Affirmations

We've all had those negative thoughts that intrude on us at the most inconvenient time, they then stick in our mind like an earworm and drive us to be unfocused whilst they are happening. Sometimes they are autonmatic and very negative and can make us ill with anxiety or depression from their repeated intrusion and accompanying images.

All this can be disturbing and manipulative without us even being aware they are even chattering, on automatic pilot in our mind creating 'what if' scenario's and although your brain is trying to keep you safe. When it is revved up and overstimulated in overdrive our thoughts can keep our nervous system in the threat-protect mode not allowing it to return to homeostatic and rest-digest calm mode.

The first thing we might do is repress, ignore or fear the thoughts and this only acts to strengthen the neural pathways they travel alone and keeps them coming and keep us on high alet.

What can we do about them?

We can counterbalance the negative intrusive thought with positive affirmations.

For the past 28 years since I first read about affirmations in the book Feal the Fear and Do it Anyway by Susan Jeffers. I have been using affirmations daily because I know how well they work.  

Anyone accessing therapy with me for anxiety or visits my Facebook page will know the first tool I'll invite you to make use of are affirmations, because they support your nervous systems return to balance and regulation.

Affirmations are the cheapest and easiest tool to use because they don’t cost anything and they are the easiest tool to draw upon anywhere and at any time of the day, once you have created those that speak to you personally.

But like all tools they need using and repeating to make a difference.  

What exactly is an affirmation?

Affirmations are a self-help tool that supports your nervous system to regulate itself.

We use affirmations when our thoughts are negative, intrusive and repetitive or when we need to boost our confidence, self-esteem or when we are feeling flat.

How do they work?

Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience have scientifically investigated affirmations for their efficacy and has  shown that affirmations can activate the reward systems in our brain. Activating the ventromedial prefrontal  The area of the brain dealing with processing and validation, hence the reward when affirmations are used.

Our negative thoughts got so loud because they have had plenty of time to be repeated throughout our day for months and for many of us years. They are well versed within our brains, loud, proud, unrelenting and often play automatically and subconsciously in the background without us even noticing them, like a CD on repeat.

Once we start counteracting the negative with the positive affirmations on repeat in a more conscious and mindful way, eventually, they will drowned out the negative and our neuroreceptors will receive them and eventually the neurotransmitters in our brain will form new pathways and connections to the positive and they will become our first thoughts not the negative.

This is why it is very important to repeat, repeat, repeat by practice, practice, practice, consciously and deliberately throughout your day not just when you are hearing the negative thoughts, but to build new connections in our brain we need to make them louder than the negative. Repetition is how the negative got there in the first place and repetition is how the positive will replace them.

 How do we create and use affirmations?

An affirmation is a short positive statement that something is already happening.  It is not happening tomorrow or in the future, but right here – right now. You don't have to beleive it, just repeat. repeat, repeart because the brain can peceive imagined data in the same way it does facts, the brain doesn't always know the difference when its nervous systems are dysregulatied. So go ahead and repeat you affirantions for the most benefit.

There is a few things to remember about affirmations:

Always state your affirmation in the present

Negative:    I will handle all my fears.

Positive:      I am now handling all my fears.

Always phrase affirmations in the positive, rather than the negative.

Negative:    I am no longer putting myself down.

Positive:      I am becoming more confident every day.

Select affirmations that feel right for you at any given time.  What feels right may change as your situation and mood changes and as you grow in Self-confidence.

Positive quotes:  Find those that really touch you in some way.  Some very effective affirmations for me are:

·        I can cope.

·        I am creating peace within me one step at a time,

·        I have a place in the world and the world has a place in me,

·        Can I do this? Yes.

·        One life a million uses.

·        Feel the fear and do it anyway.

Write each quote on an individual index card or post it note of you like and this helps you to remember to repeat them. Then put them all over the place: on your mirrors, your desk, the refrigerator door, in the car, your diary and so on.  You may want to put one quote that really ‘speaks’ to you on many cards so that wherever you turn it’s there as a reminder for you to either say out loud or to yourself in your mind.

The more you consciously repeat your affirmations the more your neurotransmitters will have the opportunity to reroute themselves.

You will find your quotes will change often as you move forward in your life.  Different ideas are meaningful at different times.  Just keep changing your quotes or adding to them.  Be as creative as you like try bringing some lightness to the task draw, colour or make a collage. 

Affirmations are Self-talk in its highest form. 

Affirmations are your greatest tool and the easiest and cheapest to use.

Resources: 

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC4814782/

Book - Feal The Fear and Do It Anyway – Susan Jeffers

I offer a free 30 mins video call so we can meet before our first session. Contact me at email: pendulumofpeace8@gmail.com text or Whatsapp message to 07867938630 if you do leave a message please state your name and lets connect and realise your fullest potentials.