Creativity and Affirmations

Understand how to combine affirmations with creativity to achieve more powerful results

Positive thoughts and positive actions create positive outcomes in our lives
As you learnt in my last art-e-Blog one of the key ways that we create in our lives is through our thoughts, beliefs and intentions. I discussed how important it is to add a positive spin to your thoughts and provided you with some tips on creating affirmations to help you to achieve the positive state of mind you want to create

Remember that when we put a positive spin on our thoughts, beliefs and intentions we find that our lives tend to reflect (just like a mirror shining from the inside out) our inner ‘talk’ and on the outside we radiate with greater optimism – that is our brilliant creative goddess (or godly) magic is allowed to shine. We start to feel better about ourselves and our lives and find that it is more natural for us to feel positive and optimistic about more aspects of our every day than we may have been able to previously

We also learnt that affirmations are statements of intent – when we use positive affirmations the intent is therefore also positive

When we combine affirmations with creative expression we allow our affirmations to come to life in a visual way. This then offers us a new opportunity to look at things in a different way

Having a picture / image / painting / collage or so on, that you have created to represent a personal affirmation you wrote can be so much more powerful than just using and focusing on the words that make up the affirmation. Our minds work on the image in a different way to how it works on words and the result is a greater opportunity to actually ‘see’ what it is we are trying to create

There have been many studies that investigate how this happens and to explain why visual stimulation, or the use of imagery, is so much more powerful when used with other forms of expression such as the written word. I am certainly not going to begin to offer my own explanation. What I can tell you is that I see this work every single time I work with a client in this way. When we add visual images, or imagery to words and thoughts, the connection that is made creates a beautiful space for the mind to explore and create which then allows the personal goal or intention to be fulfilled in a much greater and more long lasting and fulfilling way

The key to imagery is your imagination! Imagination, I believe, is also the key to your creativity and creative expression. Imagery and your imagination are aspects of your mind and I am sure that you can remember some experience in your lifetime when you have been aware of the power of your mind and what it can create given the right support and intention? (Unfortunately this also works in reverse and our minds can create not so great things for us also but in this article we are focusing on the positive!)

So how do you combine creative expression with the affirmations you created using the POSSIBLE method I shared with you in the last article? Like creating your affirmations, adding imagery to them is not difficult. Here are 3 ways to extend the benefits you receive from using affirmations by including imagery or creative expression in your process

1. ‘Visualise’ your affirmation as though it has already come true – it is like playing a movie of you living your life and the outcome you want to achieve has already happened

2. ‘Write’ a list of 5 words to describe how you feel when you use your mind to ‘imagine’ the outcome from step 1

3. Create a image to capture what your life looks like (step 1) and feels like (step 2)

The important thing really is to focus on creating this image and it really doesn’t matter how you create it. You could draw or paint a picture of your outcome, get a load of old magazines, photographs or other pictures and make a collage or take a photograph of a scene that captures your achieved outcome as you would see it. If you can, write your affirmation onto your image or art work and then as well as saying your affirmation out loud everyday you also have the picture of what it looks like when you achieve it to reflect on and emerge yourself in. I am certain with a little practice and some gentle, loving effort on your part you will find your thoughts and beliefs do begin to change you your affirmation has come true!

Creating Possible Affirmations Using My 7 Step Method!

One of the key ways that we create in our lives is through our thoughts, beliefs and intentions. When these thoughts have a negative or not so good slant to them it is difficult to believe in our worth and our value. We don’t believe in ourselves when we think with these influences

When we put a positive spin on our thoughts, beliefs and intentions we find that our lives tend to reflect our inner ‘talk’ and on the outside we radiate with greater optimism – that is our brilliant creative goddess (or godly) magic is allowed to shine. We attract other positive people into our lives and in turn we feel better about ourselves. Positive thoughts and positive actions create positive outcomes in our lives

Make sure your intentions are clear and focused on only positive outcomes. This is also called being optimistic! A great way to practice this step is to use positive affirmations

Writing affirmations is not difficult. There are a few simple steps to follow to help ensure you get the most out of your affirmation experience and to maximize the benefit you can receive from using your affirmations once you have created them. There are many many books and articles out there that will provide you with examples of affirmations and that can be very helpful if you are not sure where to start. I personally believe that the greatest benefit comes when you actually write your own affirmation

