3 Easy Ways to Put Powerful Self Love Affirmations to Work

Neville Goddard was one of the earliest personal development teachers.

His writings became the basis for much of what psychologists, neuroscientists, and even Law of Attraction teachers use now to talk about the power of the mind and heart to create change in our lives.

In his seminal book, Feeling Is The Secret, he gives the essential tools to using your imagination to create powerful changes in your life.

And yes, the title of the book is the thesis statement.

The feeling is the primary instrument in making the internal shifts to reprogram your mind and change your beliefs.

When you change your beliefs, you change how you think, feel, and operate.

This changes what you attract into your life and how you live.

This is more of a personal preference. If you’ve experienced heartbreak and you want to regain confidence in yourself (and attract true Love) some powerful affirmations include:

• I am Love
• I believe in me
• I am whole and solid in myself
• I am strong and powerful
• I am sexy and attractive
• I am worthy of Love and affection
• I have healthy and strong relationships in my life
• I am Loved and chosen
• I have the most Loving, healthy, committed, and wonderful relationship with my partner

You can also use these affirmations to attract a truly Loving relationship and partnership into your life. 

If you just try to convince your mind of something that it doesn’t believe, you’ll be fighting a long and hard war. Perhaps you’ve experienced this already. Maybe you struggled with having confidence at work with a particular coworker or manager constantly belittling and chastising you. You try to tell yourself that you’re better than they say.

But if their words are reflections of thoughts and beliefs you’ve held deep inside (perhaps unconsciously), just telling yourself different empowering statements will take a long time to create change.

The feeling really is the secret.

This is why you have to bring your heart into this equation for things to really change. You have to focus on believing in your heart more than believing in your mind. 

The subconscious mind is influenced by feelings, not words. This is something that Neville explores in more depth in his book Feeling Is The Secret. 

You’ll also find this truth in much of the work of Dr. Joe Dispenza who writes and teaches about the power of the subconscious mind to transform your life.

Decide what it is that you want to change and make the commitment to feeling as though this is your reality.

As you know, I’m a huge fan of the Rocky movies. I reference them in many of my speeches, talks, other blog posts, and even my book.

Heck, I may be a core philosopher on Rocky as a mythological example of the power of Self Love.

Here’s why I bring up this movie series in regards to Self Love:

Rocky 3 is one of the best examples of why trying to convince the mind to change doesn’t work without bringing the heart into the mix.

In case you’re unfamiliar with the storyline of the third Rocky film, our hero has won the championship from Apollo Creed in Rocky 2. He then goes on to defend the title ten times. He has tons of money, drives Italian sports cars, is on the cover of magazines, and has big sponsorships. In his mind, he believes his title defenses are against great fighters and he is one of the greatest.

But there’s a Challenger Looming Who is a True Monster

His name is Clubber Lang (played by Mr. T).

In many ways, Lang is one of the most powerful examples from film of the personification of fear that permeates our minds after we experience pain.

Without getting into the minutia of the film, Rocky and Clubber fight and it’s a blood bath. Rocky gets knocked out in the second round. At the same time, his trainer and dear friend Mickey dies. So here’s Rocky, a former champion who has lost his title, his trainer and friend, his pride, and his sense of self worth. His mental state is incredibly fragile. He drives his motorcycle around Philly, and throws his helmet in frustration at the commemorative statue of him on the steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. A few minutes later he’s met by his former opponent Apollo Creed who convinces him to take a rematch against Clubber. But this time, Apollo will be his trainer. It takes some convincing but Rocky agrees. He and his entourage (Adrian and Paulie) fly to LA to train with Apollo and his crew.

Getting the Eye of the Tiger 

Apollo is convinced that the version of Rocky that he fought when he lost his title (in the second film) is not the same Rocky who lost to Clubber. He knows that Rocky had this fire inside of him, this relentless determination to go the distance. And that determination wasn’t there when he fought Lang and lost.

He tells Rocky that he has to get the “Eye of the Tiger.” 

What he’s referring to is this undying confidence and raw fierceness of an unstoppable foe or refuses to be beaten. Apollo knows this fierceness is in Rocky. But Apollo struggles with bringing it back to life in his former opponent. This is because Apollo keeps trying to appeal to the reason and logic of Rocky to get his true self to re-emerge. But remember, the mind isn’t the most powerful change agent. The heart is.

Or better stated, the feeling is the secret.

