Affirmations: Why Positive Affirmations Work & How To Use Them

Most of you have heard about the term affirmation. Many of you might also be using it to channel your way towards success. But do you know why affirmations work? Also, are you using them in the correct way to get the best results?

In this article, I am going to dig deep into the technique of affirmation.

What is an affirmation?

Firstly, we must know what an affirmation is practical. An affirmation is a positive statement, uttered repeatedly with a strong belief, to make positive changes in life.

An affirmation could be a declaration of a specific goal in it's completed state or it could be a positive, empowering statement to replace any limiting belief and reprogram your Subconscious mind. [Recommended How to become Successful in Life using the Power of the Subconscious mind ]

Successful people, from entrepreneurs to award-winning actors, champion sportsmen to best-selling authors practice daily affirmations to achieve their goals!

Recommended Famous people who succeeded using Affirmations

Why Positive Affirmations Work?

● Affirmations are one of the best tools to use the Law of attraction in your favour. The more you repeat positive affirmations, the more you start attracting resources, situations and people in your favour.

● Affirmations also help you to develop a positive mindset. It helps to eliminate the negative thoughts and beliefs from our mind and cultivate a winning mindset.

● Affirmation is an excellent technique to reprogram your Subconscious mind. The limiting and disempowering beliefs imprinted in our Subconscious could be easily replaced with positive affirmations repeated on a continuous and consistent manner.

How to use Positive Affirmations? 

■ Firstly, choose your affirmations from the suggestions from renowned Life Coaches and Personal Development books. Or you create your own affirmations.

■ State your affirmation in a language you are comfortable. Ideally, it should be stated in your mother-tongue or in a language you prefer.

■ Form your affirmation in the present tense and start with the words " I am" or it's equivalent in your language.

■ State it in the positive sense. It should be about what you want, not something you don't want.
For example:
I am in good health. (correct)
I am not ill. (incorrect)

■ Keep it brief and specific.

■ While affirming feel your emotions. At first, it would be mechanical and rehearsed, but as you progress, try to add some positive emotions with it, even if it's fake.

Your subconscious mind cannot distinguish the difference between real and fake emotions!

The affirmations get impressed in your mind easily when an emotion or feeling is involved.

■ Repetition is the key. Repeat your affirmations again and again. Speak each affirmation for at last 20 times every single day. If you want faster results, repeat each affirmation at the last 200 times at one go!

■ Practice affirmations several times a day. Take one affirmation, repeat it continuously before moving to a second one.

■ For even better results, visualise while affirming.

■ You can meditate before or after affirming, to achieve your goals sooner.

■ Speak, read, write and listen to  (recorded) affirmations to reprogram your Subconscious quickly and create your dream life.

A few of my favourite affirmations are:

▪ I am happy.
▪ I am blessed.
▪ I am loved.
▪ I am grateful for all that is.
▪ I am in good health.
▪ I am successful.
▪ I am confident.
▪ I am beautiful.
▪ I am prosperous.
▪ I love and approve of myself.
▪ Every day in every way I am getting better and better.
▪ Everything I need is coming to me easily and effortlessly.
▪ Money comes to me easily and effortlessly.
▪ I attract love wherever I go.
▪ I am always in the right place at the right time.
▪ I am surrounded by happy, positive-minded, successful, prosperous, kind and helpful people in my life.

Recommended: 101 Best Affirmations of All Time

~Article written by Ishita Ganguly, M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA

7 Amazing Benefits of Laughter

A good laugh with friends makes us feel relaxed and happy. But did you know that laughter can actually improve your health?
They say "laughter is the best medicine" for good reason!

"Always laugh when you can, it is cheap medicine. " - George Gordon Byron

I am going to share with you 10 amazing benefits of laughter.

1. REDUCES STRESS HORMONE LEVELS - Recent research shows that laughter decreases the level of stress hormones, cortisol and epinephrine.

It also releases the neurotransmitter Dopamine that creates a sense of euphoria and instils motivation.
From scientific studies, it has been proved that watching comedy movies decreases levels of stress hormones!

