Caring about yourself – Positive Affirmations

Our fourth module is caring about yourself, your body, your soul, as a whole. This always start with believing that you are worth to do it. That is why we start this module with positive affirmations.

Positive affirmations have become one of the most widespread and popular techniques of personal development and self-help psychology. There is still relatively little research in this area to say with scientific certainty that it is a proven working method (see below for a link to some research on the positive impact of affirmations). However, people around the world use positive affirmations extensively and testify to their working. They help them feel better, overcome challenging situations and fulfill their dreams. There seems to be something to them.

Positive affirmations are nothing new, however. People have known the power of words, whether spoken aloud or in the spirit, since time immemorial. They have been used, for example, by Buddhism in the form of mantras, by Christianity in the form of prayer, and by more recent techniques such as hypnosis, self-hypnosis, the Silva method and many others.

According to the dictionary, affirmation means – a statement or sign that something is true/ an expression of support or approval (https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/affirmation).

Whatever we affirm, we declare and accept as true. What we perceive as true, what we truly believe deep down, will manifest in our life experience. Regularly repeating affirmations can boost self-confidence, reduce negative self-talk, and reinforce a positive self-image.

Positive affirmations help to reshape the way you think, perceive and see yourself and your world. These internal processes have a profound effect on how we perceive ourselves, our environment, how we act and what we attract into our lives. By transforming them, we can transform our whole life.

We use affirmations pretty much all the time, even if we are not always aware of it. At the most basic level, they are our inner beliefs. What we internally believe to be true, what we internally agree with. What is true about ourselves, our lives and the world around us. From these beliefs then come our thoughts, inner dialogues and ultimately our words and actions. These are all affirmations.

We all hold all sorts of beliefs. And they are not always positive. Negative beliefs then cause experiences that are not very pleasant for us. Examples of negative beliefs include – life is hard… you have to work hard for money… it’s hard to make friends… women/men/politicians etc. are not to be trusted…

Moreover, our beliefs create a certain general atmosphere within us from which thoughts and inner monologues and dialogues then sprout.

Beliefs we have developed over a lifetime. Either we accepted them from someone else, from the norms of society, or from some experience. Maybe we’ve failed at something and we’ve accepted the idea that we’re incompetent. And then we automatically put other somewhat similar experiences into the same framework and the connection became stronger and stronger. When a solid enough foundation of the belief that I was incapable was built up, the direction was reversed and the belief began to influence our perception and experience. We began to perceive, evaluate, and act upon it. And we also attracted more and more experiences into our lives that confirmed this belief, and it continued to strengthen. Like a vicious circle. One way to break the cycle is through positive affirmations. With their help, it is possible to realign the connections of our thinking and perception, to change our beliefs and what we believe. And our lives will change accordingly.

Positive affirmations are not magic. We can change our beliefs and thoughts simply by making a decision and insisting on that decision. It is important to remember that nothing has a given meaning. We determine it. All we have to do is decide to accept something else as true. You have more power over your life than you have ever thought. And that power is within you. Simply deciding and trusting something else sounds easy, but in practice, it is not so easy, at least at first. We don’t really know how to do it.

That’s where positive affirmations can help. They help us to be clear about what it is that we want. They also help us to calm and redirect the flow of negative thoughts and monologues. They help us to remember what we have chosen and to tune in to it.

In our next video you learn more about how to harness the power of affirmations in your daily life.

Sources

• Cohen GL, Sherman DK. The Psychology of Change: Self-Affirmation and Social Psychological Intervention. Annual Review of Psychology.
• Creswell JD, Dutcher JM, et al. Self-Affirmation Improves Problem-Solving Under Stress. PLoS One. May 2013.
• Epton T, et al. The Impact of Self-Affirmation on Health-Behavior Change: A Meta-Analysis. Health Psychology. March 2015.
• https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-age-of-overindulgence/202307/the-science-behind-self-affirmations