Positive Affirmations: Tools for Confidence, Happiness, and Fulfillment
Times come when you struggle hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel, and you can’t go out of the confusion or negativity. We all have gone or have seen our loved ones go through such times, which is quite usual. Yet, in moments of dismay, we fail to understand that we do need to follow a series of practices that help us fight off the negative energy in our lives. One of the most effective yet most straightforward techniques we may apply in such times is the art of positive affirmations. This article will see what positive affirmations are, how they influence our lives and positively impact us, and, most importantly, how we apply those affirmations in our real lives.
Table of Contents
What Are Positive Affirmations?
On a psychological note, we mean a repetitive sequence or a phrase of words when we mention the word affirmation. Apply it with a positive note, and we get positive affirmations.
Positive affirmations tend to be the notes or the phrases that we repeat to ourselves in different forms frequently to channel positive energy. As a result, we begin to see a decrease in our sad thoughts and negative feelings by replacing them with feelings of happiness, liberty, positivity, and much more.
These are the positive statements that help us challenge our thoughts that are not productive – these are self-sabotaging, negative, and unhelpful for us.
They can be used to reduce feelings of anxiety and depression by giving you evidence that your coping mechanisms may be creating unhelpful problems for you.
Why don’t positive affirmations work?
They don’t work if you believe that your current way of thinking is correct.
However, write down in a journal how you felt about the events that went on in your day. Highlight all of the negative words you used to describe that day. Such as, “my day was terrible, someone cut me off in traffic.”
That is a cognitive distortion which gives you unhelpful ways of looking at life. You may have been irritated about being cut off in traffic, but the rest of your day was great.
Now if you minimize the severity of negative events and look at them as a problem you have to address rather than “it’s the end of the world”, then you will have an easier time convincing yourself that your positive affirmations are true.
You would be very surprised to see how many times per day you assume and look at something negatively without realizing it.
Positive affirmations can help create a buffer when we are stressed out by protecting your self-image when you are threatened.
In order to be able to make positive affirmations work, you have to write down what you accomplish, what you are good at or what you try hard at and give yourself credit as much as you can.
I find that creating a to-do list and checking off every single little thing you do, helps you see how much effort you give in a day. It’s a very easy reminder that I may not be accomplishing my major goals currently, but I am definitely putting in the work.
I like to use this “to-do” list planner that helps me be more aware of my worth and accomplishments. Even if it’s just “making my kids smile” or “putting a load of laundry in the wash”. I still am contributing to my life and the life of others, and I NEED to give myself credit for that. Over time these words can help you think more positively!
- Stop procrastinating and start turning your big dreams into reality!
- This planner and organizer for women and men comes with a detailed step-by-step illustrated user guide for a quick start, unlike other undated planners that will leave you wondering how to use them after the purchase.
Research shows that filling our minds with positive affirmations helps us define our self-worth and increase our confidence. By repeating it over and over again we are giving ourselves something positive to pull from. (Cascio et al., 2016)
How to Practice Positive Affirmations
Now, there are different ways through which we can practice positive affirmations. Below you will find various tips on including positive affirmations in your real life with some real-life examples that you may use. But, first, let’s see what those positive affirmations are.
1. Convince Yourself
Speaking will reinforce our overall learning experience and would improve our probability of actually hearing out the affirmations we send in space. So, this way, you are including multiple senses to get involved in positive affirmations.
It will help you anchor firmly to your environment, and in time, you will see that your mind will get activated with lots of positive affirmations around you. That way, your neural connections would get much more potent than before. This thing points to the idea of habit formation; when you involve more of your senses to make one thing a habit, it becomes second nature to you.
So, let’s say you chant every morning, “I am beautiful, and I love the way I am,” you will automatically start feeling more confident about yourself. It would become second nature to say it and feel it when you hear your own words processing in your mind.
2. Say Your Affirmations in the Present Tense
Although we want to instill the positive energy we anticipate, and it may take time to get to that level, we say our positive affirmations in the present tense. Doing otherwise would lack clarity, and it comes as an obstacle to feeling those things. Eventually, you start losing focus on your words, and it becomes just a sentence you say.
In other words, you don’t feel connected to the things you are trying to feel. So, the best way to form that connection is by using the present tense in your affirmations. Feel as if you are living through your affirmation rather than anticipating it.
Instead of saying, “I will become happy soon,” try replacing it with the present note: “I am as happy as I desire to be.” This will make your mind think that you are already in the state you want and would respond in that note.
In psychology, we understand that positive affirmations said in the present are an effective way of reprogramming our brains into thinking more positively about the situation and ourselves.