2. IMPROVES YOUR CARDIAC HEALTH - Laughter can actually improve the health of your heart.

It improves the functioning of blood vessels by increasing the blood flow. This improves your circulation of blood that can actually reduce the risk of heart disease!

3. BOOSTS THE IMMUNE SYSTEM  - A good laugh can boost your immune system with disease resisting powers that will help you to stay healthy!

Stress reduces immunity and laughter reduces stress. Naturally, laughter reduces your chances of falling ill.

4. ACT AS A NATURAL ANTI-DEPRESSANT- As we laugh, certain feel-good chemicals called "endorphins" are released in our body. Endorphins act as a pain reliever and happiness booster.

 As a result, it instantly lifts our mood and creates a sense of happy feeling. Laughter reduces negative emotions and makes you feel better.

5. REDUCES BLOOD PRESSURE - One of the dangerous side-effects of stress is high blood pressure or hypertension.

However, it's not possible to stay stressed when you are laughing! A few scientific studies show that laughter can actually lower blood pressure!

6. IT BURNS YOUR CALORIES -  Now laughter cannot replace workouts for sure! But a good, hearty laugh can burn some of your calories.

As laughter raises our heart rate and calorific expenditure, it has been scientifically studied that 15 minutes of laughter actually burned 10 - 40 calories.

7. INCREASES CONNECTION WITH OTHERS - "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people." - Victor Borge
It's only normal that people would approach you if you are smiling and cheerful.

Our emotions are reflected on our face and this is directly related to how others would perceive us. Emotions can change body language. So if you are always irritated or angry, that will get expressed in your body language and personality! To make more friends or get more dates, it's better than to have a smiling face.

ONE FINAL TIP: After reading this, if you feel that it's not possible for you to be this cheerful all the time. That you have stress and complicacies in life. Let me remind you that we all have some difficulties in life. It's always better to focus on what's good and what's working in life rather than what's bad and what's beyond our control. Shift your mindset to a positive one! If you are still having difficulty just fake it till you make it! Try and see. It's that easy!

~Article written by Ishita Ganguly, M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA

Also, Read How to be Happy | 12 Simple steps to happiness

How to Manifest Everything you Desire using the Law of Attraction | Manifestation Secrets

Using the Law of attraction (LOA) I have manifested amazing experiences! I have manifested several of my desired - career goals, money, jobs, unexpected gifts, special offers, free coupons, free tickets to expensive events, unbelievable opportunities, wonderful friends and a whole range of other things in my life! Often it appeared that those things arrived in my life out of thin air!

It's not that I am an expert in practising LOA. In fact, I am still a learner of this law! But life has become indeed better after understanding and applying the LOA. (To know more about Law of attraction and manifesting the life you desire to read -> Law of attraction simplified )

Reality is we are all "creators" creating our life experiences. It's not when you create the wonderful things in your life, that you become a good manifester. You are excellent in manifesting all way long! I myself have manifested many bitter experiences and attracted the wrong kind of people in my life. Obviously, I didn't do that on purpose but subconsciously I manifested those. (To know about how the Subconscious mind controls your life read - > How to become Successful in Life using the Power of Subconscious mind )

None of us bring negative things and situations to their existence intentionally. Our current situations are the reflection of our past thoughts, beliefs and Subconscious programming. If you want your future life to be exactly as you want and desire, start applying the principles of the Law of attraction from today.

I am sharing some easy manifestation strategies that really work! If you want your manifestation process to work for you and not against you, follow these steps :

♡ Until you change your Subconscious programming, you cannot actually manifest the life you desire. Fact is, we all have been conditioned in our childhood with ideas and beliefs from our parents, teachers,  peers and others.

These are acting as a 'blueprint' for us. We attract everything in our life based on this blueprint! If you want to change your life, change this blueprint or re-program your subconscious mind.
(Read how your Subconscious mind controls your life and how to use it for your own benefit- > How to become Successful in Life using the Power of Subconscious mind )

♡ Change your attitude.

Stop complaining, blaming and judging others. The more you do these, the more you'll attract negative things and people in your life.

♡ Create a better environment for yourself. Interact with positive-minded, success-minded people. Make friends with people who have a happy and optimistic point of view. It is said that we become the average of the 5 people we spend our most time with! Do protect your energy.

