DO AFFIRMATIONS REALLY WORK?

Do affirmations really work? In order to understand this better, you should first know what exactly are affirmations?

Affirmations are positive statements that are used to boost your confidence, build strength, create positive vibrations & overcome your negative thoughts. In a time where we all deal with certain negative emotions in our lives, affirmations come out to be as a heroic self-help strategy in upgrading your morale. Also, affirmations exist to help you feel better and uplift your spirit, not to highlight what you lack. Let’s understand this through examples below: -

1. I am so much positive today. (Now, this may mean that either you are not feeling good on a particular day and are willing to feel positive or you are feeling less positive and want to have more positivity.)

2. My mind is full of good ideas. (It doesn't mean that your mind is full of bad ideas. It simply means that you want your mind to focus on ideas that may end up giving you good results.)

3. I am confident in my ability to perform all the tasks well. (This means you try to boost your confidence just like you go to a competition to perform your best of your ability, without much thinking about the results.)

Hence, you need to understand that practicing or repeating affirmations doesn't mean that you don't have that particular thing in you. It just adds more value to who you already are and to the good things/emotions you already have, that for time being are somewhere suppressed in you.

WHY TO BELIEVE IN AFFIRMATIONS?

If there's something that can add more value to who you already are or make you a better version of yourself, there's no harm in adopting that policy.

Affirmations anyways work on scientific theory; they are not magical powers. Neuroscience has revealed that practicing affirmations daily can stimulate the reward/pleasure centers in the brain that make us feel motivated, content & happy by reinforcing them in your brain thoroughfares.

What you feed in mind, you become. Don't forget a little shift in your mindset from negative to positive or from less positive to more positive, can help you build a constructive outlook on life.

DO THEY REALLY WORK?

Maybe YES! They do work. Affirmations are mental seeds that you sow in your minds and they blossom into reality. Your mind is like a big garden with lots of trees & seedlings that grow, blossom & produce fruits. But before dispersing them, you need to know that in anticipation of making them work, you first need to believe in them. Remember, affirmations aren't magic bullets that will turn your world in a fairytale, overnight. They need to be practiced regularly without any failure to give a long-lasting change in your actions & thoughts. It basically shifts the mindset to dare your not so good thoughts & actions. Saying affirmations daily can make your subconscious mind believe it to be a fact.

HOW TO BELIEVE IN AFFIRMATIONS?

Well, trust me I myself used to doubt affirmations but then I found out I was actually making mistakes while practicing them verbally and in writing (I preferred to write). To avoid those mistakes and to believe in them you need to understand few important things that- affirmations need consistent practicing, they need to be achievable, they should be in present tense and subconsciously you need to believe in them.

HOW TO PRACTICE AFFIRMATIONS?

• Start bringing a small change in your daily routine by transforming your negative talk to positive talk. For eg : Instead of saying, 'Oh! I can't do this work; I haven't done it before.' Say, 'Let's try this work, it's a new opportunity for me to learn.'

• Say affirmations 5-8 times in your head or aloud or just write them in your diary and take a look at them whenever you have time & believe in the words you say.

• Repeat affirmations at any time of the day, starting from the moment you wake up to the time before you go to sleep.

• Try to remain consistent & patient. Always remember affirmations help in bringing a change in your life gradually, they aren't the change itself.

• In addition, engage yourself in practicing mindfulness. eg- meditation

WHEN DO AFFIRMATIONS DON'T WORK?

• When your affirmations are not realistic and are based on unnatural & imaginary thoughts that aren't connected to you in real life.

• When you don't believe in them, doubt yourself & just say for the sake of making them true.

• When you are struggling with a heavy negative feeling deep inside you. In such case, you won't be able to give your cent percent in what you do & say.

• When you aren't saying it correctly. It's better to start your affirmations in present tense- 'I am/I have/ I am receiving/ I am having....'

• Most importantly, when you are impatient.

At last, try to make things work for yourself. Give your best in whatever good you do to yourself. Don't expect the results too soon, they are the little changes that will take place gradually in its own time as only then they are worth happening. Always remember this famous quote by John Wooden- “Good things take time, as they should. We shouldn’t expect good things to happen overnight. Actually, getting something too easily or too soon can cheapen the outcome.” And in my opinion, affirmations are all about being hopeful. If you have hope then even at times when you have low self-esteem, you can try to identify and challenge the negative situation, build self-compassion and treat yourself the way you deserve to be treated.