Affirmations are the real sleepers in our Personal Performance Toolkit and we are about to wake them up.

To some people affirmations are considered useless and to others they just plain suck.

To many they represent a good idea that, unfortunately, doesn't deliver on its promises.

Many people have tried them but quit because "They don't work!"

In truth, however, they do work and work superbly.

They are highly reliable (perhaps more reliable than any other tool) and do, indeed, manifest in people's lives that which is affirmed.

Now listen up! This is a critical

Affirmations seem to be ineffective only because there is a missing piece to the affirmation process that has gone mostly unrecognized.

It has to do with what is actually affirmed.

This is often NOT the affirmation that is stated.

In fact, it is frequently the opposite.

Our affirmations are impressive in their ability to shape our lives.

If we will but listen to our own self talk we will hear glowing evidence of this.

Our self talk contains constant affirmations regarding our existing beliefs and attitudes.

So does our every day conversation.

These affirmations have brought us to the current status in our lives and confined us within our own limiting rooms in The Palace of Possibilities.

To truly harness the power of affirmations, we must make sure the actual affirmations that are taking effect are the ones we want.

Therein lies our major challenge and an indispensable use for EFT.

Here's an example of what I mean.

Let's say a 200 pound woman uses an affirmation aimed at weighing 130. She might affirm something like this...

"My normal weight is 130 pounds and that's what I weigh."

The logic here is that if she keeps repeating that affirmation she will perform a form of mental conditioning.

As a result, she will begin to see herself differently and will naturally adjust her food intake and exercise habits to permanently achieve this new weight level.

Properly done, there would be no will power involved.

Her life habits would simply evolve to someone who behaved as a 130 pound woman.

But most people don't have this experience.

Why? Because the affirmation they are stating is not the "true" affirmation. You see, the stated affirmation often has competition within the person's system.

That competing affirmation gets tagged on at the tail end of the stated affirmation in a subtle, yet powerful, way and becomes the "true" affirmation.

For example, our 200 pound woman who says, "My normal weight is 130 pounds and that's what I weigh"

 is likely to have one or more "tail enders" show up at the end of her affirmation. They might go like this...

• "But if you lose the weight, others will expect you to keep it off."
• "But if you lose the weight, you will have to spend a lot of money for new clothes."
• "But if you lose the weight, men will hit on you and expect sex."
• "But if you lose the weight, men won't hit on you and then you will know you aren't loveable.
• "But if you lose the weight, you will have to give up your favorite foods."

This list of tail enders is endless. These are just examples.

They are not spoken or articulated, of course, but are subtle (and powerful) reflections of the existing obstacles for losing weight.

Can they be eventually overridden by the persistent use of the affirmation? Probably.

However, it's a rare person who will keep up this persistence. Why?

Because first, they are not seeing any immediate results and, second,

they feel uncomfortable with the emotional discord that goes on between the stated affirmation and the competing tail enders.

They often conclude that they are lying to themselves and just give up.

As you can see, the affirmation process usually needs help. It needs EFT to erase those existing tail enders.

This brings us to one of the truly powerful aspects of affirmations, namely, that once an affirmation is truly installed, it is not easily moved.

It becomes a permanent part of your persona until you replace it.

For example, those tail end affirmations for our 200 pound woman have taken up residence within her system.

They are entrenched. They are written on her walls and have become her consistent thoughts which, of course, have become her reality.

They are stubborn and are not about to be easily "talked away" with an unaided new affirmation.

That would be like trying to topple the Empire State Building with a piece of limp spaghetti.

She sees herself as a 200 pound woman--and that's it!

Her weight is a reflection of her existing affirmations--the writing on her walls.

The good news here is that once the new "130 pound affirmation" truly takes place, it becomes the new consistent thought

and is just as obstinate as the previous "200 pound tail enders" which it replaced.

To gain weight back would be inconsistent with the newly resident consistent thoughts.

If we listen to ourselves talk, we will hear our "limits" and other forms of affirmations come rolling out of our faces. Things like...

• "I can't sing,"
• "Making money isn't spiritual,"
• "Women can't compete in a man's world,"
• "I never seem to find the right words," etc. etc. etc.
• I never have enough time
• my family is always needing me for something 

...serve as affirmations that keep us right where we are.

Affirmations are powerful, very powerful.

We are using them every minute of the day.

They shape our lives because they reflect our beliefs and our attitudes.

You are using them right now as you read this.

You are consulting the writing on your walls (your existing affirmations) to agree or disagree with what I am saying.

Have you found yourself saying, "Yes, but..." while reading this? If so, you are affirming something, probably a limit.

This is why I said earlier that affirmations....

"...are highly reliable (perhaps more reliable than any other tool) and do, indeed, manifest in people's lives that which is affirmed."

There is no question that properly installed affirmations work very powerfully.

The only trick here is to make sure that the affirmation that you really want is the true affirmation.

This is where EFT comes in.

 It serves as a highly effective eraser for all the negative emotions & beliefs that serve as competing tail enders.

With the skillful use of EFT, each and every block to personal performance can be eliminated,

thereby providing a clean wall on which to write our new consistent thoughts.

Erase and replace. Erase and replace. Once the competition is gone, the affirmation will have clear sailing. T

his is exciting. It is transformational.

This combination of EFT and affirmations allows us to completely re-engineer our systems.

It allows us to erase our blocks and install our dreams. Finances can flourish.

Friendships can flower. And personal peace can proliferate.

Until now EFT has been a stand-alone eraser of pain without any means to install dreams.

Affirmations, on the other hand, have been a stand-alone tool for installing dreams but without an eraser for the competing tail enders.

Now we can blend both tools together and take ourselves & our clients into the more glorious rooms of the Palace of Possibilities.

I love people who pursue their possibilities.

I love people with dreams. They make things happen. They lead by example. Doesn't that make your juices run?