Harness Positive Thinking: The Power of Affirmations

You might be surprised by how much impact affirmations can have on your life. When repeated daily, these short phrases or sentences can help change your mindset and improve your life.

In fact, the power of affirmations is undeniable – once you start using them regularly, you won’t believe how much better your life becomes. It doesn't matter what type of person you are  – whether you're an introvert or extrovert; young or old; male or female – everyone can benefit from using affirmations every day for 30 days straight (or more).

You might think that this sounds silly at first but read on because it really works! In this blog post, we’ll cover the basics of affirmations, how they work, and why they’re so powerful. Let’s get into it.

What Are Affirmations?

Affirmations are positive statements that you say to yourself, out loud, or in your mind. The idea is that when these positive sentences enter your consciousness (whether through speaking or thinking), they subconsciously change the way you think about things.

Each affirmation should be short and simple – no more than ten words at most! For example:

• “I am positive and happy.”
• “I will succeed.”
• “I am confident, smart, and attractive.”
• “Every day, I get better at this job.”

These positive sentences and phrases imprint themselves into your mind, slowly but surely changing how you think about yourself and life. It might sound a bit ridiculous at first (and it definitely takes most people some time to get on board with affirmations), but after trying them out, most people realise just how powerful they can be!

You can also use affirmations as a tool for visualisation purposes – such as imagining yourself achieving your goals or dreaming about how you want things to turn out when they finally happen.

Generally, you can use positive affirmations in conjunction with positive thinking and visualization to harness the power of positive energy. Yet, it’s worth noting that affirmations don't have to be positive in nature, though it’s more common for them to be that way.

For instance, “I will not give up” is a positive affirmation, while “I won’t fail again” is more of a negative statement (as it focuses on what you don't want to experience).

What Do Affirmations Do?

When you say positive affirmations, they silently and secretly rewire your brain over time to help improve your life in several ways. 

For one, positive affirmations increase your self-esteem. You subconsciously start to believe in yourself more and that you're good enough just the way you are – positive affirmations work their magic over time! 

When that happens, it’s almost impossible not to feel happier because of how much calmer and at peace with yourself you are. When you feel positive, your life is much more likely to be positive too!

In doing so, affirmations can help reduce stress and anxiety – both of which are extremely positive things to have happen in your life. Stress and anxiety can be under control with affirmations because you feel a greater sense of calmness, relaxation, and peace.

In turn, this can help boost motivation levels because when you feel better about yourself (and believe that you're good enough), it's easier to achieve whatever goals you have in mind.

How Do You Start Using Affirmations?

Now that we’ve covered the basics of positive affirmations and why they work, it’s time to learn how to use them properly! There are several techniques for using positive affirmations, but here are some suggestions:

• Write your positive affirmation statements down in a notebook and read them aloud to yourself every day. This forces you to look at your positive affirmation statements each time – which means that they subconsciously sink into your brain even more easily.
• Say positive affirmations in the mirror at least once per day for 30 days straight (and stick with it!)
• Record your positive affirmation statements, then play them back whenever you need that extra boost of positive energy! 
• Make positive affirmations a part of your morning or evening routine.
• Make positive affirmation flashcards and read them to yourself as you go about your day.
• If you struggle with positive affirmations, try making it into a game. When you wake up in the morning or go to bed at night, say positive affirmation statements out loud three times (or however many works for you). See how high your affirmation numbers can get each day!
• Find positive affirmation quotes online and print them out on some nice paper. Put these positive affirmations around your house, such as on the mirror in your bathroom or above your bed.
• Do positive affirmations with a partner – this can be really fun if you have someone that’s into it! One person says an affirmation while the other listens. Then, the positive affirmations role is reversed!

You can also combine positive affirmations with visualization and positive thinking! Try to visualize yourself achieving your goals, then say positive affirmation statements about what you're doing. For instance: "I am energetic" while visualising yourself running along the beach on a sunny day, or “I have achieved my goal” as you imagine seeing it happen in real life.

There's a positive affirmation for just about every goal or desire you have, so try different positive affirmations until you find what works best for your life and goals! You can also keep track of the positive affirmations that are working best in a notebook. That way, when things get tough, it’s easy to refer back to them and stay positive.

You can also download apps on your smartphone to help with positive affirmation techniques if you're interested in trying them out! The key is just repetition – the more positive affirmations that enter your thoughts and consciousness each day, the better off you'll be.

