What are positive affirmations and why should you care?

Positive affirmations are things that you tell yourself out loud, like qualities about yourself, or things that you want to become true. Someone may say every single day a list of things that they aspire to be, and over time it starts to become true.

Weird right? But it works!

Here’s an example, I told myself every night that I eat vegetables. I knew I was lying to myself; this wasn’t true I did not eat vegetables; I ate pizza and doughnuts. My diet very unhealthy, but I wanted a healthy one so every night I would say I eat vegetables. Even though every night I would think to myself no I don’t, after a couple months I noticed my diet had changed.

I was in fact eating vegetables!

I tried to see when this change had occurred. Upon reflection I realized when I would go to the fridge, I would think to myself I guess I should eat vegetables. This thought process carried over to when I would go shopping, I would think to myself I guess I should buy vegetables.

This happens because change is occurring on a more subconscious level, even though there is a part of you that doesn’t believe what you’re saying, there is another part of you that starts to believe it. So, over time even though I did not believe I was eating vegetables, a part of me grew into that behavior and it balanced out my diet. I ate vegetables and donuts I didn’t get rid of what I was previously eating, I just added vegetables to the menu.

You may not believe that it’s going to work but that’s not the part of you that really needs to be convinced it is the sub part of you. So, if you say something about yourself that you want to be true, you can instill that belief in that sub part. That is what positive affirmation is for. It’s not going to give you superpowers, or change you drastically, but it can change your beliefs and in turn change your behaviors.

Positive affirmation is telling yourself positive things on a daily basis out loud, and over time those things become true. How and what you tell yourself should be behavior oriented, this is because when it comes to the framework of how one views oneself there can be unintended consequences. For example, if someone says “I am this way…” like “I am smart” that may unintentionally create a pressure to be smart or academically excel which is an unintended side effect.

If it’s more behavior-based you can dodge those unintended side effects. Try out positive affirmations and see what it can do for you but give it some time because it’s not going to be instant it will take time to come to fruition, but it could be very worth it.

If you want to watch this video visit The Power of Positive Affirmations | How to Change your Life | Mental Health Matters – YouTube