The Psychology of Positive Affirmations

What are positive affirmations?

Just to make sure we’re all on the same page, let’s put out a basic definition of what a positive affirmation actually is!

“A positive affirmation is a reminder to our heart, mind and body that optimism IS the natural state of being. In a world filled with cynicism and negativity it can be very easy to forget that each day is a blessing- even if it the whole blessing part seems rather heavily disguised. Pop culture, the news and sometimes even people around us are a constant reminders of the fact the world can be a dangerous and scary place, but positive affirmations help us to create an equilibrium of positive and negative aspects of life.”

Instilling positive affirmations into our lives is not as easy as it may seem on the outside, we evolved to mentally emphasize the dangerous things surrounding us. Think back to your cave men ancestors who were living constantly with the risk of being eaten or not having enough to eat. To survive, our ancestors had to learn to detect and prevent danger at all times like most animals. Us humans have psychologically held onto this tendency to worry about dangerous things even though for many of us there is no longer such an urgent need to watch our backs a majority of the time.

Positive affirmations are basically verbal, mental or even physical reminders that life is inherently good, and that we can let go of our cave men tendencies. With positive affirmation we remember the fact that the values surrounding our life and we have reason to hope.

However, positive affirmations are so much more than that as they literally determine what actions we take, what thoughts we think and what values we have.  This is because they are inherently linked to our beliefs.

Your beliefs become your thoughts.

Your thoughts become your words.

Your words become your actions.

Your actions become your habits.

Your habits become your values.

Your values become your destiny.
Mahatma Gandhi

You have been using affirmations all your life!

How many times have you said to yourself and others around you:

Read more HERE.

by Steven-Aitchison from Positivelifeaffirmations.net