What we do within the first moments of our morning can greatly influence the rest of our day.
Waking up and scrolling through Facebook, hitting the snooze button and other ways of procrastinating usually leads to the same old story – a day full of negativity, stress and lack of fulfillment.
What if committing to changing your first few minutes created a ripple effect through your day – allowing you to react better to stress, interact positively with others, and decrease negative feelings and emotions that get in your way?
One way to do this is to engage in positive affirmations when you first wake up. Affirmations are positive, specific statements that help you to break out of negative thinking and poor habits. Practiced regularly, they can help you to believe in and put into effect what is said within the affirmation.
Clinical studies continue to pop up showing the benefits of affirmations on emotional well-being.
Not buying it? Here are a couple to start breaking your skepticism. A study published in the Journal of Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience monitored participant’s brain waves showing how actual changes in the brain occur with the use of affirmations while another study in the Annual Review of Psychology showed that affirmations can bolster people’s feelings of self-worth and make them respond more constructively to threats.
Not sure where to start? Try using the recommendation below or check out this Psychology Today article to begin working on creating your own affirmations.
My personal favorite to start each day with is a guided meditation on the app Insight Timer, Morning Meditation with Music by John Lehmann. You can start by listening to that meditation, or perhaps just write down the following affirmations from it and say or read them to yourself each day:
- I make plans, but I remain flexible and open to the surprises that life has in store for me.
- I cultivate patience and by doing so I also cultivate self-confidence.
- I welcome the opportunity to step outside of my comfort zone and I do not let myself be guided by fear.
- I love myself unconditionally because it’s essential to my happiness. I love the person that I am and I do not need other people’s approval to love myself fully.
- I am going to drink water, eat fruit and vegetables, walk, take the stairs, exercise – today I am giving love to my body.
- I give everywhere I go – even if only a smile or compliment – listening is the best gift I can give to those around me.
- I try to be impeccable with my word and speak only to spread positivity, it is counterproductive to my happiness to speak against myself or against others.
Still skeptical about the power of affirmations? The only way to find out is to give it a solid try!
Happy Meditating!