{"id":29435,"date":"2022-03-22T18:16:07","date_gmt":"2022-03-22T18:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.humnutrition.com\/blog\/?p=29435"},"modified":"2022-03-22T18:18:13","modified_gmt":"2022-03-22T18:18:13","slug":"what-are-affirmations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.humnutrition.com\/blog\/what-are-affirmations\/","title":{"rendered":"I Used Positive Affirmations for 30 Days\u2014Here’s What Happened"},"content":{"rendered":"

When many of us hear the term \u201caffirmation,\u201d we quickly dismiss it\u2014and maybe even roll our eyes. Maybe you think affirmations are a waste of time or useless. Maybe you\u2019re asking yourself, \u201cwhat are affirmations?\u201d Or, maybe you see affirmations like meditation<\/a>: something helpful that somehow just doesn\u2019t make it into your schedule.<\/p>\n\n\n

But here\u2019s the thing: Throughout the day, all of us have a running dialogue inside our minds. We\u2019re constantly talking to ourselves about what\u2019s currently going on, what we need to do, how we\u2019re feeling, and where we\u2019re falling short.<\/p>\n\n\n

You can\u2019t turn off this inner dialogue, so, why not make the words we tell ourselves supportive and helpful? I decided to try using affirmations for an entire month to try and make my self-talk more positive, and it proved to be an important and illuminating experience.<\/p>\n\n\n

What Are Affirmations?<\/h2>\n\n\n

An affirmation is simply a statement that affirms or declares an intent or desire, says Rev. Connie L. Habash, author of \u201cAwakening from Anxiety<\/a>,\u201d a psychotherapist, spiritual mentor, yoga teacher, and ecotherapist in the San Francisco Bay Area.<\/p>\n\n\n

They are a type of positive self-talk that can take on a more structured form, but both are designed to overcome negative thought patterns.<\/p>\n\n\n

\u201cAffirmations give our minds a focus, like a touchstone that brings us back, again and again, to what we really want in our lives,\u201d Habash says. Some basic examples of positive affirmations include: \u201cI am smart,\u201d or \u201cI am powerful,\u201d or \u201cI love myself.\u201d It\u2019s important to note that affirmations aren\u2019t empty, positive platitudes that deny pain or reject reality.<\/p>\n\n\n

Affirmations speak to \u201csomething that is either true now or has the potential to be true later,\u201d says Britt Frank, LSCSW, a psychotherapist in Kansas City and author of \u201cThe Science of Stuck: Breaking Through Inertia to Find Your Path Forward<\/a>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

Affirmations can also be referred to as mantras, but mantras are typically used during a meditation<\/a> practice are are shorter, sometimes just a single word.<\/p>\n\n\n

How to Use Affirmations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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As with many self-care practices, there\u2019s no right or wrong way to use affirmations. These are just a few ways you can incorporate affirmations into your life:<\/p>\n\n\n\n