"Why Do Some Affirmations *Work* – and Others Don’t?"

By definition, an affirmation is a statement repeated time and again either verbally or mentally — or written down. The words of the affirmation statement – in themselves -when spoken, thought of, or written *without* a pictorial (visualized) or emotional connection – make a very weak affirmation. Affirmations, when worded correctly — and when emotionally charged – are able to tap into the unlimited creative power of your subconscious mind, and manifest your desires. Affirmations are not all created equal. Some are, of course, better than others. There are *power affirmations* that have been proven again and again to work – and I’ll reveal some of them in a moment.

When you examine the structure of these power affirmations, you, too, can learn how to create your own powerful affirmations for your specific purposes. Consider the following: "I am what I choose to be." "All my needs are met instantaneously." "I love and accept myself exactly as I am."

(Fill in the blank with what you desire.) "I am now perfectly healthy in body, mind and spirit." "I now create my wonderful, ideal life." What do the above power affirmations have in common?

1) They’re stated in the present tense. An affirmation is more effective when stated in the present tense. For example; "I now have a wonderful job." Avoid affirming something in the future tense, e.g. "I am going to have a wonderful job" or the results will always be waiting to happen.

2) They express a positive statement. Affirmations need to be stated in the most positive terms possible. Avoid negative statements. Affirm what you do want, rather than what you don’t want. For example: "I am no longer sick." This is a negative statement. Instead, affirm: "I am now perfectly healthy in body, mind and spirit." This statement is much more powerful as it is positive and reinforces your desired goal and doesn’t confuse your subconscious mind with the mention of the undesirable condition.

3) They’re short and specific. Short affirmations are easy to say, and have a far greater impact at the subconscious level than those which are long and wordy. Keeping them specific and to the point adds power as the idea is uncluttered by extraneous elements. The mechanics that make affirmations powerful are:

* Repetition The importance of repetition cannot be overemphasized. It imprints the affirmation into your subconscious mind.

* Emotions Get involved, be passionate, and use your emotions. Think carefully about the meaning of the words as you repeat them rather than just writing, typing or saying them.

* Persistence Practicing affirmations with persistence achieves results much sooner than practicing them periodically. Successive sessions will have a compounding effect.

* Belief You don’t necessarily have to believe your affirmation initially, in order for it to work. Belief will grow with your forthcoming successes. What you do need is the ability to *feel* what it would be like when the desire you’re affirming is fulfilled, or your need met. Every time that you have a need — and that need is met — a certain "feeling" is produced in you. You need to evoke that same feeling when you state your affirmation. In other words, you need to feel with every fiber of your being that what you desire has already happened. Without this feeling, your affirmation is powerless.

* Impress Yourself Personalize your affirmations. They must *resonate* with you — feel right for you. The stronger your connection with the affirmation, the deeper the impression it makes on your mind, and the sooner you will experience positive results. So there you have it – the simple formula for creating affirmations that work. Based on the above, you can easily create your own affirmations to manifest any desire or need you have in life.

TIP: Although the practice of affirmations is easy, some people find it challenging to repeat the affirmations continuously while maintaining the highly charged emotional state necessary in making affirmations work. DID YOU KNOW… that you can use your computer to make the affirmation process effortless – and that you can automate those challenging aspects (such as maintaining highly charged emotions), and thereby, manifest your desires more quickly? Go to Affirmations To find out how.

Join the millions of People Around the World Who Have Discovered the Power of Affirmations. Send for FREE subscription of "Affirmations For The Mind" Tips and Techniques Newsletter, the premier publication on self-improvement & personal growth.

Popularity: 30% [?]

Total Leg Workout

To improve leg muscles first sit straight in a chair. Your back should be absolutely erect. Keep your feet on the floor and slowly stretch your legs out as far as is possible. The feet and knees should be together. Now raise your legs until your feet are off the floor and your knees are completely straight. Keeping this position, bend the feet towards you, pushing your heels out as far as possible and then point the toes down as much as you can. Do both these movements about six times each. Now relax. For the next step, raise your feet once again, and keeping them together, turn them outwards until the soles support each other. Then turn them inwards until the ankles and big toe joints touch each other. Repeat each of these movements six times and relax.

Popularity: 31% [?]