If you stay close to complainers, pessimists and people with no vision, you would eventually become one of them! I know it's difficult to eliminate such people totally from your life, but you must limit your time of interaction with them.

If you stay with people having 'low vibes' you cannot attract bigger things in life. Build your tribe of 'high vibe' people!

Read good books, listen to podcasts and immerse in positivity as much! Even if you do not understand art, still visit art exhibitions. Staying in artistic and cultural environment raises our vibrations!

♡ You don't have to make "manifestation" a chore. Use techniques that makes your manifestation simple and effective.

For example, write your goals and place them around your house, create a vision board in your phone/ laptop and set it as the wallpaper, listen to recorded affirmations, visualise your goals while bathing, mentally repeat affirmations while you are waiting somewhere, carry a tiny goal list in your wallet, change your passwords and usernames into a goal reminder, follow successful/ rich people in social media. 
Simply put, instead of taking time out of your schedules for manifesting, use your regular time in manifestation! 

♡ The 3 best tools for manifesting your desires are practising gratitude, affirmations and visualization. 

The more you are grateful for the things you have, the more the Universe will provide you with situations to be grateful about. Keep a gratitude journal! 

Affirmations are positive statements in the present tense that act as an "instruction" to the Subconscious. Affirm all through the day, mentally or aloud. Affirmations are the easiest way to re-program your Subconscious mind.

Visualization is the technique in which you see and feel in your mind's eye, your goal as already completed. Visualization is best practised at night before going to sleep and in the morning after waking up. This also helps to re-program your subconscious mind.

♡ Act as if already your goal is achieved. 

Talk and walk like that! Feel how you would feel when you achieve your goal. This means you don't have to wait for something to happen in your life to make you happier! You start to practice being happy right now!

♡ Be a giver. Yes if you expect to receive great things in life, start giving great things to people! Give and contribute in whatever way is possible for you. What you want to receive, you must be willing to give it first!

To become rich you have to give money, even if in a small amount. You cannot attract abundance with the mindset of a pauper!
Similarly to receive love, you must first give love, to receive kindness practice being a kind person yourself.

~Article written by Ishita Ganguly, M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA

Law of Attraction Simplified | How to Use the Law of attraction to Manifest the Life you Desire.

Most of us already know about the Law of attraction after reading the book or watching the movie, " The Secret". The truth is the Law of attraction was always there only that it has become a buzz word nowadays! People talk about the law all the time. Some people believe in the Law of attraction  (LOA) while some refuse to believe thinking it's a new age mumbo jumbo! Reality is LOA was and is always there! It is a simple yet powerful law of the Universe just like the law of gravity.

Simply put according to the Law of attraction, like attracts like. The thoughts you think, the emotions you feel, the images you see in your mind's eye and the words you utter, attracts the things, situations and people in your life.

So, if you believe that you deserve all the good in this Universe or precisely you have the exact mindset to attract love, money, good health, happiness, success, opportunities and great friendships you would surely attract those into your life. On the contrary, if you are continuously self-sabotaging by subconsciously believing that you are unlucky or good things can never happen to you, this would become your reality!

If you think the world is a great place you would attract experiences to prove your belief but if you believe that the world is an unsafe and unkind place to live, you would have that kind of experience to match your beliefs.

Like a magnet, you are always attracting the experiences in your life! Your present life is a reflection of your past thoughts, beliefs and feelings. What you think most or your dominant thoughts will always make a way to manifestation. In short, you create your world!

Whether your life is going great or it's falling apart, it's only because of what you have believed and imagined for yourself in the past!

We are programmed in our childhood with thoughts and ideas from our parents, teachers, friends and the people around us. Our Subconscious mind records all of these ideas and creates a blueprint for us! As we grow up we follow this blueprint or this pattern and think, feel and act according to this blueprint. As a result, we get more of what we have already been pre-programmed.

