The power of positive thoughts

What are affirmations?

Affirmation means to confirm, acknowledge, or elevate someone’s worth, to gain respect or position oneself, and to positively express support for an idea or person.
Affirmations are positive, inspiring statements that we repeat to ourselves with the intention of reprogramming negative thought patterns and increasing optimism, self-confidence, and improving mental health. Affirmations can be linked to visualization and be emotionally charged into a unique state in which we identify with the goal we are striving for.
They are short, clear, positive phrases about ourselves that emphasize personal value and capacity. Affirmations are a tool for reshaping the way we think, countering negative self-talk, building resilience, and increasing a sense of meaning in life.

Affirmations are an agreement with ourselves about who we are and what our identity is. With them, we consciously, with clear intention, create an opinion about ourselves.

They oblige us to make an agreement with ourselves about our qualities and act as a personal vow. They guide us towards the values ​​we want to live and who we want to be. They describe positive traits and thus shift the focus away from negative beliefs. They remind us to put the characteristics we are affirming into action, to take action with them.

Why affirm?

– Increase neuroplasticity: Repeated positive thoughts help the brain form new neural pathways, acting as mental training.
– Reduce stress and anxiety: Provide a mental tool to combat stress by improving emotional resilience (stress resilience). They help calm the mind by breaking the cycle of worry, fear and overwhelming feelings. Optimism stimulates the release of dopamine and serotonin.
– Improve self-confidence: Regularly expressing positive qualities increases self-esteem and self-confidence. A positive self-image is strengthened, increasing feelings of worth and encouragement.
– Help achieve goals: Redirecting focus towards desired outcomes helps us visualize success and stay motivated, which improves efficiency and results.
– They change perception: They help us focus on positive aspects rather than negative scenarios, influencing how we interpret situations and react to challenges.
– They encourage the creation of better habits: Affirmations can encourage a healthier lifestyle by raising the value of self-care and motivating positive changes in behavior (such as exercise or better eating habits).
– They improve the relationship with ourselves: In the silence of our intimacy, recurring positive states create a bridge in developing a nurturing relationship with ourselves.
It is a relationship in which we build patience with ourselves, compassion for our pain, and love for our states.

How to affirm?

– Present tense: We form affirmative statements in the present tense.
– Positivity: We focus on what we want to nurture, not what we want to eliminate.
– Personalization: We make affirmations meaningful to us, relate them to our personal challenges and direct them towards our own goals.
– Consistency: Daily practice is key to changing the way we think, it is suggested that we affirm consecutively for at least 21 days.
– Clarity: We pronounce or mentally repeat the words clearly and with full understanding.
– Journaling: We write our affirmations in a Mindful diary to increase their value and strength.
– Morning/evening routine: We start the day with positive thoughts and intention, and end it with gratitude.
– Notes: We put reminders in a notebook, on our desktop, mirror or refrigerator. We can also record ourselves saying affirmations and listen to them when we have the opportunity.
– Recognizing negativity: We become aware of existing negative beliefs and unhealthy repetitive thoughts.
– Focus on areas of action: We select areas of our life that need additional attention.
– Focus on action: We use affirmations to encourage active changes in our lives.

Mindful affirmation

We clothe everything we add the prefix “Mindful” with several properties. First, we establish that affirmations are our practice, which means that we resolutely practice certain qualities. Second, that we are present with what we are doing, that we dedicate ourselves only to that at a given moment. The third property is that we have the intention to develop positive virtues, those with which we grow towards health and goodness. The fourth is that we are aware of the transience of all states and that we learn to accept changes. And fifth, that with practice we do not increase the sense of importance of “ME, mine” but rather that we let go of the Ego. Here are a few tips on how to make affirmations under the umbrella of our Mindfulness practice.

– From the right intention: We should set the affirmation from the intention in which we strive for a positive outcome for ourselves and others.
– Expectation of the result: Although the goal of the affirmation is to achieve positive change, expecting that change can be counterproductive because disappointment is written into the expectation itself. If we expect change, it means that we are not satisfied with the way things are now, it means that we are averse to the current state. Acting from aversion increases the possibility that we will spinning in a circle of hope and disappointment and that we will not be productive in realizing our intentions.
Also, if the result, for which we set the affirmation, does not “arrive”, and we expect it, we easily fall into aversion, despair and anger, which is again not productive.

