It’s been estimated that each of us thinks at least 80,000 words each day. The words we think have an enormous impact on our lives. The words we think create the pictures, mental movies and emotions that drive us unconsciously toward our goals.
Positive affirmations are statements that we tell ourselves in first person, present tense with every word stated positively.
However people find their results inconsistent. They give up using positive affirmations when they don’t instantly achieve the goals they “think” they want.
The problem results in their thinking the hundreds or thousands of negative affirmations each day that offset the few positive affirmations they were taught.
For example, let us imagine a friend desires to lose weight, yet every day, day after day, her private thoughts are filled with negative statements such as:
I am so fat.
I love food.
I love chocolate.
I am addicted to sweets.
I’ll never lose weight.
I just look at food and gain weight.
Everyone in my family is fat.
I’ll always be fat.
I have fat arms (or butt or legs, etc.)
It’s too hard to lose weight.
I hate to exercise.
These are negative affirmations. It is easy to understand why her weight constantly creeps up instead of down. Just thinking a few times “I am lean and healthy” isn’t enough to overcome all her negative thinking.
Since the days of Socrates, Aristotle and Plato philosophers taught that questioning inspires the mind to creatively seek answers that can help achieve our goals.
Now the latest scientific research shows that asking ourselves questions in a special way can influence the subconscious much better than simple declarative positive statements. This may be the key to unlocking our creative problem solving skills.
Instead of the common declarative affirmation, such as “I am lean and healthy” rephrasing our inner-dialogue into the form of a question allows our minds engage more creatively, e.g. “How will I become lean and healthy?”
This can reduce self-limiting behavior and have profound life changing results. The practice of thinking positive interrogative affirmations during self-hypnosis may lead to rapid goal attainment with less internal conflict. During self-hypnosis the filter that creates doubt and limitations is bypassed.
The positive interrogative affirmation lays out many possibilities for potential outcomes rather than a yes or no answer. What happens when we ask ourselves if we can reach a goal instead of telling ourselves we can? The question inspires multiple answers of how to attain results. Questions identify potential problems and even clarify whether our goal is worthy of attainment.
There is much promise seen in the potential effects of rephrasing our inner dialogue.
A research study published in Psychological Science Journal, April 2010 described a series of experiments using interrogative affirmations that showed performance increases significantly. Simply rephrasing “I will” to “Will I?” by the participants had a positive impact on their subsequent problem solving performance.
Questioning ourselves and the world around us has been a great driving force for the progress and enlightenment of the human race.
Curiosity has led to great discoveries and advancements since the dawn of civilization. Interrogative affirmations are an open form of self-dialogue. Questioning opens the mind to a broader inner-discussion that cultivates creativity and explores possibilities.
Positive interrogative affirmations may have beneficial results in all areas of life. Parents who teach their children to question themselves can help them to explore their creativity and introduce them to a broader range of thinking.
Food for thought for sure.
Kindest regards,
Dr. Ken
Kenneth Grossman, PhD
www.CommunityHypnosisCenter.com
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