For instance, a child who is always having a drama in his home about money, whose parents are always fighting about money and he gets to hear all the time things like -

"Where did all the money go?"
"We can't afford it!"
"How can you even expect such an expensive thing?"
"You must not want so much!"
"It's bad to always want stuffs!"
"The rich steal poor people's money!"
"Money does not grow on trees."
" Money is hard to come by!"
" You have to have money to make money."
" Money is not everything in life."
" Greedy people always chase money!"
" Either rich or happy!"
" You have to work really hard to get rich."
" It's selfish to want a lot of money."

What do you think would be his concept about money? What would be his financial blueprint? How would he manage his money when he grows up? He would either earn so little to match his blueprint or if he earns more, he would blow it up to stay in congruence with his blueprint. Truly, like attracts like! What you think will come to you whether you like it or not.

So if you want to change your life for the better, you have to change your mindset, your blueprint! You must start to re-program your Subconscious mind which is a storehouse of all your beliefs, thoughts and ideas. Many of these thoughts and ideas might be detrimental for you but the Subconscious does not realise the difference between good and bad, it just plays the record it is carrying.

Read 👉 How to become successful in life using the power of your Subconscious mind

To have a great life, you must have a great mindset. You have to work on your mindset and reprogram it so that it works for you not against you. It takes time and perseverance but if you are committed to creating the best life for yourself, you must work on your mindset in a consistent manner.

Remember you can really get what you want in your life if you really believe it so. Some people confuse the concept of LOA with just hoping and wishing. They think the things they want would appear in their life from thin air! Wishful thinking never helps, but continuous effort on changing the mindset does produce the result you want.

You must be positive-minded, happy and believe in your well being. You must first change the blueprint of your life if you are not satisfied with the life you are experiencing right now!

"Our job as humans is to hold on to the thoughts of what we want, make it absolutely clear in our minds what we want, and from that, we start to invoke one of the greatest laws in the Universe, and that's the Law of attraction. You become what you think about most but you also attract what you think about most. " - John Assaraf in "The Secret".

CONCLUSION:

▪ Like attracts like. You attract the people, things and experiences based on your dominant thoughts.

▪ We have been programmed in our childhood with thoughts and ideas, which might not be serving us right now.

▪ To create the life you desire, you must re-program your subconscious mind with new thoughts and ideas that are supportive of your goals.

▪ Wishful thinking never helps. You have to consciously and continuously work on your mindset to create the life you want.

~Article written by Ishita Ganguly, M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA

Self Love | Why you should love yourself first

" Your relationship with yourself sets the tone for every other relationship you have."

Most people confuse Self-love with selfishness. Self-love is often placed in the same ranks as narcissism or egoism.

It's true that some people are totally engrossed in themselves. They are self-obsessed and indifferent towards the world. But that's not what self-love is.

There are so many people who are living their lives as if they do not matter. They are just "existing" on this planet forgetting their life purpose. These people do not value themselves and seem to be lost in this world. They have forgotten or maybe never have realised their self-worth.

When we understand our true worth and stop settling for any less, we start practising self-love.

Self-love means having a high regard for yourself. You start valuing your happiness, ambitions, desires and needs without compromising or sacrificing to please others. It's not that other people's happiness does not matter to you! But it's that you matter to yourself and so you don't sacrifice yourself to make others happy.

Loving yourself doesn't mean that you have to think you are the best in the world! Instead, you recognise your flaws and accept yourself fully.

You realise your faults and weaknesses, the mistakes you have done. But instead of blaming and loathing yourself, you learn the lessons and move forward.

You stop criticising your looks, your weight, your accomplishments and everything else. From the harsh critic, you become your nice forgiving friend. You start treating yourself with compassion and kindness.

When you love yourself, you are not becoming arrogant to think you are the most important person around! Instead, you think you are as important as others and respect yourself the same. You "matter" to yourself and you realise your self-worth. You understand that you can't settle for less than what you deserve. Not anymore!

You start seeing the world in a different light. The bitter world becomes a better place to live. Also, you start feeling compassion for others. It's true that you cannot truly love another unless you love yourself.

~Article written by Ishita Ganguly, M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA

Read my article on 7 SELF LOVE PRACTICES THAT CHANGED MY LIFE.

