by Che Garman
There is much merit in affirming your goals first thing in the morning and last thing at night. This is when the subconscious mind is generally most receptive to reprogramming, so it is an ideal time to do our main affirming sessions. However, there is an even better time to affirm - one that most people overlook!
If you really want to convince your subconscious mind that you are serious about your goals, the absolute best time to affirm is when you are actually doing (or being) what you are affirming.
Imagine affirming "I do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise every day," WHILE you are actually doing it. Your subconscious mind is unlikely to argue with you. It's not going to counter your words with negative self-talk. And it certainly has no need to start providing you with a long list of plausible excuses as to why you shouldn't, can't or won't exercise today.
The fact is, if you affirm while you are actually doing, your subconscious mind is likely to take anything you tell it more seriously.
Imagine the following scenario. You are laying in bed first thing in the morning, and start affirming the positive beliefs, attitudes, and actions you want to include in the coming day. But then you get up, and the day unfolds pretty much as always - on automatic. So what happened?
The major roadblock to all change is our subconscious mind. It likes to do things as it has always done. It makes life easier. So if you try to change the routine, your mind usually comes up with a plethora of reasons, excuses, and escape mechanisms in an effort to keep things familiar and easy.
But, if you immediately jump into a new, desirable behavior or activity without thinking about it, the subconscious mind is cut out of the picture. And if you start consciously affirming all the positive reasons why you are doing it, you circumvent the whole excuses scene. You put your conscious mind in control. And because you are following through, your affirmations become truth, giving the subconscious mind no choice but to listen.
I have to exercise in the morning before
my brain figures out what I'm doing.
Marsha Doble
You can apply this method to almost any affirmation goal. Just remember that it only works when you are actually doing one of the actions or habits that you are affirming.
If your goal is to write a blog post every day, then the absolute best time to affirm is when you are working on a blog post. If you are affirming to be more patient, then the best time to affirm is when you are exercising patience. If you want to lose weight, affirm while you are eating a healthy, low-calorie meal.
Obviously it can be difficult to affirm while you are physically doing something, especially if your affirmations are written down and you need to read them. But if you record your affirmations (and I highly recommend that you do) you can feed them to your subconscious mind while you continue with the positive actions you are affirming.
By all means, affirm morning and night, and any time in between. The more often, the better. But if you really want to give your affirmations clout, affirm while doing!
