Use Daily Affirmations to Transform Your Life
Affirmations are a powerful tool for improving your life and boosting your mental health. Daily affirmations are an excellent way to start the day with positive thoughts that will carry you through the rest of it. The power of daily affirmations is undeniable, but how do they work? Let’s explore how daily affirmations can change your life and help you live in a more positive state all day long.
Why Do Daily Affirmations Work?
Have you ever noticed that a smile can be contagious?
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Smiling releases endorphins into our brains that make us happier. That is just a small example of how intricately we are connected. Our muscles talk to our brains and our brains create chemicals that make us feel good. Crazy!
Affirmations work in the same way. Our brain is more powerful than we may even realize at times. Your brain is the only thing you need to transform your life. Seriously.
Take a second to imagine how life-changing it would be if you changed the tone in which you speak to yourself. How much happier would you be if your internal dialogue was a reflection of daily positive affirmations for self love? Or maybe daily affirmations for success. Affirmations work for men. They work for women. They work for all people who can talk to themselves in a positive way.
Many people find that affirming your own worth and genuinely believing in the nice things you say to yourself can literally change your life. I am one of those people! You should be too. Believing that this works is very important, however, not entirely necessaary for daily affirmation success.
Daily Affirmation Examples
Be honest. Have you ever said to yourself, “You are stupid and nobody likes you”?
Ouch. Those words only create a negative feedback loop in your brain. The more you say those things, the truer they became because of what psychologists call cognitive dissonance.
This theory states that when we experience something contradictory to our beliefs it causes us discomfort which can lead to unhappiness or other negative feelings like anger or regret.
I’ve experienced cognitive dissonance in the past! Once I realized it, I understood that I needed to make a change. So, in order for me not to feel so bad about feeling bad all the time, I began repeating positive affirmations each morning and night before bed:
“I have done my best today, and I am willing to forgive the rest” is one of my favorites for bedtime. I let the Universe/God/Myself know that I may have messed up today, and I’m aware. Just saying that out loud lets me sleep, and helps me to let go.
This type of affirmation has made me an infinitely better person, 100%.
“Unlimited energy will fill me today.â€
This one is a perfect morning starter. It helps me to shake off any anxiety and move forward with being productive.
If you aren’t looking into the mirror every day and telling yourself that you are beautifully and wonderfully made, I challenge you to start today.
Make Daily Affirmations a Habit
It may feel awkward or seem silly at first. Talking to yourself in a kind, positive way may not come naturally to you. Give it a few days, let it become a habit. I guarantee you that after a few weeks, you will see the confidence radiating from yourself.
The real growth comes from believing in the things you say to yourself and removing the negativity that lives inside your own mind.
The transformation in my life was a tough journey. I had to break through the tough exterior that hid all of my negative thoughts and feelings. As soon as I stopped being so self-conscious, everything started getting better for me – emotionally, physically, spiritually. The daily affirmations helped immensely.
“I am strong enough to take on anything.”
Add Gratitude to Your Daily Affirmations
If you tend to sit and reflect on all the shortcomings in life, I challenge you to start counting your blessings. Each day, make it a point to find three things to be thankful for. They can be simple: I am thankful that I have shelter, I have a heartbeat, I have one more day to find something to be thankful for. Eventually, take it a step further and really dive deep for the things you’re grateful for in life.
Write these things down or say them aloud during your meditation time. Thank the Universe for each of these things, and remember the world has so much more to offer you. A heart of gratitude in the simplest things will take you much farther when it comes to bigger challenges and blessings alike.
You Are In Control
Life will not always be fair, and it isn’t promised to be easy either. We cannot always control what is happening in our lives, but we can most certainly control the way we think about those things.
Although it may take some practice, it can be rather simple to retrain your mind to think in a positive light about every situation you come across. Just like our brains once learned subtraction and how to work the coffee pot, we can learn to think differently, and eventually it will be the easiest thing ever.
If you are able to choose your thoughts wisely, and practice positive thinking and affirmations daily, the change will not only be noticeable in your life, but it will change your relationships too. The people around you will benefit from the changes that you are making. If you’re a parent, think about that amazing example you’ll be setting for your family.