10 types of people you should avoid in life

" You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. " - Jim Rohn

The people in your life actually determines the quality of your life. We absorb the ideas and characteristics of the people around us  - our parents, teachers, friends, neighbours, colleagues and acquaintances. We ultimately become like them! Now, this could be quite an advantage or a serious disadvantage for us. We do not consciously pick the vibes from the people around us. Fact is people influence us, whether you like it or not. Others have an influence on you and obviously, you have an influence on others. Now most of the time, this influence happens subconsciously. That's why even if you dislike a friend or a family member consciously, still you are absorbing his thoughts and ideas subconsciously. In fact, your nature is becoming to a certain percentage like them.

Now if you don't like this piece of information at all, the good news is you can identify the toxic people and start avoiding them completely. Allowing negative people to be in continuous touch with you is giving your power to them. You don't have to do that! Avoiding certain people in life isn't selfishness, it is self-survival!


Here is the list of 10 types of people you should avoid in life : 

1. COMPLAINERS - These are the type of people who would never stop complaining. They would complain about their boss, co-workers, their neighbours, teachers, friends, complete strangers and even the weather! They are people who never take responsibility for their own actions. They would always blame someone or something other than themselves. It's always better to maintain a safe distance from these people. 

2. ENVIOUS - Honestly we all have fallen prey to jealousy at east at some point in our life. It's completely human. But there are some people who are always envious! These are the kind of people who never appreciate others, they would not cheer for anyone. In short, they'll never want you to be successful in life.

3. GOSSIPERS -  Now these are the type who often come across as amusing and entertaining. But they are harmful and time-wasters. They are the lot who never finds faults in themselves but always in others. Gossipers are highly toxic and they spread their negativity by recruiting people to form a gang to discuss and defame others. Gossipers would fill you up with negative energy.

4. SELFISH PEOPLE - It's good to be focussed in your own life, in fact, it's great! But that doesn't mean one has to only think of themselves and not about others. Do you know any friend who would make it always about him? It's like the entire world revolves around them! They would make plans according to their needs, they would make you do things for them, even they might keep you stuck to the phone at their hour of need, they would shamelessly ask you to do a favour for them and when you are in need of something and you contact them they would be totally unavailable to you physically, emotionally or both. Yes, they would use you well but in return, they'll never give you anything! Selfish people always drains your precious energy, so it's best to avoid them.

5. JUDGEMENTAL PEOPLE -  These people always criticise others. They have no ability to appreciate or compliment. Judgemental people have a very high opinion about themselves. And be warned, if they are judging about others in front of you, they are also going to criticise you sooner or later in front of others.

6. CONTROLLING  - These are the kind who loves dominating over others. The controlling freaks can make your life totally miserable. They have a superiority feeling and other people's opinion doesn't matter to them. They will make you see things through their eyes, and take complete power over you. It doesn't matter if this controlling person is your mother, your best friend or your spouse they'll never allow you to do something great in life!

7. HYPOCRITES - These are the pretentious persons who would say something but do completely the opposite! They are people with two faces and you would never get to know which one is the real! Your good friend is a hypocrite if she's always saying she isn't studying at all but secretly doing all the preparations at home. She is simply misguiding you so that she wins and you lose! Hypocrites are double-faced liars and they would never help you in any way!

8. LAZY - Now it might seem how lazy people could actually harm you. But the reality is they can harm you a lot! These are the kind who would always find excuses to shrug away responsibilities and they would never learn or grow. 
Not only that these people are negative, they can become a headache for others. I once had a colleague who was extremely lazy and reluctant to take the responsibility in a project which both of us were to do together. She wouldn't do her part by giving all sorts of excuses and by not cooperating with me. The thing is lazy people would either try to take your advantage or they'll try to pull you down to their level.

9. DISHONEST - Reality is we often ignore the faults of our friends or family sometimes because we love them and often because we want acceptance in the group we belong. But if you really want to improve and be successful you must be ruthless in eliminating dishonest people from your life. If you have such people in your life who are always applying some untruthful, unfair means to achieve what they want they'll soon inspire you to become one of them!

10. MANIPULATIVE - Do you know someone who is always scheming and calculating things for their own benefit? They are the lot who would never be ashamed of using others for their needs. In fact, they are a combination of a few of the above-mentioned characters! They are selfish to the core, often hypocritical in nature, applying dishonest strategies to control and manipulate others. Often your manipulative friend can use their tactics just to make you mad! It's a type of personality disorder and the best would be to avoid them. 


