7 tips to use affirmations so they actually work

They’re not what you think.

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How to use affirmations so they actually work

Happy Sunday, Soothers. If you’re anything like me, you know that affirmations are a big cornerstone and tenet of self-development but they never fully just… clicked for you. Maybe they felt fake, they felt lame, you couldn’t really actually believe they would work, or the affirmations you heard about felt like such a load of toxic positive hooey (“I am a gorgeous goddess, I am a millionaire many times over”) that you were just turned off by the whole concept and gave up on them.

Well, I’m here to hopefully change that for you today. Consider this your guide to practically creating useful affirmations in a tangible way.

Tip #1: Generally, even though I’m hopefully going to teach you how to create and implement affirmations in a way that is useful and grounded, you are still going to probably have to get over a cringe factor of using affirmations. Just do it. Everything good for me I ever used to be cynical about is now something that absolutely changed my life (inner child work, Tarot, magic, self-compassion, etc). Cynicism is your defense mechanism for your tender, hopeful and vulnerable heart. Drop the gates, it’s the only way to change. And it’s okay to want to your improve yourself and be the best version of you possible and accomplish your dreams. It really is.

Tip #2: Write down 3–5 of your generally most negative thoughts about yourself. Then, create “bridge thoughts” that are believable for you or even simply neutral. For example, I used to think starting my own business was not something I knew how to do or could do or succeed at. So the original negative thought was something like, “Starting a business would take too much work.” I would then create a bridge thought of something like, “Starting a business might take a lot of work, but I’m willing to try” or “I have worked hard at lots of areas of my life and had success, this isn’t anything different.” From there, the affirmation I might create would be “I direct my hard work towards my dream of starting my business.” (Much better than just chanting maniacally over and over again, “I’m a million dollar entrepreneur” or whatever.)