Learn what affirmations are and the benefits of positive affirmations for emotional well-being. Discover practical tips for incorporating positive affirmations into your daily routine.
What are Affirmations?
Affirmations or positive affirmations are uplifting phrases and statements that you can repeat to yourself to transform your mindset and avoid negative thoughts. We may not realise it, but what we tell ourselves and how we talk to ourselves has a huge impact on our mental health. Our inner dialogue dictates our behaviours and our attitudes. What positive affirmations do is they alter our neural pathways and train our brains to think in more productive ways. These affirmations can be simple yet impactful sentences that can help you become a better version of yourself. Positive affirmations have also been proven to lower your stress and anxiety levels. They help calm your mind and relax your body. The key is to be consistent and repeat them to yourself as much as you can for them to work.
Benefits of Using Affirmations
Positive affirmations are based on the self-affirmation theory, which means that they help you build a positive self-image and avoid negative self-talk. They can help boost your confidence and improve your self-esteem. They’re known to encourage a positive shift in your emotions, boosting your mood. They’re also a great way to resolve cognitive dissonance. If there’s a mismatch between your thoughts and actions, affirmations can help motivate you to act on your thoughts. This can help promote a positive self-image. These affirmations can be applied to all areas of your life. From relationships to work issues, there are affirmations for everything. Affirmations are known to help immensely with solving anxiety and stress issues. Try this short session with Simran Pawa to ease your anxiety about SoulSensei with soothing affirmations. Practising daily affirmations can have a significant impact on your attitude towards life and help you cultivate a positive mindset. Affirmations are rooted in solid psychological and neurological evidence that insists that daily affirmations can make you more resilient towards taking on life’s challenges and encourage personal growth.
How to Use Affirmations Effectively
There are many ways you can make the most of your affirmations. We’ve listed some below.
1. Make it a Daily Practice
Try affirming yourself every day. Repetition helps fixate certain beliefs in our subconscious, making it easier to imbibe positive changes in our personality. Consistency is key when it comes to affirmations.
2. Start Your Day Right
Morning affirmations are a great way to introduce this practice in your life. At this time, our mind is well-rested and ready to receive new information. It also helps set a positive tone for the rest of the day.
3. Recite Them in Front of the Mirror
Affirming positive words to yourself in front of the mirror can help them become part of your inner voice over time and boost your confidence and self-esteem.
4. Journal Them
Make affirmations a part of your daily journaling practice. Write them down in your journal every morning and before bed to fix them in your subconscious.
5. Visualise Your Goals
You can enhance your affirmations by visualising the details of your goals and feeling the feelings associated with achieving your goals like joy, excitement and contentment. For example, if your goal is to be fitter, visualise yourself in a fitter body or doing things you would like to do with your new body.
Creating Your Own Affirmations
In order for your affirmations to be effective, it’s important to keep them short and concise. Short daily affirmations are easier to remember and jot down. It makes your life easier when you’re trying to remember them during stressful situations or challenging moments. For example, if you’re nervous before a date or an important meeting, having a short affirmation like ‘I am capable’ or ‘I am confident’ can come in handy instead of a wordy statement. It can help you give an instant boost and shift in emotions.
That said, you can always make your own affirmations once you’ve decided the purpose behind it. Decide what you would like to get out of it. Is it motivation? A boost in confidence? A gentle nudge to get through a task? Once you’ve zeroed in on the purpose, you can create a short, positive and authentic statement that best aligns with it. For example, if it is the confidence you’re seeking, try using affirmations like ‘ I can make a difference in the world’ or ‘I am confident and capable’. Make sure you set them in the present tense and not the future or past tense.
Common Mistakes to Avoid
While affirmations promote positivity and motivation, it’s worth remembering that action is key. Simply repeating the words won’t help. You will have to take the steps needed to reach your goals. So, make sure you’re acting upon your thoughts and actually doing the tasks at hand.
Affirmations have also been misconstrued for promoting toxic positivity. This is when you brush your negative emotions aside and use affirmations as a crutch. Rather than dealing with your feelings, you suppress them with a positive affirmation. Avoid this by clubbing your affirmations with meditations so that you can get in touch with your real feelings. If you feel like the issue is more deep-rooted, consult with a professional.
Lastly, avoid using stock affirmations. In the world of social media, it’s easy to find random affirmations everywhere. The key is to make sure your affirmations are authentic to you and align with your own values.
Affirmations are a great way to transform your mindset and boost your morale. They are simple yet impactful statements meant to uplift your mood. They are known to alter your neural pathways. The more positively you speak to yourself, the newer positive neural pathways are built in your brain. This results in enforcing positive behaviours and changing your overall outlook towards life. Affirmations are also known to alleviate anxiety and stress. The most effective ways to make the affirmations work is to practice them consistently, recite them in front of the mirror, write them down in your journal, visualise your goals, and keep them as short as possible.
Sources
- Positivepsychology.com – Positive daily affirmations: Is there science behind it? By Catherine Moore
- Affirmations: What they are, health benefits and getting started. By Rena Goldman
- Using Affirmations. By Mind Tools Team
Frequently Asked Questions
What are affirmations, and how do they help?
Affirmations are uplifting statements that you can recite to yourself to transform your mindset and behaviour. They help cultivate a positive self-image, boost self-esteem and confidence, and help avoid negative self-talk. They also help in improving your mental health and alleviate stress and anxiety. In the long run, they help change the way you look at life and make you a more positive person overall.
How do you use affirmations in your daily life?
You can make affirmations a part of your daily self-care practice. You can recite them in front of the mirror when you’re getting ready or jot them down in your journal when you wake up and go to bed. You can also keep certain affirmations handy to keep you motivated throughout the day.
Which affirmation is most powerful?
While affirmations are deeply personal and different ones work for different issues, short affirmations are the most powerful. Affirmations that closely align with your beliefs, values and state of mind are likely to work best for you. So try to keep your affirmations as personal, concise and simple as possible.
Do affirmations really work?
Yes, they’re rooted in solid psychological and neurological evidence. They work on the self-affirmation theory, which states that repeating positive statements to yourself can help create new neural pathways. This can result in a more positive outlook towards life.