Article written by Ishita Ganguly

M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA

How to attract more opportunities in life

Isn't it astonishing that there are some people who are always in the right place at the right time and there are others who would always miss the bus? Often it seems like all of that has to do with luck. But depending on dumb luck could be like waiting forever! The people who are always finding new opportunities rarely wait for one to come. Successful people create their own opportunities. It's more about practising certain skills in life rather than waiting for the opportune moment to arrive. You have to use certain strategies that generate new possibilities for your advantage. You can create several opportunities for yourself by using these strategies.

Here are the 7 ways to create more opportunities in life- 

1. BELIEVE -

"Finding an opportunity is a matter of believing it's there. " - Barbara Corcoran. Successful people always expect good things to happen to them, even in the face of failure. They are open to new ideas, they embrace change readily. They develop a positive attitude towards life. Instead of focusing on what's not working, they believe that the Universe is always conspiring to bring all the good stuff to them. As a result, new opportunities are attracted towards them.

2. COMMUNICATE -

Seriously, if you never share your dreams and goals with anyone, how would they ever help you? You might have thousands of friends in the social media but with how many do you have a real connection? Now I am not suggesting that you hang out with all sorts of people each evening. But you must make a connection with some real people. You can find out your type of people only if you communicate with them. Successful people are great at networking. So, you must start practising this skill.

Stay in touch with friends, make new friends and acquaintances. If you show genuine interest in others they would show interest in you as well. And it's not like having a scheme in your mind on how to use people for your benefits! You should try to help them as much. It's like building a tribe of helpful, success-minded people who would lift each other up!

3. PRAISE OTHERS - 

Appreciation is of great quality. If you do not appreciate or compliment others often, you must adopt this habit. A person who can compliment others wholeheartedly is always liked by all. Now you should not mix this with fake flattery! Honest appreciation is always felt by people. If you see the good in others and praise them for their qualities, you would naturally make more friends and acquaintances.

 The more you appreciate others the more you make rapport with people, and the more likely it would be then for an opportunity to fall on your lap. The news that there's a vacancy in an office or some admission is going on for a course, a life-changing idea, scope for earning more money, resources for a start-up, a mentor, unexpected help - all such opportunities always come from people! Developing a good connection with people creates more possibilities in your life!

4. PREPARE -

 Ultimately opportunities would come to use only if you are well prepared. Success happens when preparation meets opportunity. So even if you grab that opportunity but you have never bothered to improve your skill or talent, most likely you are going to fail! People who have more information, have trained and learned more would always have more advantage than the rest. So you should be always learning and growing, practising and be ready, for when the opportunity comes you can make the most out of it.

5. TRY DIFFERENT THINGS -

Most of us are creatures of routine. We start and end our day in the exact same way! We do the same things, meet the same people, go to the same places, behave in the same way, every single day! So if we are always doing the same thing how can we expect something different happen to us? So, if you really want to get a change in your life, you must first change yourself! Take a different route to your office, develop a new interest, go to new places, try out new restaurants, meet new people, learn new skills, attend events that you usually don't! Eventually, you would find that you are flooded with opportunities. It seriously works like magic - change your routine!

6. HELP OTHERS -

Now you might be thinking how could helping others generate opportunities in your life. But it's the most powerful of all the strategies. According to the Law of attraction, like attracts like, so what you do for others would also happen to you! If you are a helpful person creating possibilities for people, the Universe would see to that, you also receive possibilities from others! Again, logically if you think then you would realise that we tend to reciprocate those who help us. So, it's only natural that you would attract more possibilities in your life by helping others.

7. BE MORE PRESENT - 

"Your big opportunity may be right where you are now." - Napoleon Hill. Opportunities never declare to you when it's around, you have to recognise and grab it! The more conscious and aware you stay in your life, the more you would be able to recognise the several opportunities that are already around you. So, stay alert, keep your eyes open. You would be amazed to find several possibilities that exist for you.



Article written by Ishita Ganguly
M.Sc, B.Ed, MBA