Do you practice positive affirmations daily?
If not, ask yourself: How has your year been so far? What was last year like? Do you need an extra dose of positivity?
Last year was a hard year for a lot of people. Political and religious tension is everywhere. An environment like that can make it so hard to maintain a positive outlook on life.
This year has been infinitely harder. Personally, I have been tired, struggling to find motivation, and unhappy with many aspects of my life. Plus, there’s that little pandemic happening.
I feel like the majority of my Facebook news feed all year long was filled with people struggling. They were sick, they were stressed, they hated their boss, they hated their body, they hated their ex, they hated hate. I sent more virtual hugs than I can even count.
I was right there in the mix, struggling alongside so many loved ones and Facebook acquaintances. So many times, I tried to only share positivity in my posts, in the hopes of brightening someone’s day, but I wonder how effective that actually is. Does it make you feel better to see someone else’s lollipops and rainbows when you are suffering a deluge of problems on a daily basis?
This is something I think about a lot (authenticity vs. an attempt to be positive.) Are my positive posts actually helping people? Or do they only serve as a reminder of things someone lacks?
Anyway, there is a practice I started in 2018 that I think really helped, and I know can help whoever reads this. It is a little unorthodox, so be forewarned: People too cool for believing in the abundance of the universe and the law of attraction, now is the time to skedaddle.
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Also, I am not a doctor or mental health professional. Just someone who has lived with anxiety for many years who is passionate about sharing her experiences and tips for success. If you are in crisis call your doctor, then click here for some good mental health resources.
Why positive affirmations work
Every day, I use 3 resources to ingrain some positivity into my brain which I will detail in a bit. Did you know that your brain is so amazingly powerful, but also incredibly fragile? It has the power to believe whatever you tell it, which is a bad thing and a good thing depending on how you look at it. The great thing about that is that you can feed it the information you want it to have, and over time it will believe you.
Science nut? Check out this cool article about the power of our brain. To sum up:
You can’t tell yourself that you believe in your abilities just one or two times and expect it to make a real difference; you have got to affirm your belief in yourself day after day, month after month, until it becomes an unbreakable habit.’
(Huffington Post)
When you reach the point of having complete faith in yourself you will know it. There is a noticeable rush of positive energy throughout the entire body that lets you know that in this moment, you do in fact believe in yourself. Use this knowledge of the positive emotion to gauge whether or not you believe in yourself at any moment in time.
What do we need to do?
Positive affirmations might seem a little corny, but they really do work with a little time and dedication. Here are my top tips for making them work for you in as little time as possible.
Be patient with ourselves.
Our thought are not going to change overnight. We have to make it a priority daily to watch the sorts of thoughts we allow to take up residence in our brains.
Now, I don’t think it’s possible to never have a negative thought. We have thousands of thoughts a day and we simply cannot police them all.
What we can do is try our hardest to cancel them out when they come up.
Cancel-cancel, delete-delete
This is a method I really like for cancelling out negative thoughts. When you feel yourself thinking negatively, this is what you do:
•Negative thought: I am such a failure.
•Think: Cancel-cancel, delete-delete. (Literally, those words.)
•Positive thought: I am constantly trying to improve and doing the best that I can.
Easy, right?
Find an accountability partner
Find someone who spends a lot of time with you and ask them to hold you accountable for the way that you think.
If they hear you say something negative about yourself, or just negative in general, have them flick you on the arm or tell you a pre-determined phrase. This will help retrain your brain, and gear it toward positivity.
Resources to check out
- First, I use an app called Affirmations. Every day, it gives you a randomly generated phrase to say to yourself. For instance, today’s was: “I am constantly learning about people and how I can better relate to them.”
- Next, I use an app called HayHouse VB. It allows you to create a virtual vision board. You can include meaningful phrases, images, or progress charts for whatever your goals may be.
- Lastly, I use the Notes app on my phone to read phrases to myself. These are going to be unique to you, so make sure to come up with something that carries meaning. One of mine is: “I am capable of giving and receiving love.”
The positive affirmations will be difficult at first, because you will not believe the things you are reading. They will seem contrived and false and full of impossible hope. But that big beautiful brain of yours just needs time to heal and learn just how true they are.
Try it out for 90 days! I guarantee your brain will thank you.
