A critical aspect of successfully using affirmations involves uncovering those unconscious beliefs that are blocking expression of the desired state. It turns out that your conscious mind is only the tip of your mental iceberg. The beliefs that create your inner and outer reality are located below the threshold of conscious awareness — known as the subconscious mind. It is here where your childhood memories, experiences and reality-creating beliefs are stored. The power of these subconscious attitudes is illustrated in the following example.

Suppose you want to work with Muhammed Ali’s affirmation “I am the greatest,” in order to build your self esteem. An admirable goal. But, perhaps you have come to to believe that you are incompetent. Thus, every time you tell yourself how great you are, your subconscious directly contradicts the statement with what it knows to be true. A typical dialogue is depicted below.

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The pattern is all too clear.

Because your underlying subconscious beliefs portray you as someone who can’t get it together, your affirmations fall on deaf ears.

Here’s another example.

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What makes this process so insidious is that you may not even be aware that your subconscious mind is sabotaging your efforts. You never know why your well-intentioned affirmations continue to fail. Despite your best efforts, you remain stuck in the same self-defeating patterns.

Fortunately, there is a way out –
Make the subconscious conscious.

In other words, bring your most deeply held assumptions about life to the light of day where they can be transmuted into new beliefs.

Using affirmations, the process is deceptively simple. Divide a sheet of paper into two columns. Label the left hand column “Affirmation” and the right hand column “What comes up.”

AFFIRMATION                                                  WHAT COMES UP

Then, after putting yourself in a relaxed and receptive state of mind, write your affirmation in the left hand column. Afterwards, be still and notice what bubbles up from the subconscious mind. This process is similar to free association. In the right-hand column, write down whatever pops up, no matter how irrelevant it may appear.

After repeating this process six or seven times, the right hand column should contain a list of the major negative beliefs and assumptions you hold regarding your affirmation. Here is how it worked for Mary, whose goal was to open a fashion boutique specializing in used clothes.

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After going through this process, Mary now has a clear knowledge of her core beliefs that tell her she “can’t” own and run her own business. However, the process does not end here. If Mary continues using this technique, the negatives will eventually exhaust themselves, to be replaced by positive thoughts and feelings that emanate from her Higher Self. For example:

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Now we’re getting somewhere.

You can see that Mary’s negative beliefs are being replaced by positive attitudes that will draw to her the good she desires.

In a similar manner, I encourage you to use this process to apply your own affirmation successfully. If you find that you need help in clearing negative beliefs that are getting in the way of the affirmation, feel free to contact me.