Do you find yourself surrounded by negative feelings and thoughts? 🤔
If yes, it’s time to use the habit of AFFIRMATIONS in your life.
We may all find ourselves fighting to stay positive, especially during this pandemic.
Although the world seems to be crashing down, we need to stay positive more than ever (for the sake of our immune system).
I know that it’s hard sometimes, but science doesn’t agree, it has its own point of view.
If you’re wondering how science is related to affirmations and positivity, here’s the answer.
First of All, We Need to Know What Are AFFIRMATIONS?
Affirmations are a push in a positive direction, as simple as this.
Affirmations are positive statements that will help you overcome self-sabotaging and negative thoughts.
It may feel uncomfortable if you’re listening to affirmations or saying them out loud for the first time.
But science says that it does have a positive impact on your brain and life.
Affirmations will reduce your negative thoughts and improve your mindset towards a positive one.
It will not only help you destroy the negative thoughts; but will also motivate you, and boost your self-esteem and confidence.
And believe! There’s NEUROSCIENCE BEHIND AFFIRMATIONS.🔥
Let’s talk science.
We all know how self-help books speak about how positive thoughts, outlooks, and even words can bring a magical change to our lives.
But How Do Affirmations Really Work and What Do Researchers Say?
Researchers at the Annenberg School for Communication, with researchers at the University of Michigan and UCLA, revealed what happens in our brains during self-affirmation.
The study led by Doctoral Candidate Christopher Cascio and Associate Professor Emily Falk was published in the journal “Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience”.
This study used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and found that affirmations stimulate what we call Reward Centers in the brain.
These areas, the ventral striatum (VS) and ventromedial prefrontal cortex (VMPFC) are the same reward centers that react to other pleasurable activities, like eating your favorite snack or winning a prize.
Affirmation takes advantage of our reward circuits, which can be quite powerful,” says Cascio.
“Many studies have shown that these circuits can do things like dampen pain and help us maintain balance in the face of threats.”
The study also found that affirmation boosts activity in the medial prefrontal cortex (MPFC) and posterior cingulate (PCC), areas of the brain connected to self-related processing.
This suggests that increases in self-related processing act as an emotional barrier to negative, painful, or threatening information.
This study didn’t stop here; it also focuses on the difference between past and future-oriented affirmations.
In all of the brain regions named in the study, the effects of affirmation are stronger when participants think about a future orientation.
For example, if someone is career-oriented, the statement “Think about future when you will feel career success,” creates more affirming brain activity than “Think about your past career success.”
Behavior change is often difficult, Cascio tells because messages that give advice may threaten people’s sense of competence and positive self-regard.
Do you see? The science behind AFFIRMATIONS shows us how great our brain is and how our thoughts can control us and affect who we are.
We are what we think about, what we deeply believe in, and what we say too.
Take positive care of your mind, and it would surely take positive care of your life. Edmond Mbiaka says!
Now that we know how science supports affirmations, here are some examples proving that they’re beneficial:
1) Affirmations decrease health-deteriorating stress.
2) Affirmations are used efficiently in interventions to lead people to increase their physical behavior.
3) They help us understand threatening messages with less resistance, including interventions.
4) They are connected positively to academic achievement by decreasing GPA decline in students who feel left out at college.
I’m sure that you’ll use daily affirmations after all of these great facts; It’s a simple daily action that changes an entire life.
How to Start With Self-Affirmation Practice?
I know that it’s not easy to sit down and start thinking and speaking about the positive things in your life.
It needs some practice. But how?
To do a self-affirmation, stand in front of your mirror with your hand on your heart and state that you want to be true; The key to a good affirmation is specificity and clarity with yourself.
For me, I would like to say: “I live to my potentials, I serve people as much as I can, I have a successful marriage, Tomorrow there is a better version of me”.
An overweight person may say: “ I’m healthy; I’m 140 pounds.”
A poor person may say: “I saved enough money for retirement at sixty.”
Like attracts like; the trick to be successful is to learn how to control your thoughts, get rid of the negative ones, and give the positive ones the power to attract more and more success into your life.
Affirmations open the door; It’s the first step on your path to change and succeed.
When I talk about using affirmations, I mean consciously picking words that will help you reduce something from your life and create a new one.
Every thought in our minds, every word we say, every self-talk, and inner dialogue is an affirmation.
We all use affirmations in each moment of our lives; we’re creating our experiences with each word and thought.
So, we need to pay enough attention to what we think about, what we believe in, and how to eliminate the things creating experiences we don’t want in our lives.
It’s up to you to take advantage of your brain’s innate laziness, decide what you want in life, and start affirming and challenging whatever stops you from moving forward.