Positive thinking is something that can make or break a person’s day! Whether it is eagerly anticipating tomorrow with excitement or regret about what happened yesterday; whatever energy you put out into the world comes back at you tenfold.
How do I know if affirmations are working?
It just might take some time for things to come around if they don’t seem to work right away. The Universe works much faster than human beings do…take heart as all goodness shall soon manifest itself before us!
The best way to live your life is always looking forward – never backward.
When we shift our focus from what we cannot control, to what we can, it becomes a natural response. This will change your perspective from the glass being half empty to being half full without you even realizing it.
You will know that it’s working once you don’t have to ask if it’s working anymore!
Types of Daily Affirmations that will Transform your Life
Acknowledgment
Acknowledge yourself for all of your accomplishments and what you have to be grateful for. Sometimes it’s hard to see the good in our lives when we are focusing on other things that aren’t going so well, but one little positive statement can change everything!
Daily lists
Make a list daily – It is always beneficial to write down all of the wonderful things that happen throughout your day. When you do this every night before bed, you will start noticing more blessings than they normally would.
Give thanks
Be thankful for what life has given us instead of complaining about what we don’t have; there really is no point in dwelling on those negative thoughts because it does not serve any purpose at all.
You will become a person with a positive vision, who speaks positive words. This is the type of person that not only you will love, but other people will be inspired by.
I encourage you to find positive affirmations that are specific to who you are as an individual and to your own needs. Remind yourself who it is you are. With faith in yourself, all things are possible.
Renew your mind and retrain your thoughts.
Until you come up with positive affirmations unique to yourself, here are a few to start with:
I am worthy.
I am enough.
I am beautiful.
I am smart.
I am kind.
I am strong.
I am a warrior.
I am unique.
I am loved.
Keep these all with you, and know they’re true.
Write them on index cards or sticky notes and leave them around to be reminded often. Or you can write them with a dry erase marker on your bathroom mirror. This way, you can repeat them to yourself when you wake up and before bed.
The best way to reinforce these messages to yourself is to repeat them out loud. Repeat them as many times as you like, or as many times as you need to.
Take my positive affirmations challenge.
Don’t worry, this isn’t a formal challenge. There’s nothing to sign up for, just a small suggestion to get you started.
The challenge is: Start Right Now.
My challenge to you is to start today to speak positive affirmations to yourself. Smile at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself, “I am loved. I am strong.â€
Recognize the beauty in ashes and rise above to allow the light that inside you to shine. The world needs more hope, more happiness. Let’s be a part of it.
The power of positive affirmations will change your life. There’s so much more that can be achieved when you start believing in yourself! It doesn’t matter if you’re not happy with where your life is right now because everything starts from within.
Your thoughts create emotions which create actions – it’s imperative that you become skilled at changing those initial negative thoughts into something positive before they have a chance to do any damage.
Suggested Tools
These are affiliate links. They link to things that I have used on my own personal journey with daily positive affirmations, and I think that they can be helpful to you as well.
A Book Full of Empowering Affirmations – Love Yourself: 100 Empowering Affirmations to Celebrate You is the kickstart you need to learn what affirmations speak to you. Stuck trying to figure out nice things to say to yourself? Consult the book!
Affirmators – Self-Help without the Self-Helpy-Ness. When I worked in an office, this card deck sat on my desk at all times. Whenever I felt like I needed a pick-me-up, I would choose an affirmation card from the deck. My employees and coworkers knew that they could come get one too, whenever they wanted. These affirmations are “inspirational-but-not-cheesyâ€, and most of them will not only make you think, but they will also make you laugh!
Sweet-Ass Affirmations Deck by Rage Create – This card deck is also amazing! I actually just got their newest deck from an early bird pre-sale thingy, but the original is great too. These cards feature daily affirmations that are super motivating and really bold. Proceed with caution if you’re sensitive to swears. At the time that I’m writing this, the new deck isn’t for sale yet, but you should be able to find it in a few weeks by clicking this link and finding related products.
Gratitude Journal – You can buy a pre-formatted journal that guides you through the process of gratitude journaling, or you can just grab a really nice notebook and do your own thing. In any case, I think that it’s important to regularly express gratitude as part of your daily affirmation practice.
