Why You Should Use Positive Affirmations Every Day
Positive affirmations: thinking positive thoughts every day will allow you to live a more positive life. It’s easy to be overcome by negative thoughts and experiences, so it’s important to create a positive dialogue with yourself to get you through those tough times.
Some people call these thoughts “positive self-talk,” and this form of inner dialogue can allow you to reach new heights as a person, overcoming everything that stands in your way.
Understanding Positive Self-Talk
Positive self-talk is the practice of responding to those negative thoughts that creep into your head throughout the day, every day. You know the kind of thoughts: the ones that have you thinking “I can’t” instead of “I can,” or “it’s too hard” instead of “I can do this.”
When you replace such negativity with positive thoughts, you can bring about astounding changes in your life and the way you feel about yourself.
For instance, when you’re starting a new job, and your mind says, “There’s no way I’m going to fit in here, I’m not sure I can do this,” you can stop this negative dialogue in its tracks. You really can.
So, instead of letting your mind go on and on, envisioning one disaster after another, you can respond with positive thoughts that will eventually expel and replace those negative ones.
These positive “thoughts” are also known as positive “affirmations.”
How Positive Affirmations Work
If you want to take your life to a whole new level you must have a positive mindset, which requires that you replace your negative thought processes with positive ones.
One of the ways that positive affirmations help to replace those negative thoughts is by giving a clear indication to the brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS) that positivity is much more important to you than negativity.
Your brain then sets about presenting you with information that aligns with those positive thoughts, thus empowering you to have the confidence to recognize and make the most of the opportunities that will help you achieve your goals.
You see, your brain is bombarded with billions of pieces of information every second, the vast majority of which you don’t need. This is where RAS comes in; it filters this information so you only receive the information you actually need. Without this filtering process you would be unable to function.
But RAS is heavily influenced by you own thought patterns, so if you’re always thinking negatively about things, you are in effect telling it that these are important to you and so it will filter out positive information and present you with negative.
On the other hand, if your thoughts are consistently more positive and affirming then it will filter out the more negative and present you with more positive because you’ve signaled to it, through your daily affirmations, that positivity is more important to you.
Positive Affirmations and You
It can take a lot of practice to make the change to positive self-talk when you’ve experienced mostly negative thoughts in your life. Perhaps, like many people, you can’t remember a time when this negative dialogue wasn’t playing out in your head. If so, you’ll need to put some effort into responding to this negativity.
Positive affirmations allow you to replace your negativity, one thought at a time.
Now, you may now be wondering if it really can be this easy to change your life with positive daily affirmations…
Well, consider this: haven’t all those negative thoughts running through your mind forged the path that you’ve followed throughout your life and gotten you to where you are today?
If those negative thought patterns can affect your life so much then why couldn’t positive thought patterns not lead you along a different path to a totally different you?
If negative thoughts got you where you are now, can you imagine where you could be if the negativity was replaced by confident, positive thoughts?
2. Record your affirmations so you can listen to them:
You’ll want to be able to listen to your affirmations in the car, at home, or on the go. Record them into your cell phone or iPod-type device. Whatever works for you is fine.
3. Have a written record of your affirmations, too:
Keep a copy with you and post other copies where you’ll see them: at work, in the kitchen, bathroom, bedroom, and your locker at the gym. Choose places that make sense for your lifestyle.
4. Never pass up the opportunity to listen to or read your affirmations:
Stuck in line at the store? Pull out your iPod or list of affirmations and listen or read. Use your spare time to recite your affirmations to yourself.
5. Notice your successes:
The changes you experience will be very subtle. You probably won’t even recognize them unless you’re looking for them. Once a week, sit down and think about your life. Ask yourself how things are improving. What positive changes are you seeing?
6. Keep a list of your successes:
Keep a journal so you don’t forget about the progress you’ve made. Review your successes to keep them fresh in your mind. Success leads to more success, so keep track.
7. Repeat the entire process as needed:
Over time, you’ll develop new, negative self-talk. Use it to your advantage. Add new affirmations to your list and use them. Your self-talk will become less negative as you become more aware of it. This is a process you can use throughout your lifetime.
