Power of Positive Affirmations For Mental Health And Success
The power of affirmations for mental health and overcoming limiting beliefs is an overlooked and super powerful tool that is easily accessible for everyone. The beliefs we develop while growing up are stored into the subconscious and affect every decision we make.
Identifying your limiting beliefs and then using affirmation practices and positive statements to clear them over time is a great way to transform your mindset.
Read this guide blog to find out how to use positive affirmations for better mental health and more success in your life. ✨
What are Positive Affirmations?
Affirmations are positive thoughts or statements you say to yourself, either as a thought or outloud, which helps to strengthen your belief of that statement or idea.
For example, if you say “Things are always working out for me” OR “I’m manifesting abundance and prosperity into my life” you are strengthening your belief in those statements.
You’re also training your brain to think more positively regularly, fighting against the natural tendency for us to think negative thoughts as humans, which is a defense mechanism.
These simple statements have the power to transform your current mood and energy, and set yourself up for success and better mental well-being over time. Yes please!
Benefits of Positive Affirmations
There are short term and long term benefits of using affirmations, making them even more powerful. In the short term, when you say an affirmation, you’re instantly changing your vibe and energy in a positive way.
Just try it – say “I let go of all negativity that rests in my body and mind” in your head. Don’t you feel at least a little bit better than you did before you thought it? And if on the off chance you don’t, that affirmation probably wasn’t a good one for you (more on this later!).
In the long term, saying daily affirmations can strengthen your emotional health, inner strength and create a more resilient mindset.
They can help to abolish low self-esteem, intrusive thoughts and emotional distress that comes from negative thinking. Affirmations can even help your physical health by decreasing stress and increasing the feel good chemicals in your body over time.
Affirmations alone will not cure any mental health condition, but they can help with a depressive episode or chronic low mood by helping to combat some of the internal dialogue and negative thought patterns.
This is the case with me – I suffer from fluctuating moods, and when I’m feeling on the depressed end of the spectrum, I try to say some affirmations as often as I can remember, to give myself a better perspective.
Positive Affirmations For Mental Health : How Do They Work?
From a science perspective, positive affirmations work to train your brain to think in new thought patterns consciously by forming new neural pathways. They also change your subconscious beliefs and create a more positive outlook.
Affirmations have gained some traction in recent years as trends like yoga and meditation have gotten more popular, but people have been using them for a LONG time!
They’ve been used throughout history, for example as mantras rooted in Buddhism. Modern neuroscience has proven that affirmations have a significant positive effect on the brain, which can be seen in brain scans.
Countless great thought leaders have vouched for positive affirmations as a tool for success – for example Napoleon Hill sparked universal interest in positive affirmations with his praised book Think and Grow Rich.
The Power of Affirmations : How To Use Them In Your Daily Routine
There are tons of ways you can easily use affirmations in your every day life – so you have no excuse not to ;). A classic way to use them is to say them either out loud or to yourself in the morning as part of your morning routine.
This will get you in the right frame of mind for the day and make it way more likely that things go your way!
I’ll give you a story from my personal experience to explain a little better – this is one of my more memorable law of attraction success stories. There was a period of time at an old job where I never felt like I could get everything done (shocking!) and my to-do list kept piling up.
One day after hearing one of my favorite speakers talk about the power of affirmations, I decided to say a few in the car on my way to work, one of them being “I have an abundance of time today to accomplish my goals.” After I got to work as the morning progressed I noticed things from my list kept naturally crossing themselves out. For example, someone emailed me that I don’t need to complete x task anymore, and I got a phone call that wiped out another. A few others I realized didn’t need to get done and weren’t important – even though I wasn’t able to see that the day before. By lunch time my to-do list seemed very manageable and I was shocked – I didn’t think saying a few affirmations would have such a dramatic effect. To this day one of my favorite affirmations is “Things fall on my to-do list fall away if I let them.”
Don’t get discouraged if you don’t have such dramatic results when you start using affirmations – usually the change will be more gradual and subtle. But hopefully that story helps you to believe in them and understand how they can effect your life!
Aside from saying or thinking them to yourself during your morning routine, here are some other ideas for implementing them into your daily life:
- Put post it notes up around the house or on a bulletin board
- Download an affirmations app (for example the I Am app) that will send you notifications throughout the day
- Record personalized affirmations and listen to them in the morning or throughout the day. I recommend using the ThinkUp app for this!
- Put your favorite affirmation as your computer or phone background
- Buy art for around your house that have positive affirmations / quotes on them
Get creative and test different things out – and leave a comment if you find a different way that works for you!
Finding Affirmations That Work For You
The best way to use affirmations is to clear up limiting beliefs you may have that are preventing you from achieving the success you’re looking for in any area of your life. In order to do this though you need to work on IDENTIFYING those limiting beliefs, which can be tricky.