Today I Affirm: A Journal that Nurtures Self-Care
Mindset: The New Psychology of Success
Do you use any sort of affirmations? Do you find they help? Let me know in the comments, and make sure to share this post if you found it helpful!
I always believe in this positive affirmation. Thank you for the free printables!
No problem! Thanks for reading!
This is something I really need to try soon. I keep putting it off, and now I feel like crap. Waking up in the morning and seeing all the things I need to do makes me feel tired already. Thank you for letting me know about the app. I am going to try that. Hopefully, I will see some changes in my life. I know it won’t be instant, but I will take it one day at a time.
Definitely, take it one day at a time. Just take a deep breath, cancel cancel the negative thoughts. Every moment is a chance to start over. Hang in there and thanks for reading!
I just started doing positive affirmation and I’m glad to read a post about it. It’s so comforting to see that I’m doing well and other people benefit from it too.
I’m glad you’ve given them a try! Stick with it, and give yourself a lot of patience. Thanks for reading!
Positive affirmations are something I’ve been meaning to try but haven’t yet. Thank you for the app suggestion!
No problem! I figure they don’t hurt to try! It’s not like they can really make things worse in anyway, except for feeling a bit dorky LOL. Try it! Thanks for reading 🙂
I also follow the Law of Attraction. Yes, our brain is so gullible that it will believe anything you tell it lol!
Exactly! I love the law of attraction and always mean to do more research on it. Thanks for reading!
I love your negative to positive thought example! Negative thoughts often pop up on my mind on rough days, but being aware of them is the first step to cancelling them out and trying for happier thoughts.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks so much! I think as long as when it happens you know it’s negative and try to counteract it, you’re doing great! Thanks for reading 🙂
This is such a necessary post especially in today’s day and age. I’ve been studying the law of attraction a lot and this is perfect. Hopefully you’ll make this into a series.
I just may! I am doing a series currently, but I was trying to think of an idea for my next one. That is a great idea! Thanks so much
Positive affirmations absolutely work. I love the authenticity of this post, and just being straightforward. It’ll work if you do, you know?✨
Thanks! That’s what I was going for! I appreciate the kind feedback.
Positive affirmations are so powerful!! People do not realise how powerful words are and how we think and speak! I constantly try and work on it. Thank you for such an inspirational post.
Thank you very much! I appreciate it. Glad you have found it helpful!
Positive affirmations have been helping me so much! I try to write down 3 every week when I do my gratitude journal 🙂 x
That’s a great idea! I just ordered a journal to give journaling a try again, and I am gonna try to write at least one thing down every day.
Great post. I just love using affirmations, in my daily life and in my blog posts lol. I think an accountability partner is a great idea for affirmations, as it definitely works for the gym, so why shouldn’t it for this! Thanks for sharing your experience using them and other resources to check out too. Helen
Thanks so much! I appreciate it.
Thank you so much for sharing these tips! I’m struggling with my health for a couple of months and this sometimes really takes its toll on my mental health as well, which makes me a negative mess. I think practicing positive affirmation might help so I need to start working on this.
xoxo Simone | https://beautymone.com
Give it a shot. I always say, It’s free and it’s can’t hurt!
These are great!! I especially love the “cancel cancel, delete delete”. I’ve been doing the same thing however I’ve been verbally saying “stop” and thats helped me tremendously!
That’s great! Whatever works for you. Great job practicing healthy thought patterns 🙂 Thanks for reading!
I need to try doing this! Positive affirmations could help so much! My self talk tends to bring more questions than statements. Great resource list, thank you!
You’re welcome! Good luck. It’s worth a shot!
Great post – it’s so important to remember that the brain easily absorbs these sort of things so we should use it to our advantage with positive affirmations. I need to start doing this more often!
I’ve been a big believer in the power of the brain, and especially in positive affirmations. I listen to them both subliminally and out loud, and they really help me become the person I want to be. Great article and I can’t wait to read more of your work!
I love your reminder about time — it takes time to change habits and rewrite our neural pathways until the affirmations become part of who we are.
I really should start thinking more positive thoughts. Thank
You for sharing this ?
What a great post with the important reminder of how the brain works and “hears” those all important positive messages. And how we need to work on them.
Think I shall start employing some affirmations in my life- thanks Jen.
Spence ?
Thank you so much. Glad you enjoyed it. Let me know how it goes!
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