So what is an affirmation? Basically it is a statement of intent – it is a statement to affirm something and affirm means to confirm, state, allow or establish. In this case the something is a new or different thought or belief about a particular aspect of your life or way of being that is relevant to you. When you add a positive spin to the affirmation you create then the intent of that affirmation is also positive

A key to the affirmation actually being an affirmative statement is start with words that reflect you having achieved your intended outcome like;

- “I have….”
- “I am….”
- “I create….”

rather than

- “I would like….”
- “I want to….”
- “If only I could…”

Can you see the difference in starting off your affirmations this way? The statements are more direct, action and outcome focused

When you use affirmations to reflect your positive intentions you allow yourself the chance to start to believe that what you want to achieve has already come true and with time and dedication to actively speaking and working with your affirmations daily (if possible!) you will find that your life starts to reflect the statements you created! I describe this as being like a mirror. Your actual outcome starts to reflect your intended outcome!

I don’t want to make this sound simple but it certainly doesn’t have to be as hard as we make it for ourselves. Using affirmations is an easy way to get the inside and outside starting to reflect that brilliant creative goddess (or godly) magic of yours!

So to clarify here are seven key steps that I use to help you to create what I call POSSIBLE affirmation/s. The word possible means “that may or can be, exist, happen, be done, be used”! so if you use the POSSIBLE formula you can create opportunities and outcomes – the same things as I see as the corner stone of what I create with ‘Creative Possibility’!;

1. Positive – Start your affirmation with a positive outcome focused “I am / have / create” statement that always starts with yourself – the ‘I’ in your affirmation is critical!

2. Outcome oriented – Ensure the remainder of your affirmation clearly states and is focused on the outcome you want to achieve

3. Short and Sweet – Consider the length of your affirmation – this is not always the case but shorter, to the point, affirmations, in my experience are more powerful and certainly easier to remember. And by making it positive it’s naturally sweet! (just think of a lovely yummy cupcake or whatever sweet treat that works for you and I bet it makes you smile… so should your affirmation!)

4. Imaginative – Use your imagination to create an image for yourself about how it will feel and how you might be existing when your affirmation has ‘come true’

5. Believable – While one of the intentions behind using affirmations is to change a belief you may have about something or someone, or maybe even yourself

6. Loving – Don’t ever use the word ‘but’ in your affirmation – using the term ‘but’ adds a condition to your affirmation and the affirmation should be unconditional – it should reflect a loving attitude for yourself. When writing loving statement the positivity is negated when you add a condition to your statement. For example consider the following statement – “I would like to wake up every day and feel happy but this is challenging for me” – not only is the statement a loving and supportive suggestion at what someone may like to achieve (the feeling of happiness), it has a condition attached by adding a ‘but’ statement. All the words from ‘but’ onwards detract from the feeling of happiness that’s identified as the ultimate outcome. If you change the statement to read “I wake up every day filled with happiness!” there are no conditions and your affirmation fulfils the first three steps easily and as a bonus it is a loving thing to say to yourself! Can you see the difference between the statements? If you can’t then try reading them out loud to yourself and see how different each one makes you feel. I bet the second one felt much more powerful and achievable didn’t it?

7. Exciting – Make sure that your affirmation actually has meaning for you. If it doesn’t it will be more difficult to work with and gain benefit when you use your affirmation. When something has meaning for you it generally generates a sense of excitement and enthusiasm when you think about how you will feel when you achieve your outcome

Here are a few examples to get my point across about writing your affirmations as if you have already achieved your intended outcome. Each one was written using the POSSIBLE formula I just outlined above!

Rather than saying to yourself;

* “I want to feel better about myself” a positive affirmation would be “I feel better about myself every moment of the day!” or
* “If only I could have a positive life” becomes “I live a positive life everyday!” or
* “I would like to create a life where I fulfill my dreams” becomes “I have the fulfilled life of my dreams!”

So have a go and create your own affirmations and stay tuned for the next art-e-Blog where I will share with you information on how to make your affirmations more powerful by combining them with creative expression