There’s no one good way to do this, but to start, determine a part of your life that you struggle with the most. Are there beliefs you have about yourself or about that idea as a whole that don’t serve you?
For example, if you’ve been single for a long time and are looking for a partner, what beliefs do you hold about relationships? Many people that have trouble dating hold beliefs such as “relationships lead to pain and unhappiness” – especially people who grew up with parents who fought often or divorced. Another question to ask yourself would be – what beliefs do you have about yourself as an eligible partner? If you hold beliefs about yourself that are negative, such as “I’m a difficult partner” or “There are so many people that are more attractive than me” your subconscious will make sure those beliefs manifest into real life.
Once you identify the beliefs that are no longer serving you, now it’s time to jot down affirmations that will help you release these negative beliefs. In the examples I used in the last paragraph, that person would want to start saying affirmations that strengthen their positive belief in relationships and themselves as a good partner, for example:
- Relationships are a source of happiness and fulfillment
- Anyone would be lucky to have me as their partner
If you’re having trouble manifesting abundance and wealth into your life, make sure to read my blog post on how to clear your money blocks here!
Make sure the affirmations you’re using aren’t provoking negative emotions.
Finding the right affirmations for you can get confusing because you have to make sure they’re triggering positive emotions in you and aren’t making you feel worse. If you’re using affirmations that feel completely unbelievable to you personally, they’re more likely to cause some anxiety or confusion, which could actually do more harm than good!
To test this out, say the affirmation to yourself and notice if it feels good or not. If it doesn’t make you feel lighter, more optimistic and calm when you say it, that’s probably not the right affirmation for you. If that happens, just find other affirmations about the same topic and find one that DOES feel good.
Positive Affirmations List & Examples
I pulled together a list of my favorite affirmations by category for you to use as examples. You can also find an abundance of affirmations on Pinterest, in books, or you can always create your own! Experiment and see which ones work best for you individually.
My Favorite Overall Affirmations
- I wake up with a peaceful mind and a grateful heart
- From this day forward I expect to receive epic blessings in my life
- All is well in my world
- I am grounded, I am loved, I am enough
- I am attracting unconditional love, abundance & high-vibrational experiences
- I am grateful for every blessing the universe has and will ever create for me
Money Affirmations that Work Instantly to Improve Your Mindset About Wealth
- I am open to money coming to me in new ways I never imagined
- Money flows to me from multiple sources
- I am the master of my wealth
- With every beat of my heart, I become more abundant
- I release all negative energy over money
- Money allows me to have a life I love
- The money I spend will always be replaced with more
- I am always attracting abundance and prosperity into my life
- I always have more than enough
- I am one with a tremendous amount of money
- I manifest abundance with gratitude for all I already have
Relationship Affirmations for Love
- I open my heart and allow the Universe to send me the love I deserve
- I deserve to love and to be loved
- I give and receive love easily
- Today I release my fear and open my heart to true love
- I see love everywhere I look
- I forgive and release myself from those that caused me harm
- The more I give love, the more I receive love
- I spread love to those around me and it is returned to me in abundance
- Each day I am grateful for the love I feel for myself and the people around me
- I only attract people who treat me with respect and love
- I manifest a kind and romantic relationship full of understanding and deep connection
- I am perfectly attuned to the frequency of love
Affirmations for Health and Healing
- I am healthy and full of energy
- I am constantly growing and healing
- I let go of all negativity that rests in my body and mind
- I get healthier every day
- I am in perfect health
- Everything I eat and drink heals me
- I attract limitless health
- I choose health and love for myself and others
- I love my amazing body
- I have an abundance of strength and energy
Affirmations for Success at Work & in Life
- I am capable of accomplishing my dreams
- I am devoted to my soul’s purpose and passion
- I have the freedom and power to create the life I desire
- I give up freely what is no longer serving me, to create space for what inspires me
- I am capable of learning what I need to to accomplish my dreams
- I trust in my ability to succeed in all I do
- Today is filled with possibility and love
- Success comes easily to me
- I have the power to manifest the life of my dreams
- I attract success and good fortune
- I am worthy of success and greatness
- I welcome new challenges into my life to help me grow
- Every experience I have is perfect for my growth
Daily Affirmations
I’ve started a series of daily affirmations you can use each day of the week to boost your energy, which are all different to avoid too much repeating. I’ll be adding links to these blogs below as they are completed.
If you start using affirmations and see an effect in your life (positive or negative), reach out and share in the comments! I’d also love to hear affirmations you’ve tried and love, or affirmations tools & resources that helped you to implement them into your life. Good luck affirming!
Lauren Kessel is the author and owner of the Inspired Self Discovery blog. She is passionate about supporting personal growth and transformation in her life and others through yoga, mindfulness, spirituality and personal development. Lauren has been writing for over fifteen years, practicing yoga for even longer, and has always had an interest in inner work.
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