Why I love affirmations & mantras

I use positive affirmations and mantras daily, paired with gratitude I have seen a dramatic shift in my mindset, happiness, confidence and stress-levels since I started both of these practices. Affirmations can build our resilience, helping us to respond differently to life’s ups & downs, allowing us to be more adaptive and optimistic.

Practicing mindfulness to become more aware of your thoughts and the language you use gives you the opportunity to cancel out those nagging and harmful thoughts and replace them with positive ones. Similarly, using mantras or affirmations can bring you into the present moment, you are focusing on repeating the affirmations rather than worrying about the past or future.

Our subconscious mind is always listening, and it can’t tell the difference between what’s real and what’s imagined so those negative self-sabotaging thoughts constantly running around in your head are doing more harm then you may realize. Not only is this is a source of stress but it can become a self-fulfilling prophecy.

A great place to start is with simple “I am” affirmations like I am confident, I am safe, I am supported, I am loved, I am enough, I am creative etc. Pay attention to your negative thoughts and fears throughout the day, write them down, write out the opposite of that fear/thought then add ‘I am” in front of it. Write these affirmations down, put them somewhere you will see it often (maybe use sticky notes) to remind you to practice.

It will feel uncomfortable at first, but just keep at it. Think about how you WANT to feel (i.e. If you were confident, how would you feel? What would you be able to do that you can’t now?) then harness that feeling, imagine it as if its already your reality, get excited and repeat these affirmations with enthusiasm. The more practice you get the easier it will be for you to re-frame negative thoughts when they pop up on the fly!

Do you practice affirmations or mantras? If so, what are some of your favourites?