What are Positive Affirmations?
Affirmations are statements that are frequently repeated in your mind and/or said out loud. When using positive affirmations, they can help to overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts. The more we use them, we can physically rewire neural pathways in our brain and this is where we start to create positive changes.
We use affirmations all day every day. However, we are typically using them unconsciously or without realizing. They are just a habitual part of our day to day. When we use positive affirmations “correctly” and with intention, it can make a big difference in our life satisfaction and help us create lasting change.
How Positive Affirmations Help
Affirmations work; however, there’s a little bit of a catch. Due to our brain’s neuroplasticity, regular repetition will allow your brain to take these regularly used statements as fact. We can use this to our advantage by creating new “rules” for ourselves. For example, “I speak to people with ease” rather than constantly beating yourself up with statements like “I’m so socially awkward.”
The catch is, affirmations are not a magic wand. We as humans still need to experience life and work to overcome the things standing in our way. Affirmations help make the process easier. To use our previous example, “I speak to people with ease.” You still need to speak to people. It’s important that we still take action on our goals and use the affirmations to support you during this process.
How to Use Affirmations
There are a number of ways to use affirmations, I suggest you try a number of different ways to see which activity brings you the most joy.
1. Say them out loud feeling your emotions fully
2. Record a voice memo of you reading them & play it first thing every morning.
3. Decorate your planner with them
4. Write them down
5. Set a silent alarm throughout the day and label the alarm with your affirmation
*If you are struggling with a positive affirmation try adding “I am in the process of believing _______” to the beginning.
The most important things to remember about affirmations are repetition and your emotions. Repeat them often and have fun while doing it! How would it feel to truly believe your statement? Sit in that feeling for as long as you can.
Other Creative Ideas
1. Put them in your child’s lunch box
2. Decorate a mirror with them. You could even switch them out once a month.
3. Place one at the corner of your desk & switch them out each week.
4. Hide them in random places for a cute surprise
5. Decorate a bulletin board or fridge
How long does it take for positive affirmations to work?
There’s no set time. There are a number of factors that go into how quickly they take effect. How big of a change is it? What does your current reality look like? How much resistance is there? Try not to worry too much about the time frame. Instead, have confidence that they will work and keep showing up every day.
If you are interested in checking out how to use affirmations in the classroom, check out this blog post.
