If you have spent any length of time studying Personal Development these days, you must have heard that what you think about is what you will bring about in your reality. If you focus consistently on what you want you will start to really Believe it. When you really Believe it, you will begin to take the appropriate action that will move you closer and closer to what you desire. We often hear that Seeing is Believing, but it's the reverse that is really true. It's called the Law of Attraction and was talked about in the movie 'The Secret.'



Our magnificent brains process and store every single bit of information that we have ever learned or experienced. When it comes to learning new things, the way our brain learns new things is by REPETITION. Think about it. How does an actress master the dialog in a play - repetition. How does an athlete become the best at what they do - repetition. Everything we've learned, from times tables to walking and talking has been learned by repetition. So it would seem reasonable that if you want to teach your brain to believe differently, the way to do it would be by repeating what you now want to believe about yourself and your life.

That makes perfect sense, doesn't it? If you keep repeating something over and over to your self, your subconscious mind should start to agree with you, right? So we start to use Affirmations. Affirmations are simply statements you make about what you really WANT to believe. Almost every personal development expert on the planet has recommended affirmations and THE best tool to 'Fake it til you Make it,' and keep up the positive attitude, because the repetition of the affirmation is teaching your brain how to think.

Well, that still makes sense too, doesn't it. So if we keep on repeating our affirmations diligently, we'll all be fabulously wealthy, right? Should be simple, shouldn't it? Then why aren't we all abundantly wealthy then? Because WE STOP DOING THEM! At least most people stop before they have an chance to take effect. There are two main reasons why this happens:

1. Deep down we don't really believe what we are affirming to ourselves so unless there is instant change, we lose the momentum, and

2. We don't know how to turn things around when something puts us in a bad mood or makes us unhappy, we let the negativity spiral downward and we have nothing to grab onto to stop the spiral, so we quit and tell ourselves that 'this was stupid anyway.'

The main reason we don't keep doing daily affirmations, even though we know repetition is the best way to learn is that the affirmations are aimed at changing deep rooted beliefs. It's not the same as changing your nail polish. Most of our beliefs about ourselves were deeply implanted before we were 7 years old. So if you have a deep belief that money is the root of all evil for instance, you can affirm that you are a millionaire all day long and all you will echo back is " Who are you kidding?" it won't take long before the average person gets bored, too busy or out and out frustrated long before the affirmations can start to work.

Now if you did do them every single day without fail, you would eventually see a change, but since you belief systems won't allow you to change instantly, most people give up in frustration way too soon. It's not your fault though, at least not in a conscious way anyway.

You see, your subconscious mind or your ego can be your worst enemy. It likes you just the way you are - warts and all. It doesn't see any need to change, it hates change and when you are trying to change by stating things like - "I am wealthy, healthy and happy" - the subconscious 'Belief Detective' I call it, immediately responds with - "No, we're not. We're broke and depressed and I feel like we're coming down with something". Whether you know it or not, your subconscious mind has been driving the bus all along. It knows how to operate you and doesn't want your interference, thank you very much! If you try to force change, it will give you a million reasons why affirmations are boring or too time consuming or just plain stupid. If you can't get past that 'Belief Detective', or at least realize what is going on, your subconscious mind will win and keep you broke, sick and depressed. Ironically, this is how it thinks it is protecting you. Gee, Thanks!!

So...what you need to do, right now while you are reading this, is to start to think of a way of bypassing the belief filters that stop your affirmations in their tracks. How do you do that? Why not try putting your affirmations in a song. Song lyrics are non threatening to the subconscious mind because you suspend your disbelief while you are singing, much like you might do when you see a movie (Ever seen Shrek?). Besides, once you get a song stuck in your head, you usually sing it over and over and over and not get bored with it, feeding your subconscious on autopilot,. Give it some thought right now and stay tuned for Part 2 where we'll discuss more about how to instantly change your negative attitude.