Read about the importance of mindfulness affirmations in supporting your overall well-being. Plus, get 10 mindfulness affirmations you can start using today!
I Just Feel Better – Good News You Can Too.
“You must have gotten out of the wrong side of the bed”, I can still hear my mom saying when she felt I wasn’t being my “best self”.
Of course, you have heard this saying, but do you know its origin? (I didn’t either, I had to Google it.) Apparently, it originated and is generally accepted as a phrase that comes from the ancient Romans. Known as very superstitious the Romans believed anything on the right side was positive, and the left side was negative.
What side is the right or left side anyway, doesn’t it differ based on which direction you are looking at something? Regardless, credit to the Romans, they did come up with a few good things … plumbing, concrete, roads, and bound books (yes this is a shameless link to my award-winning book) to name a few.
I very rarely “get out of the wrong side of the bed” anymore. And I sleep on the left side (assuming you are in the bed). I credit this to my morning ritual of choosing to set positives energy, positive messages, and self-love as a priority.
Let’s say that sometimes this also doubles as an excuse to stay cozy and warm under the covers for a few extra minutes.
Regardless this consistent practice sets the tone and affects my entire day… and I have to say I just feel better and respond to interactions I have with more positive things rather than negative self-talk and all that goes with that.
I can easily allow my subconscious mind – you know that part of your mind that operates without awareness, that part of the mind that you have no active control of – to take the wheel.
It happens quickly and before I know it I am ungrounded and unfocused and I feel scattered… the clarity of mind I would like to carry with me into my day, to at least get off to an organized start, is lost.
If you know me personally you may have met this buzzy ungrounded version of Colleen. This is not how I want to feel or show up for myself and those I interact with! So, I practice each morning.
How Do You Want to Feel?
I want positive energy and positive thinking, good things, and present moment awareness, and I want to shine bright and encourage others to shine bright.
A girl can dream… but really that’s not to say that negative thoughts don’t come my way each day.
It’s normal… and with the average human experiencing 40-60 thousand thoughts each day, some are just going to be less favorable than others. Accept and embrace your humanness ;).
So I choose to start my day with a few favorable thoughts, and practice focusing on a sense of self-integrity, alignment with good things and thoughts, and a meaningful conversation with myself that chooses the “right side of the bed”!
How do you want to feel to start your day?
Give yourself the gift of a few moments now and capture how you want to feel when you get up each day.
What Do You Want?
What do you want from your day?
As you start your day do you think about how you want to experience the day?
No?! What?! Why?!
Add This to Your Daily Life
Well, I have to be honest with you, you are missing an amazing opportunity to set yourself up for the best day yet.
Try this each morning for one week…It will take about 20 minutes total from your entire week, maybe less…but why rush a good thing!
Spend a few minutes when you wake up to welcome the day with a few positive words, some self-love, and give each of the cells in your body a positive message about how you want your day to go and feel!
Here is the good news, you only need a few moments for this mindfulness exercise to redirect any pending negative self-talk or morning negative patterns to positive changes.
Create your own or try a few of these:
- Like a magnet, I only attract good things into my life
- Hello morning, I am alive and ready for the day
- I am ready to rise and SHINE!
- Today I choose happiness
- I am smart and capable and ready for good things to happen today
P.S. Keep reading and you will bump into a few of my positive statements. Imagine what it would feel like to make this subtle shift for 30 days! Just sayin’ 😉
Colleen, Are You Talking About Mindfulness Affirmations?
Yes of course! You knew I was talking about mindfulness affirmations – this is not a new topic – and please don’t limit your mindfulness affirmations to just the morning. It’s a great place to start AND they can really support your mental health during other times of the day too.
*Like when you bump into one of those 40-60 thousand thoughts and need to reconnect with positive ways, good mojo, and inner peace to move forward.
Let’s explore a few benefits of affirmations and dig into the idea of daily affirmations as mindfulness practices. Excited? I am!
Daily Affirmations Brief History
As I was writing this blog I was curious about the history and origin of mindfulness affirmations – here’s what I learned…
Let’s travel from the Roman’s “right side of the bed” phrase to France the home of the French psychologist and pharmacist Emile Coue. Dr. Coue is known as the father of affirmations.
Why? Because he noticed when a patient was told of the benefits of a medical procedure or “potion” he gave them the overall results were better than when he did not mention the expected benefits.
