Prisha Khimavat

First off, if you haven’t read the first part of this post about what Affirmations are and why they work, you can read it here. The first part provides a breakdown into what affirmations are, some misconceptions about affirmations, and also provides a deeper explanation about how they work. I would really recommend reading it if you haven’t yet!

So, How Do I Start?

Now that we’ve talked about what they are, how they work, and how they don’t work in part one, the real question is where to begin, and how do you put it into practice?

Well the simple break down is this:

So when we’re talking about what affirmations to use, this is a pretty personal process, so here are two methods I believe are helpful in identifying what statements you should use:

Areas of Life and Some Inspiration

This method is fairly simple. What you do is think about what areas of life you want to change your perspective on, is it your self-esteem, your work ethic, your relationships, your health, etc. It can be anything. Then, you can simply Google affirmations about that area of life and pick 5-7 that you want to start off with. If you don’t have a specific area of life, you can just look up general ones as well. Another place you can find affirmations is on an app, for example, the app called “I am”. This is an app that I use that has a variety of different affirmations regarding different areas of life, as well as a section where you can create your own affirmations as well. This is a great way to get ideas for statements you want to use.

Today I Will

This is probably my personal favorite method. How it works is, every morning you make two lists. The first one starts off with:  Today I will feel. On this list you put three things that you want to feel that day, for example, you could say “Today I will feel loved, focused, and confident,” or you could say “Today I will feel joyful, kind, and productive.” The second list starts off with Today I will be. So this list might look like “Today I will be kind to myself and others, respectful to those around me, and a good listener.” It might also look like “Today I will be a hard worker, a magnet for success, and a kind friend.” The list itself is completely up to you. This will give you six things that you will affirm yourself with. Three that are feeling-based and three that are states of being.

How do I Put it into Practice?

So now that you have your statements, what do you do with them, well here are three ways you can use them:

In a Mirror

As the same suggests, what you would do is look at yourself in the mirror and repeat each statement 3-5  times (or even more). Try to picture yourself actually being or having what you’re affirming yourself. This can be a little difficult and make you feel a little ridiculous, but just know that you’re the only person that can hear you and try to push through the awkwardness. Within a week or two it might become more natural.

Write it down

For this method, instead of saying it out loud, you would take a piece of paper and write each statement down 3 times. As you write it down you want to repeat it to yourself (you can repeat it out loud as well). This helps you really focus on and spend some time with these affirmations even if it only takes 5 minutes of your time.

In Sight and On Your Mind

This method is similar to the previous one in that you do write down your affirmations, but you only have to write it down once. I recommend writing it on a post-it note or on a piece of paper that you can tape somewhere because what you’re going to do is write it down and then put it somewhere where you will see it throughout your day. Every once in a while, when you see it, you’ll read it to yourself and carry on with what you were doing, and then repeat a little later.

These are just some methods of using affirmations. Some people choose to find recordings or podcasts that have affirmations that they listen to in the mornings, some people choose to make it the background of the phones or laptops. There are so many different ways and so many different affirmations but in general, I find it to be a tool that’s really helpful and I hope you’ll give it a shot too.

~ Prisha Khimavat ~