Welcome to this series about Positive Thinking. Enjoy the principles and I hope you can learn something new. Enjoy the benefits of Positive Thinking.
You have been working hard to achieve your goals and ploughing time and energy into changing bad habits, affecting positive change, but what else can you do?
Affirmations are a recognized way to improve performance and assist in overcoming self-doubt.
Affirmations
Self-affirmation is defined as an act demonstrating one’s adequacy. Affirmations are more than success in winning a race or getting a promotion. Any action that affirms our core value can act as a self-affirmation.
How They Work
During anxiety and stress, we experience a threat to who we are- affirmations can help us weather that storm. Smokers using affirmations are more receptive to information on anti-smoking, while athletes are more inclined to take responsibility for losses.
The Evidence
The American Psychological Association reports that affirmations improve self-control.
Affirmations result in increased self-resources, a broader perspective when viewing events and information, as well as a detachment of self from the threat, which reduces the impact a threat has on us. Affirmations remind us of what is important and who we are and reduce stress.
There are five ways to use affirmations to improve your life and sense of self.
- Start & Finish Your Day with Positive Notes
Begin your day with a positive affirmation, remind yourself that the day is filled with opportunities. Create an affirmation that will leave you feeling great and set you up to face your day. Make it part of your morning routine, as your mind is clear from sleep and ready to be set up for the day.
It’s helpful to repeat this in the evening as your mind can focus on these goals subconsciously as you sleep. You can repeat your own affirmations or record them and listen to them as you fall asleep. Alternatively, download a app.
- Control Your Thoughts
When you begin to experience negative thoughts replace them with a positive affirmation that will cancel out your original thought(s). Taking control of negative thoughts and replacing them with a positive stream of consciousness allows you to focus on progress, improving your sense of self and driving you to succeed.
Gratitude
Gratitude elevates love, compassion, and hope- which creates the perfect formula for a happy life. Positive energy manifests more the happier you are. Positive self-talk through affirmations is life changing. You can do this throughout your day. Believing in the power of your positive affirmations shifts your awareness and drives you to achieve your desired success.
- Positive Affirmations
Whether you repeat these affirmations mentally or verbally they will be ingrained into your mind and assist in changing your thought process. These affirmations will become your reality. If you’re working on a new goal or idea, repeat the same affirmation multiple times throughout your day- it will help keep you focused on your goal.
- Spread Positivity
As humans, it’s easy to get sucked into a conversation that doesn’t spread positivity. Gossip is negative, and the only way to end a gossip centered conversation is by ending it with a positive statement. This is to shift your energy away from negativity and alert people to the fact that you don’t want to feed into the gossip mill designed to tear someone else down.
If you need some positive affirmations to get you started, here are some excellent places to begin:
- I am strong and I am capable
- I believe in me
- I am smart, I am competent, and I am able
- I will learn to love myself
- I accept myself
- Others respect me because I respect myself
- I have many good qualities
- I surround myself with good people
- I release negative thoughts
- I am positive and I attract positivity
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Nick Thorne is the founder of NicksDigitalSolutions Limited, a company specializing in Education, Training and Writing. He lives in Levin, New Zealand.