With a little more research, I learned the roots of positive affirmations actually go back even further and lay in the early stages of the Vedic period (1500/1000 B.C.) way back in the spiritual East.
Gratitude for the wisdom of the Romans, French, and Vedics… always.
If you don’t believe any of those people, how about these guys?
Mental Health from Modern Science
NIH, National Library of Medicine researchers. They offer modern science research, MRI evidence, and empirical studies… like this one:
“Self-affirmation theory posits that people are motivated to maintain a positive self-view and that threats to perceived self-competence are met with resistance. When threatened, self-affirmations can restore self-competence by allowing individuals to reflect on sources of self-worth, such as core values.” Want to read that research and the role of the ventromedial prefrontal cortex… go here.
Key psychological theories and studies show that “self-affirmation alters the brain’s response to health messages and subsequent behavior change.” Find so much more here.
Science Lesson Over… on to You!
So how do you use that science, history, and wisdom to support creating mindfulness affirmations or daily affirmations that work for YOU?
Because you are what matters the most.
I have heard things like “that’s not an affirmation, that’s an intention”.
Ok, pause and breathe.
I love a meaningful conversation about mental health topics… and I deeply believe that as unique individuals the most positive way to live your best life, is to approach mindfulness techniques and daily affirmations practices that make sense and resonate with you.
What is the difference though, technically I suppose? To me, intentions have an intended outcome, and mindfulness affirmations are about creating or seeing the truth at the present moment. Both feel like good mindfulness exercises to me.
So please call it what you like and practice. If you want to discuss this further, call me!
Positive Messages for The Soul
Daily affirmations are positive phrases and can support you in challenging negative thoughts and negative self-talk. I invite you to “plant” more positive validation and growth mindset deep in your heart and soul!
Heck, every moment, every day, you get a choice of how you want to start and proceed with your daily activities. What a gift! Henry Ford agrees when he says…
“Whether you think you can, or you think you can’t – you’re right.”
My Own Affirmations – 10 Top List!
Here are my favorite morning mindfulness affirmations. While I use different ones for different situations I hope you will find one or two that are useful for you!
- I choose happiness and peace.
- I am allowed to be me.
- I trust my intuition.
- I am grateful and happy with my physical body.
- I got this.
- I am working on letting go of the things I can’t control.
- I have done this before and can do it again.
- I am in control of what I can achieve.
- All I need is already within me.
- I am meeting all the right people.
Remember the daily affirmations you choose for you need to feel authentic and real to get the greatest benefits!
The Key Steps Toward Positive Changes
Whether this is your first time, or you are an “experienced affirmationers”, having a simple ritual or approach can help create a lifestyle shift that sticks!
Try these steps to set yourself up for success.
- Prioritize a few minutes each day – at the best time for you – to practice your mindfulness affirmations. Preferably at the same time each day. As you can tell mornings are when I find the best results for me. There is no right or wrong time, just try it and modify it if you need to.
- Settle into a space that feels supportive to practice. Repeat each affirmation 10 times. How fast? Out loud or silently? In the mirror? Eyes closed? You pick! You pick the pace, the silent or out loud…do what feels right for YOU!
- Share your affirmations with a friend or coach and allow them to reflect them back to you. Listen and be aware of how hearing your mindfulness affirmations feel.
- Go easy with yourself. Mindfulness affirmations are one piece of cultivating harmony in your life. If you get started and something doesn’t feel right try new mindfulness affirmations, a new location, a different time of day, combined with another activity. OR… maybe mindfulness affirmations as mindfulness techniques are not for you right now (or ever). That’s ok too.
- Practice and patience. Like anything, practice makes better practice. Consistent practice, regular series of moments with your own affirmations, and showing up for yourself are the most important. Just practice.
What do I Get?
The benefits of affirmation practices, I don’t believe, show up in the actual practice time.
The benefits of affirmations come when you are out in the world doing your thing… and you have an “ah-ha” moment and notice a positive valuation of something that in the past may irritate you, or you reframe negative thoughts to positive statements.
The benefits and experiences may include:
- clarity of mind,
- inner peace,
- self-love,
- positive thinking,
- meaningful relationships
What? All that for a 20-minute weekly investment?
In the words of Jonathan Anthony Burkett, “You won’t ever know unless you try.”
I hope you will try, take action, invest in yourself, and simply repeat your daily affirmations … just practice. It’s the most subtle shifts that create the greatest impacts.
With love,
