When to apply affirmations outside the coaching sessions?
For some clients there seem to be benefits to using positive affirmations in the morning as it helps set the intention for the day. Robin Sharma states that if you repeat a positive affirmation several times at the beginning of the day you will reach “the mental stage of a champion and emotional stage of a winner” (2010)
By using affirmations in the night, the client may calm down from stress, frustration or anger and prepare for a good night´s sleep.
Curly Martin suggest you simply chant, “I CAN DO” whenever you need to feel motivated, and refers to this being common in sports, prior to a game to empower.(2001)
Coué recommended you repeat affirmations as often as possible (Paulhus, 1992, p.573) Along this same line, Hay in her recent book, “You Can Create an Exceptional Life” (2010) inspires her readers to use affirmations in just about any every day situation: in the shower, while dressing, in the kitchen, during meals, in the car, along the day, at work, when returning home etc.
So, the time of using affirmations will vary from one client to another, depending on what they want to achieve and their availabilities.
How can a coach bring affirmations into the coaching session/process?
As a coach it is important to respect the clients own agenda in the coaching session and process. The following are some suggestions to how a coach may incorporate affirmations:
The coach might perceive that a limiting belief is blocking the client and can invite his client to identify and write down this belief and consequently have him/her reframe these into a positive affirmation.
Example: A client with the negative limiting belief,
I will never reach my ideal weight, might reframe this into the positive statement, I am at my ideal weight.
The coach can ask,
How can you apply this statement in your daily life?
The client might suggest he/she repeats the affirmation 5 times every morning. It is important that this is followed up by various questions to create awareness and action. The coach may invite the client to reflect on question. For example:
What is important about being at my ideal weight? How can I achieve my ideal weight? What am I going to do to achieve my ideal weight. How will I feel once I have achieved my ideal weight?
A limiting self belief is often rooted in our past experiences and it is important that the coach also invites his/ her client to explore the origin of this core belief. (Cameron,1992 p.35)
Alternatively the coach can present a list of positive affirmations related to the topic dealt with in the process, and invite him/her to choose the ones he/she most identifies with and practice them. (Williams and Thomas, 2005)
During or by the end of the coaching process the client might request tools for self-coaching. An affirmation diary can be a powerful self-coaching tool. This consists of writing affirmations in a journal or diary each morning when the client wakes up and/or each night before he/she goes to sleep.
Conclusion
Although affirmations are popular and seem to work, there are no specific proofs to demonstrate this. There are many affirmation techniques that can be used effectively in coaching, either during or in between sessions.
Affirmations are a tool that is available for a coach to apply for example by inviting the client to reframe a limiting self- belief into a positive affirmation. The coach may invite the client to explore the effect of repeating affirmations in the written or oral form on a regular basis. It is important the client is asked to discover what works best for him/her.
As a coach it is also important you be aware that affirmations do not necessarily work for everyone, and might not be an appropriate tool to use with clients with low self-esteem. In this case another option is to invite him/her to reflect over past wins and bring these wins into the present moment as a way to empower him/her.
When inviting the client to use affirmation techniques as a means of replacing a limiting belief, it should be in the context of exploring what is behind the negative limiting belief, along with powerful questions which will lead into action.
References
CAMERON, Julia (1992) “The Artist Way, A Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity”, Tarcher /Putman, New York
COUÉ, E. (1922) “Self Mastery through Conscious Autosuggestion”, Van Orden, London
FISCHMAN, David (2012) El éxito es una decisión, El Mercurio Aguilar, Santiago, Chile
HAY, Louise L. (1987) “You Can Heal Your Life”, Hay House
HAY, Louise L. (2010) “You Can Create an Exceptional Life”, Hay House
HORNER, Margaret (2004). “The Experience of Practicing Affirmations on a Regular Basis. A Phenomenological Investigation” Dissertation Presented to the University Institute and University The Graduate College in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Dr. of Philosophy with a Concentration in Clinical Psychology.
LARSEN, E. (1990) “The Affirmation Kit”. Brooklyn Park, MN: E. Larsen Enterprises.
MARTIN, Curly (2001),”The Life Coaching Handbook, Everything You Need to Be An Effective Life Coach”. Crown House, UK.
PHILPOT, V.D. and BAMBURG, J.W. (1996) “Rehearsal of Positive Self-Statements and Restructured negative Self-Statements to Increase Self-Esteem and Decrease Depression” Phycological Reports, 79, 83-91.
SHARMA, Robin (2010), “The Leader Who Had No Title”, Free Press.
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WEGNER D.M.;PENNEBAKER J.M. (1993) “Handbook of Mental Control”, Hillsdale, N.J; Erlbaum, Bypassing the Will: The Automatization of Affirmations, Delroy L. Paulhus pp. 570-573.
WILLIAMS Patrick; THOMAS Lloyd J, (2005) “Total Life Coaching”, W.W. Norton, New York
WOOD, Joanne V.; PERUNOVIC, W.Q. Elaine y LEE, John W. (2009) “Positive Self-Statements; Power for Some, Peril for Others”. Psychological Science, 20, 7 pp.860-866.