We all need to be supported emotionally. Unfortunately, we don't always find the healthy support we need in our daily lives. When it comes to feeling good about yourself, it is a good idea to learn how to use affirmations.
Instead of waiting for other people to be supportive, you can create ideas you tell yourself that make you feel better.
In addition to being a healthy habit, affirmations encourage you to seek out connections with people who are going to make a positive impact on your life.
What are Affirmations?
Affirmations can be really powerful, and they are also easy to use. When you begin to form thoughts and repeat similar things again and again, you start believing in the ideas.
Many people use this in a negative way without even knowing it, but these affirmations can also be used for good.
For example, if you keep telling your mind emphatically – “I am confident” – repeatedly, you will get the message. From here, the wheels of the mind will be set into motion so that you definitely become more confident.
This is a basic affirmation, and you can learn to make up your own set of custom affirmations that work for you.
The strength of words is amazing, and everything in our lives is described by them. If we can create our own narrative, and make sure that we are using our mind to be positive, we will be in a much better position.
Using a short, powerful and positive statement to influence our behaviors and habits is the basis of an affirmation. We can use these affirmations to create our thinking patterns, and repel negative thoughts.
When using affirmations, there are a few things to keep in mind:
Role of Daily Affirmations in Everyone’s Life
“Watch your thoughts, they become your words; watch your words, they become your actions; watch your actions, they become your habits; watch your habits, they become your character; watch your character, it becomes your destiny.”
― Lao Tzu
We must accept that our ideas create our actions and our actions become our reality. If we continually immerse ourselves with negative thought forms, we will take steps in real life to self sabotage, and create a painful reality.
Positive affirmations can help take your world from negative to positive in just a few minutes. They also give you a positive base in your mental reality to work from.
Even if their effects are mild to begin with, over time, using affirmations will help you grow a more positive existence.
Benefits of Daily Affirmations
Examples of Affirmation
Do Affirmations Work?
At their most basic level, affirmations are totally effective. You will be able to tell yourself positive ideas, and they will impact the mind.
It is also a good idea to consider what you are trying to accomplish with the affirmations, and how realistic your goals are.
Let's say that you want to feel better about your body. You may have been told that you are overweight, too thin, too tall, too short, or have undesirable features. Instead of focusing on what you were told, you have to start creating your own ideas.
Affirmations do this by putting your inner voice into action. Instead of listening to memory repeating a negative idea, you start creating your own positive ideas. You can tell yourself that you are beautiful, and that your ideas matter most.
“The mind is everything. What we think we become.” ~Buddha
Everything in our lives is a reflection of what we think and feel. We create our own lives with our emotions and feelings, and all this adds up to how we view ourselves.
By taking control over the inner voice, we no stop being the victim of what others say about us, and the fault finding part of our mind that latches on to anything negative, and repeats it on an unending loop.
Positive affirmations stop this cycle of negative thoughts, and allow you to feel better about your life. When a person feels bad, they are unlikely to make positive life choices. Learning how to use affirmations is a key part of a positive outlook, and a great self image.
Here are some things that affirmations can be used to do, and manifest positive change in our lives.
Enhance Self-Esteem
One of the most important things in life is cultivating a positive mental self-portrait that includes realistic confidence and great self-esteem. Successful people have self-esteem and affirmations can be very useful for boosting your self-esteem.
We may not have been raised by a positive family, or we may have dealt with a social situation that left us feeling bad about who we are. This isn't going to lead to a happy life, and we need to be supportive of ourselves.
Many negative behaviors start with unfair views about who we are, and all this comes right back to little to no self esteem. We can use affirmations to address these bad feelings, and repair the damage that the world has done to us.
Sleep Better with an Affirmation
Our busy lives can make our minds feel restless, and this can lead to a bad sleep situation. Before sleeping our subconscious mind has lots of thoughts about our job, family, and many other things. All of this can result in a poor quality of sleep and anxiety.
By using affirmations you can reprogram your mind. Practicing positive affirmations before sleeping helps you to relax, so you can have quality sleep which brings positive change in your life. A lack of sleep can also lead to depression, even though your life is actually fine.
Deal with Negative Thoughts
You don't have to live a life that is a result of negative thoughts that play over and over in your mind.
It’s true that negative memories can hold you back, and prevent you from living a happy life. By using affirmations you can replace negative thoughts to positive one, and start using your inner voice for positive change.
Affirmations are like a blast of fresh air which your mind needs to stay fresh.
If you’re facing issues in your life, or are the victim (yes – victim, the fault finding mind is abusive and won't listen to reason) of negative self-talk just write down the thoughts that are bothering you.
After you deal with how badly you have been treated, find positive solutions which are the opposite of the negative thoughts that are destroying your chances at happiness.
You can use affirmations to let go of your negative beliefs. By using daily affirmations, you will make your subconscious mind move in a positive direction, and adopt a more realistic attitude about your self image.
Build Positive Habits
Good habits create better lives. Affirmations help you to build new positive habits and make your mind ready for success.
The mental state you are experiencing was constructed by previous thoughts and actions. Affirmations will allow you to stop being passive in how your reality is created.
Make sure the affirmations you choose to create positively change at the most basic levels of your mind, and also ensure that you aren't taking action on the latent negative thoughts you have in your mind.
With daily work, and a good feel for your emotional state, you will be able create affirmations that manifest real change in your life.
