In this post: What are positive affirmations, the power of affirmations, what they can do for you, and how to craft your own powerful affirmations so that they work for you!
Do you know what positive affirmations are?
Essentially, a positive affirmation is a sentence or phrase that you speak to yourself to upgrade your thoughts, beliefs and attitude (aka your mindset).
But it took me a while to learn how that actually happens.
I’d sort of had this vague feeling that they were just based on spiritual woo-woo type of stuff and, as someone who prided myself on being a practical, realistic person, I didn’t have any interest in them and didn’t think they would have any benefit for me.
(Sidenote: Funnily enough, as I go along in my personal development journey, I’m now learning that the woo-woo stuff actual holds some weight!)
Not to mention that the types of positive affirmations I saw about the place seemed completely far fetched. For example, implying that you could become a millionaire in a short space of time if you just repeated the words “I am abundantly rich” (or similar) over and over again.
Hmm, still not convinced on that one…
Just reading some of these affirmations made me want to laugh at the ridiculousness of them and others made me feel like crying because they only reminded me how far away from the affirmation statements I was at that time.
It wasn’t until Hal Elrod explained in his book The Miracle Morning that affirmations are consciously choosing your inner dialogue to yourself that I realised that I had actually already been using affirmations, and with great success… In fact, I had been using them for years without even realising it and their impact had already helped me in so many ways.
Psst: Struggling to feel good enough and like you matter? Join in the FREE 5-Day “I’m Worth It!” Challenge to boost your self-worth and start to feel good about yourself! Click here to get all the details!
How can positive affirmations be so powerful?
Our brains, though complex and amazingly clever, can’t distinguish between actual truths and the thoughts that we tell it. Affirmations use this ‘loophole’ to influence what our brains believe to be fact.
This can be really powerful because you can program your mind to think positive and empowering thoughts about yourself (and the world around you). This means that you can tap into more of your potential and complete things that you used to think weren’t possible.
What I discovered when I fully appreciated what positive affirmations were, was that I had already been using them unknowingly to build up my self-worth and self-belief. I had been using positive affirmations as a way to change my negative self-talk into positive self-talk without even realising that’s what I was doing.
They helped me to stop feeling like a useless waste of space to now believing that I have a lot of value and light to give.
Related post: How To Overcome Feelings Of Low Self-Worth
How affirmations helped me to build up my self-worth
It all started when I became aware of how toxic my thoughts were towards myself and that they were only causing me, and everyone else around me, a great deal of pain. I decided something needed to change and so, whenever I would catch myself saying something nasty to myself, I would quickly say something positive in the hopes of counteracting the negative words I had said.
In effect, I had crafted myself a set of positive affirmations to say.
I definitely credit this action for playing a powerful role in turning around my negative self-talk, which in turn led me to believe in myself and my capabilities more.
Positive affirmations turned out to be way more powerful than I had thought possible.
Since learning more about affirmations, I have also been including saying them as part of my morning routine. They help me to stay positive and focused on living an intentional life each and every day.
Related post: How To Turn Around Your Negative Self-Talk
Craft your own positive affirmations
My absolute favourite way to craft positive affirmations is to base them on my negative and limiting beliefs so that I can work to create more positive (and helpful!) beliefs instead.
You can even do this in your head like I used to – if you catch yourself saying anything negative, immediately switch it around to something more positive and consciously think that instead. Don’t worry if it takes some practice to do this – that’s completely normal!
Read on for an exercise you can do in your journal so you can have some positive affirmations ready to go when needed. Or read them out loud to yourself during your day to help bring your new thoughts, beliefs and attitude to life.
So, on the left-hand side of your page, write down any negative or limiting belief that you have ever thought about yourself or the world around you. Then on the right-hand side of your page, phrase that thought in a more positive, practical way.
Here are some examples you can use to help you get started:
| Negative or Limiting Belief | Positive Belief |
| I am not good enough | I am more than good enough to try my best |
| I am ugly | I am a beautiful person and my kindness shines through |
| I am too frightened | Bravery takes practice |
| I am dumb | I am smart and I can learn |
| I will never be successful | I will succeed if I try and don’t give up |
| I am fat | I am a beautiful person worthy of becoming my best self |
| I am lazy | I can find my spark |
| I always make mistakes | Everybody makes mistakes, it’s part of learning |
| There is something wrong with me | There is nothing wrong with me, everybody is different and everybody has potential |
| There is nothing good in the world | There are heaps of good things, I need to focus on them instead of the bad |
Here are some more tips on how to craft effective affirmations:
- Use your emotions – what fires you up or energises you? Linking your affirmations to your emotions, particularly positive emotions, will provide an extra boost to the words.
- Try to write them in the present tense instead of something that is yet to happen – you want your brain to start believing it is true now, not that something else needs to happen before it will be true.
- If you are struggling with the above point, then try using a verb like ‘I am becoming…’, ‘I am getting…’ or ‘I am attracting…’
- Look at yourself in the mirror – this is NOT essential by any means but can be helpful to break through resistance. I tried this with some ‘This is what a worthy/happy/successful (etc) woman looks like’ affirmations and, while I cried at first because they didn’t feel true, I now feel more comfortable and feel more belief around these statements.
- Say them regularly – the more often you say your affirmations, the more your brain will believe them so trying saying (your really important ones) them in the morning, whenever you catch yourself being negative or limiting, and again before you go to bed at night. I have started doing this and I’m feeling even stronger in my self-worth now!
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Since using positive affirmations as part of my daily personal development routine, I am learning more and more benefits associated with them, and I’m even starting to learn about how to use them for Law Of Attraction purposes.
I have felt the positive energy that can come from using affirmations (don’t worry if you don’t feel that at first, it took me a bit to get there too!) and it helps me to step into my best self for the day, one where I’m committed to doing my best and feel braver to take action on the things I normally find too scary!
I hope you find this post useful in giving you a greater understanding of affirmations, what they can be used for, and how you can craft your own affirmations.
If you are interested in finding some ready-made positive affirmations check out these ones on Pinterest.
Don’t forget to join in the fun of the 5-Day “I’m Worth It!” Challenge! I’ll be sharing 5 keys to building up your self-worth and feeling good about yourself. And it’s totally FREE!! Click here to register!
So now it’s over to you! Are you ready to give positive affirmations a go? Or do you already have a favourite affirmation you use? I’d love to know!
Much love,
Sarah xo
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