Hi and welcome,
My name is Sarah Nielsen and I'm doing a talk on affirmations.
I'd like to start with a quote and then move into some descriptions,
How we use them,
Some common questions,
And wrapping up with some examples as well as some pro tips.
Affirmations for field of dreams,
If you build it,
It will come.
Consider that quote.
What is an affirmation?
An affirmation is a positive statement towards yourself or a situation or a person.
It fosters positive and healthy thinking as well as perception,
As well as empowerment,
And it can infiltrate many other areas of life.
When I'm working with clients and they practice affirmations,
It is helped with such things as anxiety,
Depression,
Self-esteem,
Body image,
Their mood,
Their outlook,
Their perspective,
Even their relationships.
It can definitely seep into many areas of life.
How do you use them?
Okay,
In what ways can you use affirmations?
Well,
Some things I've already mentioned.
You can use them to build self-esteem,
To build body confidence,
Body acceptance.
You can use them to create forgiveness and healing.
You can use them to increase confidence in relation to professionally,
Academically.
You can even use them to prepare for a test or a big meeting or an important presentation.
You can use affirmations to manage,
Face,
Reduce tough emotions.
You can use them to motivate yourself and to even be more productive.
You can use them to manifest things in your life.
You can use them to overcome a bad habit.
And that's just a few examples of the many ways you can utilize affirmations in your life.
There is really no limit how you can use them.
Now a common question I get is,
Will I believe the affirmation?
Full transparency,
Not necessarily.
Sometimes we don't believe them when we start saying them,
Just as we probably didn't believe the negative things when we first started saying them.
But this is an important part of the process to know.
You may not believe them at first and that's okay,
But we keep saying them,
Okay?
We stay diligent,
We stay consistent.
It takes time.
We cannot undo these things overnight.
What about benefits?
Now,
I've already mentioned really a lot of benefits,
However,
Let's add to that.
With affirmations,
The practice of affirmations,
You can literally rewire your brain.
It is neuroplasticity.
There was a time that we didn't think that we could rewire our brains,
But we know now that we can.
Other benefits,
Many of them I've already mentioned from self-esteem,
Confidence,
Moods and emotions,
And so on.
Now another common question I get is how often do I say them?
I would recommend saying them several times a day.
So affirmations are a little bit different than cognitive restructuring,
Which I do have a talk on it on this very app,
And you're welcome to look it up.
Cognitive restructuring is more in the moment.
I had a negative thought,
An unhelpful thought,
And a rational thought,
So I'm using a new thought to challenge,
Replace that thought.
Affirmations can be used in those instances,
But regardless of what's going on with our thinking pattern,
Affirmations are stated several times a day.
I recommend saying them at least three times a day,
In the morning,
The middle of the day,
In the evening,
And repeating it per practice.
I recommend you repeat the same affirmation for 21 to 30 days.
It is best to say them out loud,
But at a minimum in your mind.
You can also say them when you're struggling.
If you're having a tough day,
If you're really struggling with some anxiety,
You can repeat your affirmation,
I am peaceful,
Several times a day,
And in times of anxiety.
You can never use them too much.
You can,
For example,
Say with a morning session,
I recommend you saying it several times in that morning session,
Several times in the midday,
Several times in the evening.
I also highly recommend you set yourself some type of cue or reminder to say your affirmations because it is a new habit and we need triggers or cue reminders to say,
Oh yeah,
I'm doing this.
One of my tricks is to go in into my calendar and the title of an event is my affirmation,
And then I set it to repeat several times a day for 30 days.
All right,
So let's talk about the format of an affirmation,
Super important.
You want them to be present tense.
So rather than saying,
I'm going to be peaceful,
We would say,
I am peaceful.
We want our affirmations to be realistic and achievable,
Similar to Smirkle's.
Now I find it additionally helpful to add a because,
For example,
I am a worthwhile person because,
And then you can provide some reasons.
Why do that?
I believe that it aids us in internalizing or absorbing or believing this affirmation at a higher rate when we have some evidence to support the statement we're saying.
Now with that being said,
You can also develop temporary affirmations.
For example,
If you have a big job interview coming up or a big exam coming up,
Say an interview,
You might say something like,
I am confident in my interview.
And if you were to add the because,
Because I have experience in this field.
So you can,
They're very versatile,
Okay,
Affirmations are very versatile.
And say,
For example,
Of a temporary situation,
Let's say it's an interview,
A presentation,
An exam.
I do not recommend you just practice them that day.
I recommend you begin practicing that particular affirmation at least a week ahead of time.
Okay.
Use your affirmations to support or to cultivate what you're wanting in your line.
Now a couple of tips,
Some of them I might've already stated,
But just to add,
Don't forget in closing to set yourself up a reminder to trigger you to say it.
I've also had people change their passwords to their affirmation.
So that way they're writing it in,
Put it in your calendar,
Schedule it to go off multiple times a day,
Schedule it to repeat for a good 30,
Put it on a post-it note,
Place it around you.
Say it like you believe it,
Say it with conviction.
I do hope this talk was helpful and I do hope you move forward with your affirmations.
Thank you so much for listening.
I truly appreciate it.