How to Start Using Affirmations
Before starting, ask yourself whether you truly need to get what you are seeking.
If you have doubts and you are not so sure that you need it, your questions may help you find a better goal. You may want a new car, but you probably need to have more peace in your personal life.
Many people are distracted by material objects, or compulsive desires. If you want to use affirmations as some sort of magic that will manifest a million dollar home, or an attractive lust-object, you are going in the wrong direction.
Make sure that your motives are positive, and you are seeking peaceful happiness. We have to be grateful first, and then we can act to improve our physical conditions.
Steps to Follow:
- Start in the morning as soon as you wake up and take deep breaths, think positively about your day.
- Say your positive affirmation clearly and little loudly so your ears can hear your words.
- Repeat the affirmations 2-4 times in a day and think about your goals.
- When you are finished, take deep breaths, absorb the positive energy, and let go of any negative thoughts
Tips for Writing an Effective Affirmation:
It can be a little bit difficult to start writing affirmations if you have never done it before. Here are some ideas to consider while writing affirmations. Make sure that you choose a meaningful idea, and be honest about who you are.
Step 1: Start with ‘I am…’
Starting your affirmation with the words ‘I am' makes it more powerful. It utilizes language that gives your subconscious brain an order. When you say ‘I am' your mind receive it as an order that has a powerful creative influence.
Step 2: Write in Present Tense
Compose and speak your affirmation as it is happening right now. This encourages you to accept that the affirmation is genuine at the present moment.
For example, “I am well-prepared and, and I can give an extraordinary introduction…” would be an incredible affirmation to use if you feel anxious talking before a big group of people.
Step 3: Write About Things You Want to Change
In your affirmation statement, write about areas of your life which you want to change. For example, if you want to be more confident, write affirmations that allow you to feel more confident about realistic things.
You can list all the things you need to work on, and then work on making them a reality in your life.
Step 4: Make it Short
Always try to make your affirmation statement very specific and brief. Never write a paragraph, and confuse yourself with way too much information. Make your affirmation feel natural so your mind can easily visualize the results.
Simply say “I am eating healthy food” instead of saying “I generally pick healthy food over shoddy and junk food since I'm aware of my wellbeing.”
Step 5: Be Realistic
You should always use a realistic approach and base it on a practical evaluation of your life. Imagine that you are not happy about your height, and you need to accept that you won't grow any more.
Instead of focusing on what you view as a negative thing, focus on being positive about reality. You could say “I am a great height and I love myself”. Some things just aren't going to change, and you need to find ways to love who you are!
Step 6: Add Feeling Into the Affirmation
Affirmations will be more valuable when you add a personal touch. You are talking to yourself, and you will need to address how you actually feel about yourself, and your situation.
For instance, if you are worried about your new job and its responsibilities, you need to say “I am ready to accept more challenges and excited to meet new people.”
A big part of writing good affirmations is making sure that your view of the world is realistic. If you are feeling nervous, you need to address those feelings in the affirmation. There is no point in lying to yourself, especially if you are working to make your life better!
Using Affirmations to Change Your Life
We have to make many decisions in our daily lives and the results of those actions aren't going to be under our control. Affirmations give us positive mental energy, and the ability to deal with reality as it is.
Negative self-talk matters a lot as it’s a reality of the human condition. The good news is that you can take control over the inner voice, and make sure that it is working with you to live a more positive life.
Research has shown that around 80% of the 50,000 subconscious thoughts you have in a day are negative ones. When you start thinking from your early age about your weaknesses and repeating the negative memories as a reality, it creates a negative impact on your personality.
For example, you might have a inner voice that says: “I'm fat” – “I am not confident.”
Positive affirmation plays a very important role to get rid of these negative thoughts. The power of affirmations has been discussed in books, movies, and blogs, but you can start using these powerful phrases all by yourself.
When you take control of how you view yourself, negative influences have a much harder time getting into your mind. While they may still exist in your environment, destructive energy won’t be able to convince you that it is a part of your life, or that you deserve to suffer.
Final Thoughts on How to Use Affirmations
Affirmations are one of the ways that we can ensure that we are getting the support we need. It might seem strange to start giving ourselves the boost we need, but when we learn to love ourselves, amazing things are possible.
Real happiness isn’t rooted in getting more stuff than other people. It all begins when you can be content with who you are, and see that people who are the victims of negative energy will be far better served by a person who has learned how to create peace in their own life.
When you craft your own affirmations, be honest with yourself about what has brought you contentment and joy. If you can focus your mind on simple things in your life, and let go of negative feelings, a wonderful present moment is all yours.
Affirmations can be a big part of finding that golden moment.
And if you're looking for examples of encouraging affirmations, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 70 Affirmations for Self Worth and Love Yourself More
- 166 One-Word Affirmations to Instantly Kick-Start Your Motivation
- 108 Positive Hope Affirmations to Stay Positive
Finally, if you want a simple tool to record and recite these affirmations, then check out these 13 affirmations apps that help you create a positive mindset.
Nicholas Say was born in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and has been interested in global belief systems from a young age. This area of study led him to research many Eastern philosophical systems, including Vedic and Buddhist ideas and practices. Today he thinks that humanity needs to find ways to be happy with being, as opposed to possessing and doing. His views fall roughly in-line with the late philosopher Alan Watts, who he venerates as great teacher.
