What are Affirmations, and why you need to add them to your daily ritual now!

What are affirmations?

"Affirmations are simply statements that are designed to create self-change in the individual using them. They can serve as inspiration, as well as simple reminders. They also can serve to focus attention on goals throughout the day, which, in and of itself, has the potential to promote positive and sustained self-change."

So affirmations are a simple tool we can use to shift our perception or change our negative self-talk which we all love to engage in time after time. Affirmations are usually written and used in the first person form and embed positive messages we want to actualize and embody in our life. For example – I am ready, I am worthy, I am powerful, I deserve this life!

Another quote from the book that was published in 1928 – Your Word is Your Wand by Florence Scovel Shinn:

"Manʹs word is his wand filled with magic and power! Jesus Christ emphasized the power of the word; ʺBy thy words thou shalt be justified and by thy words thou shalt be condemned,ʺ and ʺdeath and life are in the power of the tongue.ʺ So man has the power to change an unhappy condition by waving over it the wand of his word."

You can read the whole book here.

Truly our words hold so much power, they can heal and hurt, inspire and diminish. Through words, we express ideas, communicate and create neuro-pathways connecting meaning to sounds. Words can build and destroy. They are the most powerful tool we have!

"Don't ever diminish the power of words. Words move hearts and hearts move limbs." Hamza Yusuf

There are multiple studies that indicate just how powerful affirmations are on our well-being.

"One account of why self-affirmations are successful is attributed to their ability to broaden a person’s overall perspective and reduce the effect of negative emotions (Sherman, 2013; Cohen and Sherman, 2014). For example, researchers have suggested that self-affirmations remind individuals of psychosocial resources that extend beyond a specific threat, which allows them to focus on sources of positive self-worth that transcends the threat. This in turn is thought to reduce reactivity to the threat and protect overall psychological wellbeing (Koole et al., 1999; Cohen et al., 2009; Cook et al., 2012; Sherman et al., 2013)."

Read one of the studies on affirmations here:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4814782/

So basically affirmations can help you increase your physical activity levels, help you respond better in stressful situations, boost your academic achievements, and problem-solving abilities, and raise your confidence and overall life quality!

You don’t have to believe me, there are multiple studies on this topic, and I invite you to research on your own if you want to dive deeper because long after university I have forgotten how to correctly quote stuff, so I will now talk about my own experience with affirmations because that is the only study I can talk about with any kind of confidence! ;)

So part of my morning ritual/routine is journaling, and I have been consciously putting effort to take a pen and a journal every morning for almost 2 years now. Usually, I would write what I am grateful for or write out whatever is alive within me at that moment, reflect on something, or just free flow and allow myself to just put words on paper. It truly feels very primal and powerful to see that complete jumble that I have in my head, simplified enough to be put down into words, on paper. And when it is done, that jumble suddenly feels like a divine order which I have allowed to be expressed and released.

Sometimes I would write down something that inspired me to look at myself differently, some words that stirred something within me or made me feel powerful – as reminders that it is indeed so!

Inspired by the book - The Code of the Extraordinary Mind: 10 Unconventional Laws to Redefine Your Life and Succeed On Your Own Terms by Vishen Lakhiani I took up a challenge where every morning I would write 3 things I am grateful for in general, 3 things I am grateful for in my work and 3 things I am grateful for in myself and then add 3 things I love about myself and then followed by 3 affirmations. It was an amazing practice and I could feel how, with every morning, I was challenged to really shift how I am viewing my life experience. I hate to repeat myself and find it hard to lie, even on paper, so every morning I had to find what rings true for me in that morning. As days went on I saw how the words of love and encouragement for myself started to flow out of me with more ease and more conviction. I was really starting to believe that I am indeed enough, that I am worthy of love and I am so powerful. I saw how I was training myself to really believe in myself, because, what am I gonna do – hate myself just because that’s how we are conditioned? Because it is easier? Because otherwise you will be seen as vain and egotistical? God forbids you actually allow yourself to experience that deep power of love, that we all have within and fully enjoy your fleeting time in this body, on this spinning rock hurling through space!

What to be aware of when introducing affirmations in your life?

That you will have to commit, surrender and trust! Affirmations do work in rewiring your brain, even if sometimes you don’t fully believe in the words at the beginning. Positive affirmations can land somewhere in that cranky brain of yours and sprout a seed of a different idea, that maybe wasn’t there before. You can find yourself wondering – ok, what if I really am this unlimited potential, ready to burst and create my unique flavor of beauty in this life? What if I am actually powerful and my being is blissful? Would my life become more enjoyable if I really believed in it? And that is all you need to introduce - a choice, because we always have a choice to allocate more time to create and live from that kind of mindset or choose suffering in your existence.

