| Affirmations are positive statements you say or think that help you change negative thought patterns and behaviors. They work best when you repeat them often, ideally several times a day. Using affirmations with other positive thinking and goal-setting tools, such as visualization, can give them added power. Affirmations can also be helpful for reducing anxiety and boosting your mood. They can help you overcome your fears and limiting beliefs by encouraging you to take action, which helps you build confidence.
It’s not surprising that so many people are skeptical of self-help fads or affirmations, but research suggests that they may actually be effective in changing your brain for the better. Affirmations help to retrain your thoughts, giving you a new, more positive perspective on life and the situations that come up in it.
“Affirmations are powerful because they are a tool to retrain your thought process,” says psychologist Jennifer Kelman, LMHC, a clinical counselor at Just Answer. “They can be used to quiet your inner voice of negativity or to help you gain a more realistic and compassionate view of yourself in challenging situations.”
Kelman suggests that affirmations can be beneficial to anyone, even if they don’t have a mental health diagnosis. For example, she points to a study that found that participants who used an internal mantra (a type of positive affirmation) and a mindfulness technique performed better on a word-association problem-solving test under stress than those who only did the mindful practice.
Affirmations are often a part of cognitive behavioral therapy or dialectical behavior therapy, which are both types of psychotherapy that help patients develop healthier ways of thinking and responding to stressful situations. But they can also be a useful complement to any form of therapy, including talk therapy. “I use them as a way to help clients cope with anxiety and self-defeating beliefs, such as feeling hopeless or unworthy,” Kelman says.
You can create your own affirmations or find a selection of free ones online. It’s important that they resonate with you and feel authentic to you, so don’t be afraid to change them around until you have something that works. It’s also helpful to make them short and easy to remember. “You want to avoid affirmations that are too long or too complicated, as they will be less effective,” says Zand.
Make a commitment to yourself to say your affirmations daily, preferably at the same time each day. Whether it’s first thing in the morning, as you’re getting ready for bed, or while you’re taking care of yourself, it’s important to stick with your affirmation routine. “You may want to ask a trusted loved one or coach to join you in your affirmation routine,” Leeds suggests. “Listening to someone else repeat your affirmations may reinforce your belief in them.”
Affirmations can be a powerful tool for transforming your mind, but they aren’t a magic bullet. They’ll still be no match for a nosy co-worker who won’t stop asking personal questions, or that voice in your head that tells you to quit your job after a bad interview.
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