I Am an Affirmations Skeptic

I have a confession. Affirmations make me feel...uncomfortable. I'm extremely skeptical of the bold claims affirmations make. An example would be this one:

I mean, really? Saying this out loud and often is not going to increase anyone's wealth. It's not possible. But there are people who claim it does. 

Now, I understand that there are tons of affirmations not related to money or success but I'm still skeptical. I feel twitchy about it all. 

So why affirmations? Why do a 365 on something I am so skeptical about? It's a topic that keeps popping up on my radar the past couple of years so I thought it might make for an interesting experiment. Provide an affirmation a day, some additional insights about its theme, and see if it makes a difference for me or anyone else. 

One of the purposes of affirmations, from the reading up I've been doing, is to transform negative thinking into positive thinking. I can get behind that, it's basically a step in cognitive behavioral therapy. I guess it's the idea that you can speak something into existence that makes me twitch. I found an article from a fellow skeptic that communicates some of the same reasons I have for being suspicious of affirmations, check it out here.

But since I've decided to give affirmations a chance I continued on in my reading and ran across some other thoughts about affirmations that I could give consideration. If you are a skeptic like me, or curious about affirmations, then you can read what I did by clicking here.

So I'm willing to give this an honest effort (confession - right now I'm willing to do so because I'm pretty positive I'm going to be able to prove my skepticism isn't unfounded) and hopefully you'll participate in the experiment with me because I'm not so keen on going it alone.

How does one practice affirmations? I mean, there's the saying of it out loud and several times over but is that it? Or can there be other methods and ways of practicing? Turns out there are many ways to incorporate affirmations into our day-to-day lives, here's a few ideas:
17 Ways to Practice Affirmations
5 Steps to Make Affirmations Work for You

Here's how this 365 Experiment is going to work -
I'm going to post an affirmation a day - for those who want a little more about that day's topic I have provided some articles I curated and maybe, from time to time, a graphic (I love me some visuals) that supports the day's affirmation. I have chosen not to include affirmations about material wealth or material success. I believe that true wealth and success come from our inner lives not from temporary things that don't count once we've departed this life.

I really hope you will join me the next 365 days as I experiment with affirmations. I would love to hear about your experiences with affirmations as well.

Here's my affirmation statement to kick off the next 365 days:
"I am determined to see this 365 experiment through."