Of course, you want to experience full human experience, so you do have to dance with the darkness, with what you believe to be your shadow – all the bits of you that love to be hurt, to live in scarcity, to wound or be wounded, to be afraid. That is why for affirmations to really work, you can’t forget to do your shadow work, to really dive into your underworld, in your subconscious, that rule 80% of your everyday life. To bring to light all that you have been repressing either by guilt, fear, shame, or disappointment and allow that to be also expressed until you get bored of it and can fully release that which really doesn’t aid you in your growth.

A book that really helped reshape how I think and work with my shadow is Existential Kink: Unmask Your Shadow and Embrace Your Power by Carolyn Elliott.

Brilliant read!

How to use affirmations?

My suggestion is to introduce one to three affirmations daily, read them out loud, and then meditate whilst repeating them like a mantra. And check what arises. Is it disbelief, resistance, shame, power, confidence, or faith? Whatever it might be – all is valid, after all you are working with your subconscious mind and rewiring old pathways, it won't be smooth sailing and it won't always be pleasant. Allow yourself to meditate on these expressions, and keep on challenging yourself.

Maybe you need to rephrase an affirmation, so it has an emotional and somatic experience for you. Imagine how it makes you feel and actually find where that feeling is within you.

Use present tense, as this is something that is already happening, you can also include the gratitude you feel now in affirmations.

“Affirming your current successes (that is, the things that you consciously know to be true already) in addition to affirming those things you want to create may undercut any dissonance you have for making future-paced statements”

It is also useful to write them down in your journal because physically writing something down is still one of the most powerful practices there is to work with your unconsciousness or keep them somewhere where you can see them easily.

If something is not resonating at all – let it go, and start with something that you can believe more easily.

There is no one way how to become better and better each day, so I dare you to find your own method!

Here are some affirmations from my notebook:

All I seek is seeking me

The answers I seek come to me in divine timing

If itʹs mine I canʹt lose it and of it isnʹt mine, I donʹt want it

I allow myself to receive everything as a gift

I allow my heart to open and my body to release what no longer serves it

I heal through creative flow and conscious being

I deeply love and accept myself

I surrender myself in trust & deep knowing

All obstacles lead me in the right direction

My energy attracts those who support my dreams

The universe has my back, always

I surrender to my destiny and dreams

It is safe to shine my light

My medicine is the embodiment of my being

In the place of worry appears joy!

All the answers lay within me and I have clarity on what I need to do

I am intuitively guided in my most beautiful development which is rooted in pure awareness of self, the power within, and connection to the source.

Every day, in every way, I get better and better

Every cell on my body is well and cared for.

I will face today with love, strength and grace

I trust myself and my path wholeheartedly

I create abundance and wealth for myself and for others

The future is now and I am living it effortlessly

What I purposefully envision comes to me

I allow myself to see the perfect alignment I am in at all times

I create with joy and pleasure

I am so lucky because I get to create my own luck

The universe is supporting all my dreams & wishes and manifesting them in my life in the best ways possible

I am empowered to master my body, mind and life

I am loving awareness

I am open to great possibilities of growth, freedom and humble servitude to the divine

I am experiencing the world in a peaceful, joyful & insightful way

I am done with suffering and choose light, alignment, creativity and action!

I am beautifully & authentically me

I am guided by my highest potential

I am so blessed to be my unique self

I am here to live my most beautiful life

I am infinite and I am Unique!

I am fully enjoying this human experience

I am powerful, wise, and confident in my being

I am infinite, therefore infinitely blessed by the power of creation

I am connected, I am earth, water, fire and air

I am a powerhouse of creative potential

I am ready, I am worthy, I am powerful, I deserve this life!

Plug - My Etsy affirmation cards!

Affirmations have helped me greatly to expand what I am, and what I can be and break down the barriers of disbelief, so I got very inspired and created these digital printable cards on Etsy.

You can print them on whatever paper you like, cut out and reshape your morning ritual.

If you want to support yourself and your potential, as well as me – check them out!

And also I have created question cards, that can help you in shining light on your darkness and deeper expand your knowledge of yourself.

Thank you for being awesome, open, expanding, and a unique human being fueled by love!

Let me know how you feel about affirmations - I love it when you talk to me! 🤍

"Raise your words, not your voice. It is rain that grows flowers, not thunder."

Rumi