Positive Affirmations: Self Love
Positive affirmations are uplifting and empowering phrases that are recited to oneself. They can be repeated verbally and/or mentally to strengthen existing traits, and to develop new ones. Over time, consistent repetition may help overwrite negative beliefs that you hold about yourself. The limiting beliefs will be replaced with positive thoughts, thereby instilling confidence, motivation, and goal oriented behavior towards the ideal self.
Positive affirmations can serve as an addition to your New Years resolutions. Yes, I know that the first month of 2021 is nearly coming to a close. However, limiting the start date of this year’s resolutions, to January 1, 2021, is a choice that we make based on cultural norms and conditioning. One of the most exciting aspects about life, is that we get to create our own path towards empowerment, success, and growth. This means that we are allowed to create new year’s resolutions during any time of the year. We can allow something beautiful to manifest as if we had a brand-new opportunity to do so, because we do! Every moment there is an opportunity to be better than we were yesterday. Every second we have a choice to become something different. Being as such, we shouldn’t get discouraged in not meeting the expectations of January 1, rather, we should be thrilled that every moment provides a canvas that we can paint on, in whatever that ways we please.
For someone suffering from depression, this canvas may seem hard, if not impossible to paint. However, with motivation, effort, patience, and re-conditioning, it is possible to overcome depression and create beautiful sceneries from the struggles that once were. An exquisite painting starts with a single stoke of the paint brush. Similarly, our ideal self starts with a single choice.
One choice/one resolution you can make today, is to say something positive about yourself every day. You can get as specific and situational as you like! For example, you could say something like: “Today, I went for a walk outside for 10 minutes even though I didn’t want to. I am proud of myself for doing that. Going outside took strength, courage, and motivation. I could have easily stayed in my warm bed, but I didn’t.” Alternatively, you could keep it short and sweet: “I am a compassionate person” or “I am strong and resilient”.
Positive Affirmations For Self Love
· I am more than my mistakes.
· Love radiates out from me in all directions.
· I choose to be clam and at peace.
· I have abundant energy.
· My body is deserving of love and appreciation at any size.
· I have all I need to be happy.
· I will choose to focus on what brings me happiness.
· I let go of what I cannot change.
· I am in flow with life.
Positive affirmations create new neural connections in our brain and/or strengthens existing connections, making it easier to feel happy. Positive affirmations also:
· Decrease stress & rumination
· Serves as motivation to physically act towards one’s goals
· Have been associated with academic achievement
Another alternative, is to listen to affirmations. You can listen to them as you are falling asleep, while you are taking a bath, while doing the dishes and/or while cleaning your home. Here are some video meditations that you can listen to:
When severely depressed, it can be hard to get out of bed. On days like this, your resolution can be to get up, brush your teeth, and take a hot/cold (whatever you prefer the most) shower. Thereafter, you can return to your comfortable bed. Though these seemingly small efforts seem minute, they serve as a catalyst for increased behavior/mental modification. Thus, every action matters in a very significant way.
Before you know it, you will be able to make and complete several goals that were intended to be accomplished that same day, week, and/or years.
Meet the Author:
Dushyanthi Niyangoda, Graduate Student Intern
Dushyanthi is a graduate student intern who strives to empower adults with their energy source, values, creativity, and their belief systems. Her strength is to help others align their core values with the healing power that comes from Trauma. Through CBT, talk therapy, BT, Adlerian, person centered, Freudian, Narrative and feminist-based therapy, she helps guide clients towards their visions of wellness.
She specializes in meditative practices and creative outlets for stress management. She helps people understand the source of their suffering in order to reduce their anxiety, depression, transitional worries, and/or distress. Her immediate goal is to help others develop deep self-awareness so that they can manifest their dreams and act in accordance to their purpose. Her dream to create a relaxing and holistic environment, where people can make loving movements into their authentic self, as they unpack their trauma and difficulties.
When she is not doing school work or seeing clients, she works with DJ’s and MC’s as a brand ambassador/professional dancer. She also spends time cooking and finding exciting pescatarian recipes. She really enjoys watching Sci-Fi related shows/movies like sense 8, X-Men, and Arrival.