Brain Pictures

The brain thinks in pictures. It turns whatever it reads, thinks, hears, and so on, into mental pictures. You may have read a book, creating internal mental pictures about what the characters and environment looked like. Later on, seeing a movie based on the book, you may think, “That’s not like what I pictured!” The Reptilian 1^st brain layer and the Mammalian 2^nd brain layer are both subconscious portions of the brain. They are thought unable to use language per se but they can follow the pictures created in the 3^rd brain layer or neocortex. Tell a four-year-old child: “Don’t touch the stove,” and the first brain picture is that of touching the stove. It’s very difficult for a young child to convert that picture (and often not much easier for an adult’s brain) so the child may touch the stove and get burned. Often the child is then punished for disobeying, when there would be a greater chance for success by saying, “Keep your hand away from the stove.”

Wegner Studies

Studies by Daniel M. Wegner PhD have shown the importance of positive self-talk. In his book White Bears and Other Unwanted Thoughts: Suppression, Obsession, and the Psychology of Mental Control, he discusses The White Bear Phenomenon. When you say “Don’t think about the white bear,” a representation of a white bear goes into your working memory and you tend to think about a white bear even more. That statement tells you want not to do but does not tell you what to do. That can be confusing for your own brain as well as that of others and requires the brain to engage in a two-step process: it must somehow change the first picture (a white bear) into something else because the brain thinks in pictures. But into WHAT should the picture be changed? That is the problem for the brain.

Affirming Self-Talk

Affirmations for yourself are a form of personal self-talk and every human being uses it. Appropriate self-talk is one of the most effective, least-utilized tools available to master the mind, foster success, and overcome fear, and achieve your goals.

Your inner self-talk voice takes shape in early childhood and persists lifelong. As with most other brain functions, self-talk may be misused, becoming a source of painful rumination or even psychosis, or it can enhance your success. Thoughts create your mindset and mindset creates your self-talk, A series of groundbreaking studies have found that how people conduct their inner self-talk has an enormous effect on their success in life. More tomorrow.

Awareness and Affirmations

Increase your awareness. Learn to listen in on what you say, silently and aloud. When you recognize a negative style (e.g., don’t, can’t, won’t, hopeless), stop, think, and restate in a positive can-do manner. Bottom line, stop talking about what you do not wish to have happen. Tia Walker said affirmations are our mental vitamins, providing the supplementary positive thoughts we need to balance the barrage of negative events and thoughts we experience daily. And researcher Candace B. Pert PhD, pointed out that each receptor molecule remembers how many times it has been stimulated and whether it was over or under stimulated. This memory affects the flow of information through the brain and the body. That’s why abuse is lethal and affirmation so powerful. 

Brain Susceptibility

Your brain is susceptible to what others say about you and may even record that (along with what you say to and about yourself) in the same place in the brain—so it is important to protect your brain (insofar as it is possible to do so) from negative input. Children are less able to do that. Consequently it is critical to evaluate what you were told about yourself and what you heard others say about yourself—or you may be risk for believing them. What they said was only their brain’s opinion but if you believed them if could derail your success or even influence you not to do something that your brain could be very good at doing. 

Affirmation Formula

There are some general guidelines that could be considered a basic formula for affirmations. First, use short words and phrases so they are easy to recall. Second, state the words and phrases in a positive form. You are creating a 1-step picture of what you want to have happen. (As a point of interest, the famous “Lord’s Prayer” is written in positives: it tells you what to do; not what not to do.) Third, always use present tense to motivate the brain to get on board now as in “this is a done deal.” When you speak in future tense the brain may think “when that future time comes if you still want to do this I’ll help you.” The words ‘I’m going to’ is future tense and may never arrive. And last but not least, be genuine and truthful to yourself and others, avoiding insincerity, flattery, manipulation, or a word picture that can never happen. For example, telling a person who is five feet tall: “You are six feet tall” is unhelpful unless you also help them learn to use stilts. 

Affirmation—An Art and a Science

As with anything else, the effective use of affirmations is both an art and a science that is honed through practice. Yes, it’s a learning curve if you were not showered with helpful self-worth-building comments growing up so failed to learn that skill. As with most everything else worth honing, it requires information that your brain can turn into knowledge and apply on a daily basis. Since each brain is unique, so will be the affirmations it directs toward the self and toward others. An affirmation simply involves a style of speaking. The Free Dictionary defines it as a solemn declaration; an assertion; a positive statement or judgment about the truth of something; a statement intended to provide encouragement, emotional support, or motivation. Jean Marie Stine referred to affirmations as the mind’s programming language.