Update July 21, 2025 – Added Q&A and Key Takeaways sections.
Affirmations are statements of your worth, value and abilities that either you tell yourself or you’ve been told by others. The bad news is that many of the affirmations we have heard and continue to hear are self-sabotaging. For example, I remember as a kid my dad informing me that…”money did not grow on trees.” So, that helped frame my mind for years that making money was difficult. Have you ever been told you’re just not good enough at something? if you hear something enough times, your subconscious mind will believe it and repeat that to you over and over.
Here are some sad facts:
The great news is that YOU CAN counteract the negative affirmations in your subconscious mind. Let’s dig into that now.
Leading up to my first bodybuilding divisional victory on famed Muscle Beach in Venice, California, for 12 weeks I repeating one sentence out loud probably 100 times a day. That sentence was, “I won first place in the Master’s Division on Muscle Beach on Labor Day.”
Not only did I say that sentence to myself regularly, but I also recorded it and played it back to myself when I was working and even when I slept. Positive affirmations by themselves don’t work, but saying this fueled my workouts and my discipline to workout and eat well. Additionally, I visualized myself on the stage holding that 1st place trophy.
So, positive affirmations are a fantastic tool that helped me then and continue to help me in all aspects of my life. So, what are affirmations that you need to change to help you overcome what holds YOU back?
Do you need to get and stay in shape? Need to increase your income? Or, maybe it’s confidence you lack? Whatever your need, affirmations can help, which brings up the question: Is there scientific proof they work?
Let’s put some scientific proof behind this. A study in published by Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience used MRI technology revealing that practicing self affirmations activated the reward centers of the brain. By repeating phrases like “I am in great shape” and visualizing yourself in the shape you want illuminates the same pleasure centers of the brain as eating a nice piece of chocolate does. It’s important to find the emotion that goes along with your goal attainment. How does that feel? THIS is what changes your pathways.
Another study at the University of Pennsylvania by Christopher N. Cascio et al titled “Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation” found that participants in the study (who were electronically monitored) responded better compared to the control group to health affirmations. Those in the study became more active in the next month after the study ended. Perhaps the most important part of this study shows that the levels of brain activity seen during future-oriented thinking affirmations like “people who sit less are less likely to gain weight.”
Affirmations have worked for many, and they can work for you. I found they work much better if there’s passion behind the desired goal. I convinced myself I was going to win that contest on Muscle Beach, and I did.
Imagine how powerful personalized affirmations supporting your goals can be on your ability to achieve your goals. Let us create an 15 minute audio track with affirmations supporting your goals. You give us 1-2 goals, choose your background music and we’ll create a 15 minute audio track you can listen to while working, driving, exercising or sleeping. It will help change the internal dialog in your head that is holding your back from achieving your goals. What are you waiting for?
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I suggest you say your affirmations to yourself in front of a mirror, but I also find that listening to them while I work or at night while I sleep are very helpful. That’s why we offer personalized health affirmations created for you. Give us one or two goals, and we’ll create a 15 minute audio track with your affirmations along with some background sounds. Optionally, you can have the affirmations set at an audio level to where only the subconscious mind will pick up on it (called subliminal). I personally use subliminal affirmations with a babbling brook sound every day and night while I work as well as when I sleep.
So, regardless of what your affirmations for health are, support retraining the inner voice in your subconscious mind with our personalized health affirmation product.
I suggest you say your affirmations to yourself in front of a mirror, but I also find that listening to them while I work or at night while I sleep are very helpful. That’s why we offer personalized affirmations created for you. Give us one or two goals, and we’ll create a 15 minute audio track with your affirmations along with some background sounds. Optionally, you can have the affirmations set at a audio level to where only the subconscious mind will pick up on it (called subliminal). I personally use subliminal with a babbling brook sound every night to sleep.
A1: Affirmations are positive, personal, present-tense statements you repeat to yourself—designed to reshape your mindset, overcome negative self-talk, and reinforce positive beliefs.
A2: They shift subconscious thought patterns by emphasizing positive language. Present-tense affirmations can activate reward centers in the brain, while future‑oriented ones help people with lower self-esteem see improvement.
A3: Ideal times are first thing in the morning and right before sleep—these Theta-wave states ease affirmations into your subconscious, but incorporating them throughout the rest of the day is powerful, too.
A4: Repeat your affirmations 3–5 times daily, spending about 3–5 minutes each session. On tougher days, you might repeat them more frequently.
A5: Affirmations aren’t magic— in order for them to work requires incorporating the feeling of what your affirmations will bring when achieved. Neville Goddard referred to this as stepping into the wish fulfilled.
Affirmations are concise, positive statements structured in present tense to reinforce self‑belief.
Engaging in affirmations lights up your brain’s reward centers—the ventral striatum and ventromedial prefrontal cortex—reinforcing positive self-beliefs and supporting lasting behavioral changes.
Present-tense affirmations activate neural reward pathways.
A 2016 functional MRI (fMRI) study investigated the neural mechanisms behind self-affirmation, where participants reflected on their core values. The study found that value-based self-affirmations significantly activated key regions in the brain’s reward and valuation systems—the ventral striatum (VS) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC). These areas are closely tied to processing rewards and positive emotions. Further, activity in these regions during affirmations was linked to real-world behavior change—such as increased physical activity—showing that the neural effects are backed by measurable outcomes.(Source)
Use them during Theta-wave windows—right after waking and just before sleep—for deeper subconscious embedding.
3–5 times daily, 3–5 minutes per session; increase frequency on tough days.
While affirmations reframe thinking, feeling the end result while saying affirmations is paramount.
Understanding how affirmations affect your brain is powerful—but the real transformation comes from consistent practice. If you’re ready to go beyond theory and start reprogramming your mindset daily, I’ve created a guided affirmation experience designed to do exactly that.
