E57: How Affirmations Can Help You Reduce Stress and Overwhelm

What do you do when you are in a funk, super overstressed, and are stuck in this bad space? 

Affirmations are a self-help strategy used to prompt self-confidence and belief in your own abilities.  They're positive statements that can help you to challenge and overcome self-sabotaging  and negative thoughts. When you repeat them often, and believe in them, you can start to make positive changes.

Affirmation can help you shift your mindset.  Help you believe yourself even when you are fearful or have failed.   

Neuroplasticity, or your brain’s ability to change and adapt to different circumstances throughout your life, offers a clue to help understand not only what makes affirmations work, but how to make them more effective.

Your brain sometimes gets a little mixed up on the difference between reality and imagination, which can be surprisingly useful.

Creating a mental image of yourself doing something activates many of the same brain areas that actually experiencing these situations would.

Regular repetition of affirming statements about yourself can encourage your brain to take these positive affirmations as fact. When you truly believe you can do something, your actions often follow.

Using affirmation before any event, may help you feel more relaxed and help you avoid those negative thoughts or doubts that enter your mind.  

There are many ways to put affirmations into your daily habits.  Repeating an affirmation can help boost your motivation and confidence, but you still have to take some action yourself. Try thinking of affirmations as a step toward change, not the change itself.

Affirmation practices you can use: 

• Affirmations with Visualization . 
•  Affirmations help setting personal goals . 
• Journaling Gratitude with affirmation
•  Find a quiet spot and journal "I am….".   
•  Morning or evening routines
• Add in activity with your affirmations  

Trouble using positive affirmations?   It’s a learned practice.  

• Do NOT force yourself to think positively. Allow negative thoughts to flow 
• Embrace your negative thoughts. Breathe deeply and listen to your negative thoughts 
• Reframe your past. Ask yourself, What has this experience taught me? 
• Be patient.  Changing your mindset takes time and practice.
• Reach out for support. 

The life of a caregiver is one of constant ups and downs, with no two days alike. It’s a life filled with struggles, as well as triumphs.  Unfortunately, being a caregiver is oftentimes a thankless job. A caregiver’s life revolves around this role, with little attention paid to his or her own mental health and wellbeing. With so much to attend to, it’s easy to understand how negative thoughts, doubts, or frustration creep in.

It's important to reflect and show gratitude for yourself. A first step involves converting negative thinking into positive thinking. If we use them as a tool to understand ourselves better, positive affirmations can shine some light on what needs to heal and which beliefs hold us back.