metaphors in my hypnosis practice because metaphor is how we learn and remember. As children, we grew up on stories that strategically use metaphors.
5. Personalize: I have a service for people: Personalized guided meditations and hypnosis. The personalized factor is important. You must be able to identify with the affirmations on a personal level. They’re reaching your subconscious and nobody knows you better than your subconscious.

The benefits of affirmations go even further than feel-good statements to transform your life. Many people use them in combination with their Law of Attraction practices.

Scientific benefits include boosting your problem solving skills, increasing motivation and action, becoming more aware and in control of your thinking, increase gratitude, and improve health.

But they’re just untrue statements! 

… So is the negative voice in your head that drives much or your thoughts and behavior. Most negative self-talk is over-exaggerated and untrue yet we know firsthand the kind of power it has over us.

We can literally become a victim of our own mind.

Why not create positive power with affirmations?!

This is all part of the evolution of self and taking back your power!

It’s kind of like choosing what you watch, what you read, who you listen to, how much news you expose yourself to, etc. You have the power to choose what influences you!

Affirmations give you the power to choose your thoughts that will inevitably become your behavior, your programming and your outcomes.

Bonus inspiration: a BIG list of affirmations organized by category:

The Ultimate List of Positive Affirmations 

Most things in life are an inside job. 

If you think about it, success is an inner game. How you relate in your relationships begins with your relationship with yourself.

It’s crucial to get the inside right; to recognize and cultivate your inner resources- this determines your outer life.

2020 showed us some pretty upsetting external circumstances, but how it affected us really boiled down to how we personally responded to it all.

That’s why I love writing on self-improvement topics for you all; how to awaken and become aware and use your mind in ways that create your best life. I appreciate my lovely readers! See you in 2021!

Peace and Be well,

Laura