Even though…

Some people are not happy with what they have and with themselves. What can be done about it?

The first thing one should do to boost one’s self-esteem is to have results, to have a well-paid job, to be successful. BUT this is not very easy if the self-esteem is low. So there is a vicious circle.

One of the ways of boosting one’s self esteem is positive affirmations, mantras that may reprogram your brain. There are empirical studies proving that we can maintain our sense of self-integrity by telling ourselves (or affirming) what we believe in positive ways. There is MRI evidence suggesting that certain neural pathways are increasing when we practice self-affirmation tasks (Cascio et al., 2016).

I do not think there may be strict rules about timing and frequency when it comes to practicing self-affirmations.

According to psychotherapist Ronald Alexander of the Open Mind Training Institute, affirmations can be repeated up to three to five times daily to reinforce the positive belief. He suggests that writing your affirmations down in a journal and practicing them in the mirror is a good method for making them more powerful and effective (Alexander, 2011).

Here are some examples of positive affirmations:

• I believe in myself, and trust my own wisdom;
• I am a successful person;
• I am confident and capable at what I do.
• I am resilient, strong, and brave, and I can’t be destroyed;
• Nobody but me decides how I feel
• I am in charge of my thoughts, and I don’t judge myself;
• I accept and love myself, thoroughly and completely.
• Through courage and hard work, I can achieve anything that I set my mind to;
• I’m fine with who I am, and I love who I am becoming;
• Whenever I fall down, I get back up again.

Also one of the ways of accepting oneself is saying to yourself over and over again something like

• Even though I am lazy I can still achieve a lot of things
• Even though I made a lot of mistakes in the past I am an achiever
• Even though I am angry at myself I an a positive person

The best affirmations for you will be the ones that you will write for yourself.

• Try to avoid negations
• Try to make the affirmations short
• Make the affirmations positive
• Talk about yourself and not about others
• Be specific

If you want to share with me your affirmations I will be more than happy to get a glimpse of your experience.