Tips for Perfect Blush

Blush is an important part of make-up. With the help of an accurate applied blush you can refresh your face, make it looking much better and healthier. To make blush look natural, you should put it on just enough to highlight your cheeks, but not be able to tell it is there. The color of blush must match to the skin and hair color and lipstick and nail polish color also. Palette of beige and pink tints is appropriate almost to everybody. All tints of beige and pink are suitable to light skin; more dark tints (coppery and coral colors) are suitable to brown sunburned skin. Orange tints are suitable to red-haired women.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Tips

• If you use powder blush apply it after powder to blend it in lightly and achieve more accurate shading.

• Apply cream blush before you put on powder and blend well to define your cheek bones. Now follow with powder.

• Blush is put on at few directions. If you have an oval face put blush on the cheek-bones.

• Round faces seem to be longer if the blush is put on from temples to lip corners like triangle. There is the simplest way to put on the blush, which is appropriate to everybody. Put blush on the cheek like an oval at the nose level. If you put on too much blush, cover cheek with some quantity of light powder. The color of blush becomes softened.

• How to find more suitable color. The most important thing for choosing the right color is skin color, hair color and shape of your lips. For light skin and blonde hair: all shades of orange, pink, purple. For dark skin and dark hair: all shades of red, violet. For light skin and dark hair: all shades of brown and beige. For red hair women: coral-red, brown and bronze colors.

• To slenderize a round face, Sweep bronzer over temples, cheekbones and under your chin. Use a fluffy brush and light powder to highlight forehead, cheekbones and tip of chin.

Popularity: 37% [?]

Blush Mistakes

Lots of mistakes are made and here are just a few of them.

• Choosing too light a color. It makes no difference because you can’t see it.

• Choosing too dark a color. I have seen this happen a lot. Women have two spots on their faces of color and you can spot them from 100 feet away.

• Choosing the wrong color entirely. Red lipstick and apricot blush doesn’t work but you will be amazed at how often that combination has been used.

• Cream blushes used on oily skin. You might have a little color but the shine would blind you.

Popularity: 34% [?]

What Type of Blush Should I Use?

• Cream Blush… for older women with dryer skin

• Gel Blush… for teens who want a sheer touch of color

• Powder Blush… most popular choice and has the longest staying power.

Popularity: 33% [?]

What Color of Blush Should I Wear?

• red lipstick… reddish or pink toned blush

• rose lipstick… rose blush

• pink lipstick… pink blush

• coral or apricot lipstick… peachy toned blush

• Brown toned lipstick… bronze shades of blush with the same undertones as the lipstick.

Popularity: 33% [?]

Create Dramatic Cheekbones

• Dust a little dark powder along the cheek hollows. This can be just a darker shade of your shadow.

• Apply blush to the "apple" of your cheeks. Don’t go too close to the nose.

• Apply a highlighter to the area above your cheekbones. Just a few dots will do and then blend well so that it isn’t noticeable. Make You’re Blush Last Longer. Smooth on a little cream blush and then apply the powdered shadow in the same shade family and watch how long the color lasts now.

Just where exactly does it go? You look for the fullest part of your cheek and that’s where your blush goes. Take your blush brush and sweep the color back toward the temple. Once you have your blush in place, take a cotton ball and blend until you have just a hint of natural looking color. Make it subtle, just no strips of color.

Popularity: 35% [?]

Nachos

• 12 corn tortillas

• 1 1/2 cup cooked pinto beans

• 1 cup salsa

• 1 cup minced sweet red peppers

• 1/2 cup shredded low-fat Monterey Jack cheese

Cut the tortillas into quarter. Place the pieces on a baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees F until crisp but not brown, about 5 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes. Coarsely mash the beans. Spread the beans on the tortillas and return the wedges to the baking sheet. Dot with the salsa. Sprinkle with the peppers and cheese. Bake until the cheese has melted, about 3 minutes. Serve warm. Serves 4. Variation: Before the second baking, sprinkle the tortillas with minced jalapeno peppers, minced sweet red peppers or minced black olives. Per serving Calories 351

Fat (g.) 6.8 g (17% of calories)

Fiber 9.5 g.

Cholesterol 5 mg.

Sodium 409 mg.

Popularity: 33% [?]