– Comparison: Comparison is a slippery characteristic of the mind because we can easily start looking around and noticing what others have or what seems desirable to us, and we don’t. But it in turn leads to aversion to our current state, reduces love for the path and faith in the depth of personal meaning.
– Non-judgment: Another key to Mindfulness meditation is to experience our thoughts and states non-judgmentally, to be a non-judgmental observer. In this way, we also practice in the practice of repeating positive thoughts.
– Affirmations are not an escape: When we are experiencing something difficult, we need to allow ourselves to feel the weight and what is said to “let it through the body”. Otherwise, we can use positive thoughts as an escape from reality while what is happening, no matter how challenging, needs our attention and openness right then. Although openness to pain is unpleasant, the body is trying to digest the experience and we should not run away from it.
– Affirmations are not a substitute for medicine: For more severe emotional and mental conditions, we cannot assume that the power of positive thoughts will be a cure and that we do not need other types of help. Affirmations are not a substitute for professional guidance.

And Buddha affirmed

Finally, I would like to point out that affirmations are described in the traditional teachings of the Buddha and that the Buddha gave them as a practice to his followers.
– Right intention or thought: The teachings of the Buddha state that we should cultivate and act only from three sets of thoughts. Thoughts of love, compassion, and renunciation. Can our affirmations be under the umbrella of one of these three sets?

– Correct effort: It is the effort we make to prevent and abandon harmful states of body and mind and the effort we make to develop and maintain healthy and beneficial states of body and mind. In this sense, our orientation towards positive states through the practice of affirmations is a correct effort if we set them from the correct intentions.

– Thoughts of Noble Being: Ancient Buddhist stories state that the Buddha gave his monks a series of positive thought sequences as a meditative practice. Thoughts of loving-kindness (Metta) were repeated to remove fear and ill will from their minds. Thoughts of compassion (Karuna) were practiced to develop a healthy attitude towards pain, discomfort and impermanence. Thoughts of joy for the success of others, empathy and selflessness (Mudita) were recited to reduce the power of the ego that causes us to compare, criticize and judge. These thoughts are the guiding thread of our affirmation practice.

– The practice of equanimity: As soon as we practice repeating positive thoughts without expecting, judging, or comparing ourselves (described in the previous chapter), affirmations become the practice of “maintaining stability of mind in changing conditions” (Upekha). The effort is to keep the mind stable in the face of the eight worldly winds: pleasure – pain, gain – loss, praise – blame, fame – shame. Instead of exulting during success and being crushed during failure, equanimity allows us to face all circumstances equally calmly. The Buddha suggested to practitioners to keep the mind indifferent during the waves of life because this reduces the damaging power of the ego. The call is that we, too, by creating positive states of mind with affirmations, maintain equanimity of mind. Not to fall into disappointment or elation depending on how what we are affirming develops.

– The only true affirmation: The entire Buddha’s path is described as renunciation of desires (Lobha) and aversions (Dosa) and awakening to the seen true nature of reality (Moha), i.e. removing illusions. From this practice of renunciation, all aversions (dissatisfaction) that can push us to the need for positive changes and desires that we may have in the desire to change are still a see-saw between desires and aversions, which automatically means that we do not clearly see the true nature of reality. The only true desire is the pursuit of enlightenment, or in other words, the awakening of the Buddha nature within us, the one that is free from cravings and aversions. Can you set affirmations for yourself to be comprehensive such as: “May I develop the Buddha mind”, “May I better understand the mind of craving and aversion day by day, and may I reduce the strength of my identification with all appearances”?

– Prayer: Setting affirmations and practicing positive thoughts should definitely be heartfelt. We direct ourselves with our minds where to go, but we ignite the drive for that direction with our hearts. Let our affirmation practices be in the spirit of prayer, let them be full of love, humility, faith, and surrender. This way we will be sure that we are practicing with the right intentions, reducing the power of our ego, and strengthening the heartfeltness that gives true meaning – the need for which we started practicing affirmations in the first place.