You also don’t need to worry about writing longwinded paragraphs if that doesn’t suit you – simply write a sentence or two. Record how you feel and what thoughts, feelings, or sensations arose within you. As nice as it would be if your child only believed positive things about themselves and never experienced negative emotions, such a thing is also unrealistic. Positive a ffirmations are not about completely eliminating negative thoughts or beliefs. Rather, they are about helping your kids to remember the positive things and not dwell too much on the negatives. Alexander, R. (2011). 5 Steps To Make Affirmations Work For You. Retrieved from https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/the-wise-open-mind/201108/5-steps-make-affirmations-work-you

Positive affirmations are at their most effective when they align with our core values, because we will always question something when it goes against those values. For instance, if a child prides themselves on being a good friend, and one of their classmates then tells them they are a bad friend, they will spend some time questioning this. Similarly, in the BBC’s new series of Moodboosters videos which are aimed at primary school age children, Strictly dancers Amy Dowden and Oti Mabuse have used phrases like ‘ I feel good ’ and ‘I am hyped ’ to energise viewers. The use of positive affirmations in Moodboosters films was a conscious decision to get viewers practicing this technique. You may like to create your own affirmation spontaneously based on how you feel when you look in the mirror. For example, if you feel ugly in that moment of time, you can affirm to yourself, “I have a beautiful heart and soul” or whatever feels most authentic to you. Your brain believes what you tell it, so get in the habit of telling it all the things you’re striving to be. Imposter Syndrome, Self Doubt, And Things that Help. Cooke, R., Trebaczyk, H., Harris, P., & Wright, A.J. (2014) Self-affirmation promotes physical activity. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology, 36(2), 217–223.

Affirmation resources

Hay’s bestselling book is a great place to start if you want to learn more about healing affirmations and Hay’s life-changing experiences with positive thinking.

It is possible that there will be affirmations where your child does not have any evidence readily available to support it. If that is the case, and either you or your child want the affirmation to apply to them, you can instead create situations where they can have the experience of embodying that affirmation for themselves. Louise Hay, mentioned above, was an author, teacher, and lecturer who was well-known for her 1984 internationally bestselling book You Can Heal Your Life. Born in the U.S., Hay survived many difficult experiences, including abuse and domestic violence, before she established the First Church of Religious Science.At their core, positive affirmations are about the relationship with the self. We all have a need to see ourselves as having personal integrity and people use affirmations to reinforce a more positive view of themselves. For example, if you’re feeling stressed about events in the news or things that are out of your control, you can still tell yourself ‘I am kind and I am wise’ (if that resonates with your personal values) because it gives you a feeling of still being in control, of still being a good person. Stand in front of the mirror and look at your reflection. Take a few deep breaths to calm your mind and center yourself. You don’t have to limit yourself to repeating your affirmations subconsciously or aloud. You can use these to guide a meditation session while you reflect on what you say to yourself each day. When we use affirmations, we are affirming something that we like about ourselves or something positive we wish to give ourselves. Your mind is going to believe what you tell it, so tell it that you’re smart, ambitious, cute, and not afraid to go for it.

A large number of anxiety-sufferers experience disturbed sleep (Staner, 2003). In the sense that affirmations can sometimes help to relieve anxiety, they may have some beneficial effects in promoting better sleep. Writing affirmations on your mirror is a great way to start your day with positive thoughts and intentions. Here are some affirmations that you can write on your mirror to remind yourself of your worth and potential: Self-affirmation theory has three key ideas underpinning it. They are worth having in mind if we are to understand how positive affirmations work according to the theory. In the 1970s, Hay was diagnosed with what medical professionals called irreversible cervical cancer, and as a result, she began looking into non-medical healing alternatives. In doing so, she created an approach that combined visualization, forgiveness, psychotherapy, and dietary health. However, often what’s let through into your conscious mind is just the right amount for you to handle (that is, after all, the role of the psyche and the ego in particular).It’s as simple as one unique positive affirmation each day with this app, which you can either visit daily to see the affirmation, or you can set it up to send you push notifications. In addition, Unique Daily Affirmations has a nice feature in which you can record your own affirmations and upload your own photos to make it more “you.” Lastly, like with many things you are hoping to make habitual for your kids, the younger you can get them started on practising positive affirmations, the better. If you can build positive beliefs and emphasise focusing on the positive with your children from the get-go, that is much less of a challenge than changing the negative beliefs that an older child may have already established. Cascio, C. N., O’Donnell, M. B., Tinney, F. J., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. E., Strecher, V. J., & Falk, E. B. (2016). Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, 11(4), 621-629.

You may also want to consider combining a self-affirmation practice with other self-help techniques or strategies, such as goal-setting, visualization, or positive thinking. When to practice There are no official methods of doing mirror work – although you can try the 21-day practice developed by Louise Hay in her book. A 2016 study examined the relationship between self-affirmation and brain neurons, particularly when it comes to our internal rewards system. Researchers found that those who practiced positive affirmations had significantly more brain activity around reward and self-worth than those who didn’t. You may choose to use positive affirmations to motivate yourself, encourage positive changes in your life, or boost your self-esteem. If you frequently find yourself getting caught up in negative self-talk, positive affirmations can be used to combat these often subconscious patterns and replace them with more adaptive narratives.

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Mirror work creates the deepest changes when it’s done consistently over a long period of time. I recommend dedicating a minimum of two minutes a day, with ten minutes or more being ideal. 2. Think about the best time of day