Why the Eyes Never Lie

This film is such a powerful example of what transformation looks like because we literally get to see it in the place where our own transformation happens: the eyes. When you watch Rocky 3, his eyes tell one story when he fights Clubber Lang the first time. His eyes are still telling that story of “I can’t do this, I’m going to lose, I am a loser” when he’s first training with Apollo. Apollo tries to be encouraging. But he gets frustrated. No matter what he says to Rocky, he’s not making the changes. He’s not getting his fierceness back. When Rocky and Apollo first race on the beach, we get to see inside Rocky’s mind and understand why this whole thing is so difficult for him.

He experienced tremendous and intense trauma, both physically and psychologically, all at the same time the night of his fight against Lang. He was outmatched, out-trained, out-powered, and pummeled by his opponent. He’d never lost so badly in a fight, including when he lost to Creed in the first fight.

And he returns to his dressing room to see his trainer dying on the bench. They exchange a few words. And then after experiencing a physical beating and intense pain, his closest friend dies in his arms.

In a sequence of flashbacks, we as the audience get to feel the insane intensity of what was racing through Rocky’s mind while he tries to race against Apollo on the beach. The mind holds onto the painful experiences. And often refuses to let them go.

This is why trying to just use words to rewrite your beliefs takes so much longer for changes to take place.

That brokenness is trapped inside. And the only way to bring it healing and transformation is through the power of feeling. This is where real Love comes in.

It can seem so challenging to try and convince your mind that you’re beautiful, Lovable, and worthy after experiencing heartbreak.

You try to use Self Love affirmations to heal and attract a good relationship.

But if you just try to convince your mind that it’s real, you’ll be working hard for a long time before you see any real shifts take place.

The subconscious mind, which governs most of our lives and experiences, might be located inside your brain, but it’s most influenced by feelings and emotions.

This is why the feeling is the secret.

Emotion is the key. This is why sowing Love through your heart garden is such an important and necessary piece of personal development, growth, and transformation.

Let’s return to the Rocky story to illustrate this. Apollo tries over and over to convince Rocky to believe in himself and work harder in training. He’s trying to use his intellect to make the shift.

Remember, Apollo is a very intelligent athlete. You can see it in how he presents himself. He’s got a busy savvy to him comparable to Floyd Mayweather Jr. (doing all his own promotions and making a spectacle of them). 

But it’s using his mind to try and get his new trainee to adhere to new methods of boxing where he fails. Because of that inner narrative of deep loss, pain, and trauma that Rocky is reliving over and over again in his mind keeps all the good intentions from others out.

Apollo quits trying to train him after that first race on the beach. “There is no tomorrow!” he shouts at Rocky in frustration.

But here is where we see Adrianne’s superpowers and why she’s such a force for strength for Rocky. Adrianne is the only one able to see through the facades and get to the real problem: fear. And she’s also the only one able to confront Rocky with Love in a way that he connects with on an emotional scale. She shows him that he has to choose this fight for himself, not for anyone else. He has to choose to fight for his own heart.

It’s the Heart Gets Rocky to Gain the Eye of the Tiger

When he makes this decision, it’s almost instantaneous. 

Watch the movie and notice the difference in Rocky’s eyes as he trains after he connects with his heart following talking on the beach with Adrianne. Notice how that look in his eyes is what makes the change.

It comes down to connecting with our hearts where we overcome the fears that hold us back. The fears that are held onto in the subconscious mind. It’s only through our feelings, emotions, and heart that we can come back to life and transform.

Since the feeling is the secret, for affirmations to have the most effect, you have to engage with your heart.

If you only engage your mind but don’t connect with your heart, you’re likely to have frustration in the time it takes to experience dramatic change.

As you bring your heart into this process, allow yourself the time and space to feel a shift take place.

There are three easy ways to put powerful Self Love affirmations to work that bring amazing changes fast.

1. Writing affirmations in a journal and reading them first thing in the morning and right before bed
2. Listening to guided meditations with affirmations 
3. Listening to affirmations as you drift off to sleep

Each of these methods requires you to engage both your mind and your heart at the same time for maximum effectiveness.

When using a journal, get your mind in a place of relaxation. As you write, imagine what it feels like for each affirmation to be your reality. Get into the feeling.

Do this with each of these methods. Don’t just write down an encouraging and affirming statement. Don’t just listen to it.

FEEL IT.

When you bring your feelings into the fold, you’ll experience a transformation similar to Rocky. You’ll have the eye of the tiger, and you’ll conquer whatever has been holding you back to experience real transformation and Love.