What are Affirmations and How Can They Improve My Mood?
What are affirmations? How can they help me? Can they really help change my mindset? This guide can help answer all of your questions about affirmations!
The transition from teacher to stay-at-home-mom was not an easy one for me. As an optimist, I faced new battles of negativity and lack of purpose. With two under the age of two, I knew that I needed to be better for them and for me too.
Desperate for change, I discovered the power of affirmations. They have helped me be more positive and have changed my life completely, starting with my mindset. When self-pity, negativity, or a bad attitude try to take control of your day, just pull out some of your favorite affirmations and watch your day turn around completely.
What are affirmations?
So what exactly are affirmations?
Affirmations are words or phrases that affirm something, or state that something is true. They can be words of encouragement, emotional support, truth, gratitude, or a variety of phrases that are positive.
In the 5 Love Languages book by Gary Chapman, he shares the power of words of affirmation to our spouses. Affirmations are very important to build others up in your relationship. Whether you send sweet texts to your spouse or write them notes, these are great examples of affirming your love towards your spouse.
Not only are affirmations helpful for affirming others, they are incredibly powerful for building ourselves up through positive self-talk. I am not talking about boasting and patting ourselves on the back for a job well done. Instead, we are affirming truth into our hearts. We want to combat negativity so it doesn’t ruin our day.
Here are a few common personal affirmations:
- I am doing a great job!
- My children are a blessing.
- I am confident and am not going to let insecurity steal my joy.
- Eating healthy makes me feel my best.
- I am slowly becoming the person that God created me to be.
- Even on the hard days, I am so thankful for each of my children.
- I want my children to feel loved today.
Why are affirmations important?
Our brains are full of neural paths, some good and some bad. As we repeat the same action over and over again, a neural path is formed. It is similar to taking the same route to work everyday. You get used to the path. Our brain is the same way. Habits are created and your brain simply tries to follow the habit.
I am not a scientist and I don’t have any type of medical background, but I have learned through teaching and other personal development about neural pathways.
Even as adults, we can change these neural paths though and replace them with healthy thoughts and behaviors. Our brain thrives on routine, so we need to build some healthy routines.
EXAMPLE– When you see a big pile of dishes, you probably instantly get frustrated or overwhelmed. You spend 30 minutes doing the dishes but now you are in a foul mood. This happens every day and is now a routine with engrained neural paths in your brain. Don’t worry, you can change them!
Our brain is a muscle and it can be retrained. Just like exercising our physical bodies, affirmations are like exercising our brain to improve our mental health. These affirmations can be ways to build confidence, lose weight, have a natural birth, or be a better mom.
We must replace those negative paths with positive ones that can brig us joy and instantly get us in a better mood.
What do affirmations do?
Affirmations help retrain the brain by creating new neural paths or habits. They can change our attitudes and therefore change our lives, literally.
Positive affirmations can help:
- Raise your confidence
- Improve your mood
- Build your patience
- Change your mindset
- Overcome a bad habit
- Motivate to keep on going
- Lose weight
How to get started with affirmations?
This really isn’t difficult, just start. We have a tendency to overcomplicate everything. Next time you feel yourself slipping into a bad habit or negative mindset, STOP. Think about something positive you could say that would help you.
FOR EXAMPLE– You are trying to lose weight and your coworker brought in your favorite doughnuts. A possible affirmation could be, “I am working on my willpower to say no to unhealthy temptations.” Another option could be, “One minute of pleasure is not worth it.”
The affirmations don’t have to be fancy. You know yourself and what will help you. Use that as your affirmation.
Writing your own affirmations
You can make your own affirmations, based on your current struggles and use the phrases that would actually be helpful to you. Another option is get some that another person has handmade. I have affirmation cards for the overwhelmed mom and FREE pregnancy affirmation cards.
You know your struggles and the hard points throughout your day. Find the ones that are helpful for you!
- I am confident.
- I am getting better and better each day.
- Today is a great day.
- I am grateful for everything I have in my life today.
- Everyday I am getting closer to my goals.
- Small steps add up to big change.
- I am strong.
- Having a messy house does not mean I am a bad mom.
- I am not defined by my past. I am driven by my future.
- Happiness is a choice, and today I choose to be happy.
Who are affirmations for?
Affirmations are for everybody and all stages of life. We could all work on improving our moods and being more positive. Some people that could easily benefit from affirmations:
- Pregnant moms
- New moms
- Overwhelmed Moms
- Kids
- Husbands
- Wives
- People trying to lose weight
- Runners or athletes
Frequently Asked Questions
What you need to know…
- Positive affirmations can help improve your mood and make you happier.
- They are easy to use and you can implementing them today!
- You can make your own, find free ones online, or buy some.
