Positive affirmations are not just throw-away statements. They are powerful tools that can help us overcome negative bias, tap into the power of positivity, and cultivate an optimistic outlook on life. This supports our mental health by teaching us to be grateful for our blessings, increasing our confidence, improving our self-image and relationships with others, and retraining our brains to see the world in a positive light.
Are you keen to learn more about using positive affirmations to support your mental health? Stay with us as we take you through it.
Overcoming Our Negative Bias Through Positive Self-Talk
Humans are innately negative. Why? Our brains are programmed to see the world through our negativity bias. This dates back to the Stone Age when our cavemen ancestors’ negativity bias kept them safe from harm by helping them recall and store memories of traumatic past events.
But the truth? Even though our brains are still hard-wired to be negative, today, we don’t actually need these primal thought patterns to keep us out of danger anymore. So how do we retrain our brains, and rewire them to see the world more positively? The answer is positive affirmations.
Drawing on affirmations and positive self-talk can help improve our outlook, and also, realign our self-image. Affirmations can help keep us optimistic in the face of adversity. And perhaps most importantly, using affirmations to stay positive can support our mental health. By actively cultivating a positive mindset, we can potentially even reduce the risk of developing mood-related mental illnesses like anxiety and depression. Our ability to empower ourselves through self-affirming phrases also does wonders for our self-esteem and confidence. This has a flow-on effect on our relationships with others, as well as our relationship with ourselves.
Tapping into the Power of Positivity
The best way to tap into the power of positive affirmations? Repetition. Repeating affirmations to ourselves daily can help imprint them in our brains, diffusing positivity throughout our lives.
But in doing this, be careful to avoid falling into the trap of toxic positivity. As the term would suggest, toxic positivity can be harmful, and cause more damage than good. Some examples of toxic positivity? Telling someone to ‘cheer up’ when they’ve lost a loved one, or been fired from their job. Suggesting to someone experiencing chronic depression to ‘snap out of it’ and ‘just see the bright side’. These remarks are not only insensitive, but they also invalidate an individual’s emotions and personal experience.
When practicing positive self-talk, it’s important to still allow yourself to feel negative emotions. Remind yourself that your emotions are valid, and they are most often a product of your circumstances. Learning to sit with your emotions can help with this. How? A psychologist who has completed an MA in Counseling Psychology online, for example, will tell you that sitting with your emotions is a healthy way to process your feelings, rather than suppressing or avoiding them.
Where to Find Positive Inspiration
If you’re looking for inspiration, you can find positive affirmations in many different places. Try reading a motivational self-help book, for example, or even, look to the internet for an abundance of resources around positivity. Social media is a hub for positive affirmations, with online users across multiple platforms such as Facebook, TikTok, and Instagram sharing a variety of uplifting and inspiring quotes and images to their accounts.
Some examples of positive affirmations you may come across in your search for inspiration could include:
- I am worthy of love and respect, from myself and others.
- I deserve a life of happiness, healing, and joy.
- I trust the process and will let my journey unfold naturally.
- I am strong, resilient, and able to get myself through hard times.
- I have close, loving relationships, and people that care about me.
- I am capable and confident in my ability to succeed.
- I am grateful for new opportunities and doors opening for me.
Irrespective of which affirmations resonate with you the most, though, it’s most important to remind yourself that you have the power to consciously choose your thoughts, change your perspective, and train your brain to have a positive outlook on life.
Hi! I am author + writer on personal development, beauty, relationships and self-care, sharing insights through this blog since 2018. After years of practicing personal growth, emotional wellness and feminine lifestyle (plus 19 years in a thriving relationship), I share effective and tested advice to help you foster beauty, self-improvement and order in your life. Some articles are written by a small team of beautiful writers I trust.
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