The Power of Affirmations and How To Embrace Them

‘Affirmation’ has become a bit of a buzz word in self-care circles, and their power is certainly not to be underestimated. If you’re looking to develop your self-confidence and enter a cycle of continuous improvement on yourself, then setting positive affirmations can help you achieve your goals and move forward in the right way. But exactly what are they and how do they work? Let me explain.

Exactly what ARE Affirmations?

The definition of the word ‘affirmation’ is “a statement or sign that something is true”. In self-care terms, affirmations are statements of positive words that people tell themselves to help improve their inner monologue and self-talk. 

 

In bouts of low self-confidence, you’ll have inadvertently thought negative affirmations: I’m not confident, I’m not enough. The opposite is positive affirmations – telling yourself the good stuff, and truly believing it: I AM confident, I AM enough.

How do Positive Affirmations work?

The quality of your life is hugely influenced by how you feel, and the quality of your self-confidence is hugely influenced by how you feel about yourself. This is why it’s so important to keep your self-talk and the way you think about yourself upbeat and positive.

 

The words you use to describe what is happening to you and how you’re feeling about it triggers your happy and sad emotions… makes sense right?

 

Your brain and sub-conscious mind recognises and appreciates patterns and detecting these patterns is an important part of how us humans learn and make decisions… are you still with me? Now, those patterns that run in your mind vibrate at a certain frequency.

 

If you can create a positive pattern and infuse it with optimistic energy, you feel happier  – and will start noticing that you attract similar good vibes.

 

The positivity in positive affirmations encourages your brain to release endorphins, the happy hormones. This helps develop a PMA (Positive Mental Attitude) and increases both your self-confidence and your self-worth.

The three ingredients of Positive Affirmations

A good self-affirmation should be short and sweet, so that it’s easy to remember and quick to consider. There are three ingredients that every positive affirmation should contain:

 

1. Positive Words – the point of an affirmation is that it is concise and is a statement. The affirmation should convey positive feeling – if they’re negative, or even neutral, it simply won’t be powerful enough. ‘I AM’ is where it’s at. These are the two most powerful words in the world… literally! Whatever follows ‘I AM’ starts the creation of it. 
2. Visualisation – visualise the words in your mind and put them into context for yourself. Visualising your affirmation will help you remember it and will ensure it’s personal to you.
3. A Corresponding Feeling – be sure to embed the affirmation with a corresponding feeling. Feeling is emotion and emotion is energy. This helps your brain compute the affirmation with an energy that vibrates well and beds in as a healthy, happy thought pattern.

How to shape Positive Affirmations for yourself to boost self-confidence

Like I’ve said before, affirmations should begin with the two words “I am…” and then insert a positive inflection that points toward something you want to achieve. This could be: “I am enough” or “I am brave” or “I am capable”, or something similar.

 

Once you’ve decided on an affirmation that works for you and the goals you’re looking to achieve, write it down! You can adopt this affirmation as your go-to motto for whenever you’re in need of it. 

 

Exactly how and when you use your affirmation is up to you, but in order to really embed it, you need to repeat it to yourself as often as you can. Try and build it into your daily habits – say it out loud to yourself as you look in the mirror and finish off your mascara, think of it as you have a hot drink in the morning, have it greeting you on your phone as a regular reminder and put it on a post-it bang in the middle of somewhere you look… a lot!

 

Once your affirmation really becomes part of your belief system and sub-conscious, you’ll begin to find you achieve it and your self-confidence builds.

What are some good examples of Positive Affirmations I can tell myself?

Positive affirmations come in many variations, but you need to choose one that really feels right for you. Some good examples of affirmations include “I am grateful for new opportunities”, “I am at peace with my past”, “I am capable of achieving new things”, “I am attracting wealth all of the time”, “I am proud of who I am becoming”.

 

Whatever combination of words you choose, you’ll know when you find the right one because it’ll just feel right – and as you grow into it, it’ll feel very fitting, too.

 

Take a look at this video to check out my favourite affirmations, and the ones that work the best for me. 

 

And… Now’s the time for you to TAKE ACTION!! Click here to and join the ’30-Day Affirmations Challenge’ and start creating that positive mindset TODAY. 

 

“When you invest in yourself, you have instant credibility with your biggest critic… you! As soon as you let doubt creep in you lose that investment. Make a daily commitment to assess your worth with positive affirmations and watch your investment grow”

– C.Tony Graham