3. Avoid Using Negative Terms in Affirmations
When you are practicing the art of positive affirmations, make sure you don’t persist in including negative terminologies in it. For instance, if the positive affirmation is something like, “I don’t feel unhealthy anymore,” your mindset focuses on avoiding the adverse outcomes rather than following the excellent aspect.
On the same note, if you chant, “I will avoid toxic relationships,” it might backfire on you. This is because instead of focusing on healthy relationships, your mind will be fixating on thinking about negative relationships.
So, make sure that the words you choose in your positive affirmations hold a positive meaning so that you attract what you anticipate, not what you tend to avoid or grow apart from.
Your utmost goal in these chants or phrases is to put your desires to the front instead of the dissatisfaction you want to avoid. Therefore, you will need to select your message rather carefully to stay optimistic about the present and the future.
4. Create Something Meaningful
Meaning in one’s phrases is something somewhat subjective than objective. So, when you say “I am confident,” it may mean something else to you than it would mean something to another person. That is why you need to make sure the phrases you choose for yourself hold good value in your life.
If feeling confident is something you value in your life and situation, you may want to include that in your list of positive affirmations you practice daily. Go for something that feels positive and true to your life rather than selecting a phrase that doesn’t spark up much fire in you. So, the more individualistic you go in your chants, the better it becomes to focus on meaningful affirmations for yourself.
5. Be Direct and Simple
The conscious brain is aware of the desires, and the dreams you want to see become true. However, your unconscious mind should also agree on it thoroughly to bring it to fruition. Therefore, you need to improve the element of specificity when it comes to it.
For instance, if you want to say, “I make a million dollars in a year from my business. I think I have a lot of time and energy for doing things that I love”, that would drive away the attention from the core. So instead, try to get more specific about it.
For example, you may want to write down multiple times in your journal in the simplest terms and understand what you want. If it wouldn’t make you feel more positive about yourself, you will need to work on your affirmation again.
The more straightforward it is, the easier it will be to stay focused and be confident in yourself. Then, you wouldn’t feel that you have lost your desire and concentrate on what you want.
6. Include Passion in Your Affirmations
Positive affirmations with a strong belief and emotion come with a considerable impact. When you truly feel the change you want, your positive affirmations will tend to work more powerfully. That is why you need to say “I am happy” and truly focus on the time that you experienced the feeling of happiness and genuinely get in touch with what you are feeling.
Now, try savoring the sensation and making the most of it that you possibly can.
Come with words such as “I am happy,” and make sure to feel through the words as you chant. When positive emotions are coupled with positive words, the overall energy that you attract is hugely influential.
7. Add Visualization
Another way of strengthening your positive affirmations than speaking is to use your conscious mind for visualization. The art of visualization is a tangible way to embed your message into your subconscious mind. So, let’s say you say, “I am successful,” then visualize what you decipher in that order. So, in this case, you might want to imagine how it feels to be successful – how would your house look, how happy you see yourself and your family with you, how easily you would be able to buy the things you need from the money you get.
Add more and more details as you practice visualization daily. For example, try including different smells, colors, and sensations you want to see in the anticipated future as you chant your thoughts. This is one of the best ways to visualize.
Research Behind Affirmations
According to research, individuals who learned to use affirmations had improved activity in the parts of their brain that helped them reflect on future core values. People are unaware of the changes that the positive affirmations have on them, but they can give them the courage to pursue things they may have felt too intimidated to do previously. (Cascio et al., 2016)
Teaching children this can be a helpful reminder of their worth “I can choose to value my worth, even if others choose not to see it.” Of course, this applies to adults as well; however, building up confidence from a young age can be helpful for their development and decrease issues as they age.
Affirmations involve using the ventral striatum (VS) and ventral medial prefrontal cortex, which control reward, motivation, and dopamine production. Therefore, affirmations give your brain information to pull from when it is threatened and increase dopamine production.
Final Word
As you know now, positive affirmations are about reprogramming your brain and taking time. So, remind yourself if you forget – sticky notes, a painting, or a mobile phone lock screen can act as good reminders for positive affirmations. Also, you will be able to manifest your affirmation in your subconscious mind that way. So, practice all these things and create positive affirmations that help you gain the success you need.
References:
Cascio, C. N., O’Donnell, M. B., Tinney, F. J., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. E., Strecher, V. J., & Falk, E. B. (2016). Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 11(4), 621–629. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv136
Originally posted 2022-04-19 19:17:02.
Megan Santiago
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