Why do affirmations work?

Affirmations are just New Age Woo Woo, right?! It may seem like affirmations are too good to be true. I mean, geesh, just say a positive statement and all my dreams come true?! I don’t think so.

Do affirmations work or is it just a bunch of positive thinking hoopla?

Amazingly enough they do work and here’s why…

Affirmations, remember, are positive statements. They are positive statements that purposefully replace negative thoughts.

How does it work? Our brains love, love, love to go to worst case scenarios and in simpler times this helped us, it protected us from tigers hiding behind rocks. In today’s world our pension for negative thinking can get us into a deep hole of self-criticism, negative core beliefs, depression and worries. That simple text from a friend can be turned into a string of thoughts such as, she doesn’t like me, she’s mad at me, I’m a terrible person. Feedback at work can go from something to learn from and change to, I can’t do anything right and I’m a failure. Affirmations can help us get out of this trap of negative self-sabotage. Hey, if we can think bad things about ourselves there is no reason we can’t think something good and feel better and more confident! Personally, I am tired of my own constant self-sabotage and using affirmations has helped me to feel happier and more confident.

Affirmations replace negative thoughts and help us create new neural pathways in our brains to develop healthier ways of thinking. Our negative thoughts become habits and affirmations help create positive thought habits. I don’t know about you, but I would rather think I am capable and have gifts to share rather than, I am a failure and no good at anything. My dears, we all make mistakes and yes, they can be hard, they can be devastating even, we do not need to forever beat ourselves up over them though. Learn from your mistakes and remember what you have done well. Use affirmations to remind you of your strengths, that you are capable, you are worthy, and you do deserve to be happy. Treat yourself with kindness too.

We also carry with us core beliefs, which can be positive or negative and affirmations can help us change and heal these limiting beliefs. Negative core beliefs are limiting beliefs we usually learn in childhood or from society. These could include, I am a woman so I am weak and stupid, or I grew up poor, so I do not deserve success. Ouch, these are harsh, aren’t they? These limiting beliefs can be about who we are, our age, our gender, our occupation, our beliefs about money, our place in society, what we have been taught about our bodies, relationships and more. Recognizing these limiting beliefs and countering them with affirmations is the most challenging work you can do, but it is so worth it. Affirmations can help you change your limiting beliefs, heal them and grow. I mean, who doesn’t want to be stronger, mentally healthier and happier?! I sure do! Personally, I have worked on my limiting beliefs about being deserving and worthy of simply being alive. My affirmations for this have helped me heal my insecurity, develop my confidence and yes, cheesy as it sounds has helped me to feel happier.

So, if you are wondering if affirmations really work, hopefully this has helped a bit. They work because we are using them as a tool to retrain our brain, create new neural pathways and develop healthier thought habits. Stay tuned for my next posts where I will share how to use affirmations and most importantly how to write a good one that speaks to you.

Remember, you are amazing and you do deserve to be happy and affirmations can help manifest your best life.

Love,

Cecelia