What Are Positive Affirmations?
The definition of the word affirmation is “the assertion that something exists or is true”. Positive affirmations are positive statements that declare specific goals as if they have already happened.
While they may sound simple, they can be incredibly powerful and have a profound effect on the actions that you take to achieve the life that you desire.
How can positive affirmations help stress?
Stress is an inevitable part of life. However, when stress levels remain high, they can start to have a detrimental effect on both your emotional and physical well-being.
It is important to find ways to manage stress and repeating positive affirmations is a way for you to increase feelings of inner peace and to combat daily stress. The idea is to take the positive statements of what you want to manifest in your life and repeat them enough that they become a part of how you think and see the world. This way you can relieve some of the stress that you may be feeling.
Here are some of the best ways to use positive affirmations to help you manage stress.
Repetition
The most popular way that you can harness the power of affirmations is by merely repeating the affirmation to yourself regularly. Saying them out loud to yourself several times a day, in the mornings or evenings, can be incredibly useful. When you repeat them out loud, you hear them more clearly, which can make them more effective than if you were to repeat them to yourself mentally.
Do-It-Yourself Recording
To hear your affirmations more times throughout the day, you can record yourself repeating the positive affirmations and play the recording while you’re driving, when you’re reading in the evenings, or when exercising. Be sure to talk in a calm voice, and consider playing your favourite soothing music in the background. DIY recordings are a great way to create a tailor-made experience for your specific needs.
Use Post-It Notes
A fun way to utilize your positive affirmations daily is by writing them down on Post-It Notes and placing them around your house to provide you with positive messages throughout the day. You can put them on the refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, and other places that you see frequently. This technique can be incredibly useful on its own, or you can use it with some of the other affirmation techniques as a reinforcement.
Steps to writing your positive affirmations
Think About What You Want to Change
Everyone has something in their life that they would like to change. Do you wish you could have more patience? Do you want to be more productive at work?
Consider several areas or behaviours that you would like to work on in your life and write them down. You want to make sure that they are compatible with your core values and those things that matter to you. This will keep you motivated to achieve them.
Turn Negatives Into Positives
If you struggle with negative self-talk, take the time to write down the persistent thoughts and beliefs that are bothering you. Then write an affirmation that is the opposite of that belief. For example, if you always think that you aren’t talented enough to move ahead in your career, turn it around and write an affirmation like, “I am an experienced and skilled professional.”
Write Your Affirmation in the Present Tense
For your affirmation to be effective, you have to write it in the present tense, as if it is already happening to you. Writing in the present tense helps you believe that the statement is true. For example “I love to exercise and do it every day”
Say it With Emotion
When your affirmations carry the emotional weight, they will be more effective. You have to want this change to happen, so the statements that you choose to repeat should be something that is meaningful to you. For example, if you’re worried about a new project that you have to complete, you can repeat to yourself, “I am incredibly excited to take on a new challenge.”
Repeating positive affirmations regularly can help you overcome negative thoughts and help you manifest all your desires. Follow these simple steps, and you’ll have powerful statements that you can use daily.
5 More Tips for Successful Affirmations
Affirmations can be an incredibly powerful tool to help you manifest all your desires. However, if they aren’t done correctly, they can be a complete waste of time. The key to finding success with your positive affirmations is to have an unshakeable confidence that what you are stating will happen. Here are five more tips that you can use to take your success with affirmations to the next level.
Tip #1 – Be Specific
The more detail you can include in your positive affirmations the more believable it is and the more real it will become. You need to aim to be as specific as possible. When you can be specific with your affirmations, they can provide you with the motivation and opportunity to get everything you desire.
Tip #2 – Use Active Visualization
It isn’t enough to merely read your affirmations off of a card and then quickly move onto the next one. It’s a good idea to visualize the affirmations. Read each affirmation and then spend a few minutes imagining what that is actually like. Think about what you will see, what you will hear, what smells you’ll experience, and what feelings you’ll have about the achievement.
Tip #3 – Use Musical Motivation
Music can be a potent tool to use with your affirmations. When you read your affirmations, consider listening to some motivational, stirring, or upbeat music. Listening to music can help to stir up the feelings inside you. It is your feelings that generate the internal vibrations that will ultimately move you closer to your desires.
Tip #4 – Use Pictures
Take the time to overlay your affirmations over some appropriate background pictures. If you’re skilled in Photoshop or a similar graphics program, just download some pictures from a free stock photo website like www.pexels.com or www.pixabay.com and then overlay some text with your affirmation. But don’t worry, if you don’t have any such computer software/experience use www.canva.com where you’ll find templates that you can easily adapt and then download.
Affirmations can work for you when done correctly. Consider these tips when you’re creating your affirmations to be successful and manifest all your life’s desires.
Another great use of affirmations is to help you sleep with these sleep affirmations for insomnia. Give them a try!