The way you talk to yourself matters.

We all desire to have a positive self-image, but our inner voice can severely limit this if it is clouded by criticism, negativity, and self-doubt.

While most people look to their circumstances for growth, it is our inner dialogue (aka the quality of our thoughts) that creates the world around us.

If you want to fully develop into the person you aspire to be, you must first create the solid foundation of a healthy inner relationship. In other words, you need to become your own best friend.

The key to this is through affirmations, which drown out the inner critic by replacing negative thoughts with an optimistic focus.

In this article I am here to shed light on what affirmations really are, how they are scientifically proven to work, and how you can implement them in your life today.

So, What Are Affirmations, Really?

Affirmations are intentional phrases of positive self-talk in areas you hope to implement, enhance, and embody more of. In layman’s terms, they affirm what you want in life.

While it may seem awkward to repeat phrases to yoursef that you may not initially believe, the point of affirmations is not to believe in something before you say it, you say it to believe it.

Affirmations help us do this through positive mantras such as:

“I deserve to be healthy, happy, and confident in my body.”

“I love myself and who I am becoming.”

“I let go of negativity and choose to focus on how good it feels to take care of myself.”

When you say it enough, you feel it. When you feel it, you believe it. When you believe, you become it.

The Science Behind It

Have you ever noticed how it feels to wake up from a bad dream? Your palms are sweaty, your breathing is heavy, and your heart races as if what you had just experienced was real. This is because your mind cannot differentiate between a real-life experience and an imagined one.

Affirmations work the same way.

When you shift your focus towards the affirmations you desire, your mind begins to interpret them as fact, thus activating and strengthening the same neural connections in your brain as it would in “real life” experiences.

This is called neuroplasticity, which is the brain’s ability to physically change, adapt, and grow from our experiences (real or imagined).

Through this process, you literally change your brain chemistry to mirror your life in accordance with what you tell yourself.

Neuroplasticity programs your mind to filter only the experiences that support the life you desire, thus strengthening the feedback loop to validate the moments when progress is made and when more opportunities arise.

Implementation

If you are ready to make these changes in your life, start by making your affirmations specific to your life and goals.

Step One: Take inventory of your life and create specific affirmations that support what you’d like to create, feel, develop, achieve, do, and/or embody more of.

For example, if you are self-critical and would like to feel more relaxed and confident in your body, supporting affirmations could include:

“I am in charge of my life and how I want to feel today.”

“I am fiercely capable of doing everything I desire.”

“I trust my intuition and decisions.”

“I am my own best friend. I support and validate myself every step of the way.”

Set your affirmations in the present-tense. They are not here to help you in the future, they are here to help you right now.

Step Two: Say it, visualize it, feel it.

If there is an area that you have struggled in for quite some time, then saying an affirmation may initially feel foreign and empty to you.

The KEY to this practice is to not just say the affirmation, but to visualize how it looks and feels in your life.

For example, what does it look like throughout your day to implement your affirmations? What do you do differently to support and validate yourself? How does your internal dialogue improve?

Step Three: Take note on the feelings that arise.

Are you in a more confident and inspired state? Do you have a more peaceful and trusting mindset? Do you feel more energetic and motivated to move forward?

(When you can feel the shift within, this is how you know you’re beginning to integrate it).

Step Four: Align what you say with what you do.

The last step is to aligning what you say with what you do. The more you support what you say through action, the more you strengthen the link in becoming what you say.

Your Homework

If you want to fully develop into the person you aspire to be, you must first create the solid foundation of a healthy inner relationship. With the New Year fast approaching, what better time to start than now?!

Your homework for today is to come up with your own list of affirmations and repeat them every day (preferably first thing in the morning) for the duration of a year.

Give your affirmations a chance to help your mind tune into the good stuff. In doing the work, staying open, and changing your mindset, you might just change your life.