Affirmations have been in the limelight for a little while now…

But, if you’re like me, you might have felt a little hesitance toward the whole idea of literally ‘affirming’ yourself… Like, how can saying things you might not even believe have a positive impact on your mental well-being?

Unless you’re a total self-love-bug like some of my amazing friends, saying such lovely things to and about yourself might even make you feel a little cringe-y. I promise those awkward feelings do go away once you get used to the whole idea of affirmations, and of course, when you start to see them working!

In this post, I’ll be sharing what you need to know about affirmations, how and why they work, and best of all how you as an entrepreneur can use them to help you in your day #bosslady life.

 

What is an Affirmation?

Affirmations are sentences aimed to affect the conscious and the subconscious mind so that in turn, they affect our behaviour, thinking patterns, habits and environment.

The words composing the affirmation, automatically and involuntarily, bring up related mental images into the mind, which inspire, energize and motivate.

Affirmations can be used by anyone and created by anyone. It is believed that by focusing on positive affirmations, the brain is tricked out of using it’s usual negative internal talk.

 

How do Affirmations work?

Affirmations can help to motivate and keep our brains what we actually desire.
You know how we all have, or have had visual body goals where we want to lose or gain weight, but our brain tells us we are craving an amount of a certain food that might sabotage our #bodygoals?

Affirmations are basically like the little statements we tell ourselves (you know the ones…), put it in a positive voice. I know there are probably some of you gems out there that are sitting there like, “I totally don’t speak negatively to myself”, but girl, we know that ain’t true. We all do it sometimes, and it’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of.

You can change that negative chatter into something beautifully positive, and we want nothing more than for you to feel your absolute best.

So, going back to our #bodygoals example… Instead of telling ourselves ‘I don’t need that processed food, that’s not going to help me’, we can say an affirmation like ‘I only eat what I need to feel amazing, and best fuel my body’, or something like that.

By saying positive things to ourselves, not only does it help us to think in a more positive light, but we heighten our chances of altering our behaviour.

Repeating affirmations regularly is actually has actually been scientifically proven to have the ability to affect the chemical pathways in our brain. Super cool, right?

One of my favourite things about affirmations is that they can be a spoken reminder of our values.
This is something I like to teach my little brother and sister (they are 2.5 and 3 years old at the moment) even though they don’t realize the pattern we are trying to form yet. My hope is, we will form these habits early and they’ll become just a daily, natural thing for them to do.

 

 

Some examples of the affirmations we use:

To form and remind our little ones of their values are: “I am kind, I treat people how I want to be treated”, “I am strong, I am smart, I am brave”. Adults can use these too!

I remind them to say these things out loud with me, 3 times, at random times during the day, and when they are feeling scared, or someone has said something mean, to counteract any negative chatter that might come from those situations.

 

Create your own positive affirmations

The repetitive use of positive affirmations disrupts the cycle of negative thoughts and beliefs. To achieve this, you must consistently work on filling your subconscious mind with thoughts and visualizations of the reality you desire to create.

 

Here are eight steps for creating effective affirming statements:

1. Start with the words “I am.” These are the two most powerful words in the English language.
2. Write/speak in the present tense.
3. Keep it positive. We affirm what we want, not what we don’t.
4. Keep it short and sweet.
5. Be super-specific.
6. Include an action word ending with: –ing.
7. Include at least one emotion or feeling word.
8. Dedicate your affirmation to YOU.

 

So, babe, what has your experience been with using affirmations? If you have yet to use them, I hope has this article helped you gain some more understanding in confidence, so that you may try them out for yourself.

If you’re interested, I would like to share with you one of my absolute favourite accounts to follow for affirmations: @moonomens – I highly recommend you checking them out. They’ve made a massive impact on my life in the few months that I’ve been following them. You’ll see why.

If you have a favourite affirmation of your own that you would like to share, please do share it with us in the comments below.