I created this phrase–see post title–after learning Émile Coué’s healing affirmation, “Every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” I use it as often as I can think of it. Usually when my thoughts are counter productive. Thoughts like “I don’t feel like doing this again” or “I don’t have enough time to do what I want to do”. These thoughts do not make my life better, which makes them useless. In the moment of thoughts like those I begin repeating (in my head, but out load is fine) “I get better every day in all possible ways”. This is a big statement and I believe in its effectiveness.
I believe statements like this, called affirmations, go to work on our subconscious and will change our behaviors. In a 2004 study, researchers showed that intrinsic affirmations reduced self-handicapping and increased performance.
In his book “What to Say When You Talk to Yourself”, Shad Helmstetter describes a domino effect that begins with “programming” which means the thoughts that flow through your head which make up your view of the world. The final domino is behavior. It goes like this: Self-talk changes the programming, which creates the belief, which develops the attitude, which creates the feelings, which control the behavior.
To put it another way, self-improvement begins by changing what you’re thinking about and changing the language that you use to express it. The effects that this brings into your life will be ushered in by the new habits that you put into action.
Changing thoughts is not simple. Self-talk/affirmation/conscious autosuggestion (whatever you want to call it) is a powerful tool to make it easier. You have to practice it repetitively and often. The bad thoughts that you want to eliminate took years, if not decades, to develop in your mind. Repeating a positive statement 20 times and being done with it may feel good for a few minutes, but it’s not enough to change yourself permanently. Continuous practice, however, is a time-tested way to get better.
Here’s a freebie: Émile Coué’s book “Self-Mastery Through Conscious Autosuggestion” is available for free from Google Books. Heads up, the book was written around 1922 and translated from French. But it does have 4 out of 5 stars from 20 reviews on Amazon.
Higher Extent 