How to Write an Affirmation Statement

The first step to using affirmations daily is finding the right ones for yourself. This may seem like a daunting task at first, but it becomes easier over time. Here’s how you can write an affirmation statement for yourself.

1. Think of the Areas in Your Life You Need to Change or Improve

For starters, narrow down the areas of improvement in your life. Then, once you've identified these areas of change, make positive affirmation statements for each one.

For instance, if you want to be positive about your body image, then write a positive affirmation statement such as “I am healthy, and my weight is where it should be.”

You can also try writing positive affirmations for specific goals that you have in mind – this will make the positive affirmations even more powerful because you’re able to focus on positive thinking in the context of what you want.

2. Choose a SMART Affirmation (One That’s Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Timely)

Secondly, your affirmation needs to be realistic, based on facts, and achievable for it to work. For instance, positive affirmation statements such as “I am positive about my future” are too broad. It doesn't give you a clear goal to work towards, and it isn't specific – there's no way of measuring whether or not this positive statement has been achieved!

Instead, positive affirmation statements such as “I am positive about my future today because I get positive feedback from friends and family” is a much better positive affirmation statement.

It’s specific, measurable, achievable, realistic, and timely. 

Why? Because simply, you’re able to measure whether or not this positive affirmation has been achieved by polling your loved ones on their opinions of you. Not to mention, it takes a relatively short amount of time to get their responses.

3. Turn the Thoughts That Are Sabotaging You Into Positive Ones

If you're usually hindered by negative self-talk, turn those negative thoughts into positive ones. For instance, if you're constantly telling yourself that “you aren't good enough,” then positive affirmation statements such as “I am worthy of success and happiness” can help break up these negative thought patterns.

Positive affirmations like this one will make it easier for positive thoughts to flow in and out of your mind, making it easier to combat negative thoughts and more difficult for those self-defeating thought patterns to take hold.

You'll be able to harness positive thinking and turn your life around – one positive affirmation at a time!

This also works if you’re only negative about certain aspects of your life. For example, if you're positive about your future but negative about the way that things are going in your life right now, then create positive affirmation statements such as “I am positive and grateful for everything that I have.”

This is helpful because it's a positive affirmation statement based on gratitude – this means that even though there may be some things in your life that you don't like, there are positive aspects too.

4. Write the Affirmation in the Present Tense

The positive affirmation statements that you write should always be written in the present tense. While ones such as “I will achieve my goals'' can help motivate and inspire you throughout your day, they don’t make much sense because they’re set in the future. And if your positive affirmation is set in the future, it’ll be harder for you to believe that it can actually come true!

Therefore, when writing positive affirmation statements, make sure to always write them in the present tense, so it's easier for positive thoughts and feelings to flow. Also, avoid using the words "will" or "try." You want these positive affirmations to be believable, as if they’re already happening!

So, instead of “I will achieve my goals,” you could write, “I have success in all of my endeavors.” Create similar positive affirmations that are believable and focus on the positive aspects of your life, like “I am healthy” or “I have a successful career.” These will help you harness positive thinking and be more motivated throughout your day!

5. Give the Affirmation Emotional Weight

When creating positive affirmation statements, try to give them emotional weight, so it means more when you say them. That way, they carry enough positive energy for them to be effective.

For instance, positive affirmations such as “I will try” aren't very powerful because this positive statement doesn't have any real meaning behind it – there's no power or emotion behind it. In contrast, something that's said with a lot of emotion, such as “I deserve all of the success in my life,” will have much more impact.

The bottom line is that you want your positive affirmation statements to mean something, so when you say them, it's easier for you to believe that they can become true!

Positive affirmations that have a lot of positive energy and emotion behind them will help you harness positive thinking much more easily.

Affirmation Examples

While affirmations should be personal to you and your aspirations, below are a few for inspiration to put you on the right path.

• I am positive and grateful for everything that I have in my life!
• I am worthy of success and happiness!
• Every day, more good comes into my life.  I deserve it.
• I am proud of myself.
• I am strong enough to make my own decisions.
• I'm in control of how I react to others.
• I deserve to feel joy.
• I am worthwhile, and my needs matter.
• I am grateful for my healthy body.
• I am doing my best every day.
• I love myself for who I am.

Stay Positive!

When we think about something over and over again, it becomes part of our subconscious mind. That’s precisely why affirmations are so powerful – when we use them properly, they can actually rewire our brains!

And the best part of it all is that anyone can leverage the power of affirmations anytime. You don’t need special equipment or training; all you need is some motivation and practice with these simple techniques. So, get started now and stay positive to witness the power of thoughts for good!