How to Use Positive Affirmations for a More Positive Mindset and Outlook on Life
Affirmations utilize neuroplasticity to reshape and strengthen new neural pathways. Be patient as it takes time for them to form; be persistent!
ThinkUp and Shine offer applications dedicated to positive affirmations. There are also books with similar affirmations (and guidance for their implementation).
Therapy can be invaluable if you’re having difficulty maintaining a positive outlook and motivating yourself. Try searching for one who specializes in CBT or DBT techniques as this may provide extra assistance in building resilience and maintaining positive change.
1. Focus on the positive
Positive affirmations is a great way to break free of negative thought patterns and foster a growth mindset. Additionally, positive affirmations helps build self-assurance that can eventually lead to increased confidence and self-esteem.
If your co-worker is constantly prying into your personal affairs, affirmations can serve as a helpful reminder that their behavior has little to do with you and more to do with how they’re feeling themselves.
Note, however, that affirmations can only help boost motivation and confidence; they won’t cure anxiety or depression. People experiencing deeper mental health concerns might benefit from therapy sessions instead – try BetterHelp’s easy online questionnaire to be connected with a counselor within 48 hours!
2. Remind yourself of the good
Positive affirmations is a scientifically-backed way of rewiring your brain and shifting automatic negative thoughts to positive ones, helping you feel more empowered, increase self-esteem, and spur action toward reaching your goals.
Remind yourself daily of all of the good things in your life by saying out loud or writing them down. Instead of getting stressed about traffic jams, try reminding yourself how fortunate you are to own a vehicle that gets you where you need to be; there are people living without this luxury in this world.
Positive affirmations is an effective way of gradually shifting one’s outlook; though they’re no instantaneous solution, positive affirmations is an excellent way of building new habits which eventually result in growth and transformation.
3. Remind yourself of your strengths
Are You Feeling Confident Taking on New Challenges? Having an in-depth knowledge of both your personal and professional strengths can give you greater self-assurance to tackle new endeavors with enthusiasm.
To help identify your strengths, ask those who know you well what qualities they believe define you best – such as coworkers, friends or even family. Alternatively, join or enroll in a group focused on discovering and honing strengths.
Positive affirmations is a simple technique you can use to get yourself motivated or invigorated. Repetition or writing these phrases out can give you a quick boost of energy or motivation, providing short yet positive phrases which you can repeat or write to feel motivated or get yourself moving in a specific direction. Affirmations should always be in present tense and state something you want – keeping them short makes them easy to remember and repeat, with regular practice being key in their effectiveness.
4. Remind yourself of your goals
Positive affirmations is a great way to cultivate more optimistic thought patterns, and works especially well when combined with other tools like goal setting or visualization exercises.
One client I worked with wanted to create a business to assist her family financially, so we spent time exploring what her “why” was and it made her much more committed to her goals.
At its core, your goals should be ones that feel meaningful to you, align with your values, and are realistic for both resources and timescales available to you. Remember to regularly evaluate progress towards these goals so you can give yourself credit when they’re accomplished – then set more!
5. Remind yourself of your dreams
Remembering and working toward your dreams are both essential. Affirmations can be an effective way of increasing motivation and self-esteem; however, you need to put in effort in order for them to have any effect. Positive affirmations can be found online, in apps such as ThinkUp or Shine or from personal development gurus.
Positive affirmations is an effective way to retrain your brain and change negative thought patterns, although it may take practice to get used to doing it successfully. BetterHelp offers additional support with managing mental health and creating more positive mindsets – all you have to do is complete a short questionnaire and start! Joining is completely free.
