The Power Of Positive Affirmations Can You Attract Luck?
Do you know what positive affirmations are and what their effect is on our attitude? Discover how these types of positive phrases affect us and how to use them for your personal benefit.
Incorporating positive affirmations into our lives is a way to begin to have more positive mental energy with which we can better face the challenges that life throws at us. Some writers, such as the author and lecturer Louise Hay, have shown in her books her experience with difficult personal experiences, which she overcame with the psychological reinforcement of their beliefs and ideas through positive affirmations But what are positive affirmations and how can they help us?
As you can imagine the positive affirmations They are motivating words that allow us to challenge the most negative part of us. In this way, through these positive phrases we are able to visualize the uselessness of the negative thoughts that usually invade our minds.
Being able to achieve a positive mind With phrases of this style it is a matter of working within ourselves and practicing confronting each of the negative thoughts or emotions that can invade our internal dialogue.
Therefore positive affirmations can be an effective way to motivate us to achieve our goals or improve all aspects of our life. The reason is that to know how to attract the positive It is essential to try to see life with different eyes, since through negativity we miss many opportunities to grow and improve. With the help of positive affirmations we can combat the subconscious patterns of our brain and replace them with some much more adaptive narratives.
Although there is no agreed upon definition of what these motivational quotes actually are, we can define them as positive words or phrases that we do, and that when practiced regularly and maintained over time, can produce changes in the ways of thinking, feeling and acting of the practitioners. Some studies indicate that they can work because they can motivate, excite and even program our minds to achieve the desired objectives.
What does science say about positive affirmations?
There is numerous scientific literature on the claims, and logically there are different contrary opinions of the positive effects of these positive phrases. It is also true that numerous experimental studies show effects on the person’s attitude. According to the authors Critcher & Dunning (2015), positive self-affirmations reduce the stress that deteriorates health, and broaden the person’s perspectives, reducing the effect of negative emotions (Sherman, 2003). Affirmations also make it easier to see the positive aspects in adverse circumstances, as well as a greater capacity to adapt (Nagendra et al., 2012).
Other authors consider that the affirmations They can positively improve health, helping to increase physical activity, reducing sedentary lifestyle, or improving sleep quality (Nagendra et al., 2012). Also in the reduction of harmful habits such as smoking, or alcohol intake, changing harmful behaviors (Napper, Harris, Epton, 2009), and acquiring healthier eating behaviors. However, there is research that attempts to show a curative relationship of certain diseases with affirmations. And although they have shown improvements with some moods and anxiety levels, we must be cautious about the ability of affirmations to heal serious pathologies, because a good mental condition helps, but does not determine the cure of a disease.
The effects that are related to affirmations occur without explicit knowledge (Sherman et al., 2009), and in this sense we would include the influence of the subconscious or unconscious in the changes in our way of thinking and behavior. What is probably less known is the scientific basis of affirmations that could explain their function, such as the self-affirmation theory of Steele (1988), who promoted experimental studies based on the idea that we can maintain our sense of integrity. staff, performing affirmations in a positive way than we really believe. Affirmations and mental exercises to be positive in the face of adversity are also related to the self-fulfilling prophecy of the prestigious sociologist Merton (1975), who postulates that making a prediction (affirmation) is in itself the cause of it coming true and, In other words, ““When we define a situation as real, that situation has real effects.”
More recently, contributions from neuroscience and neuroimaging such as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), show studies on the neuronal processes associated with the act of positive self-affirmations and motivational words The results indicate that affirmations generate greater activity in the reward regions of the brain. These regions include the ventral striatum (VS) and the ventral medial prefrontal cortex (VMP). According to studies by Bartra, McGuire and Kable (2013), affirmations could work by focusing people towards positive self-esteem, which leads to success. personal, also due to the use of people’s psychological resources with the practice of self-affirmations (Sherman, 2013).
According to what has been mentioned, affirmations, when they are realistic and practiced with persistence, can be a simple self-help tool, with the capacity to motivate, increase self-esteem and confidence, necessary elements to adopt positive changes and achieve the desired goals.
How to start using positive affirmations?
In order to obtain the benefits and power of positive affirmations We must be aware of the way we think and how our thoughts affect our attitude. We have to integrate these positive phrases for life in a natural way so that they motivate us to achieve our goals. For positive affirmations to be successful we must take these tips into account.
Saying things out loud makes us reinforce these more. motivational messages and keep them more present in our minds. If you also do an action, you will make these positive words more accessible to your brain. In this way, you put the focus of your attention on a positive mind and the phrases that refer you to these types of feelings.
2. Try to be in the present
When pronouncing these motivational slogans or positive affirmations It is essential that you are fully focused on the present. For example, if you want to improve your physical performance you can express ‘Today I will be able to resist this training’. This way the affirmation will be much more direct and you will be able to achieve great goals little by little.
3. Focus on solving problems
To use these positive affirmations For your benefit you should try to stop thinking about what you could have done better in the past. The power of affirmations lies precisely in trying to take control of what we have in our minds. In this way, we can only use positive phrases to try to improve the present and have a better future.
4. Change your attitude
On many occasions our attitude is what makes us erase these positive affirmations or mantras for happiness of our mind because of our attitude. Changing our habits when thinking is very difficult since we are constantly resorting to them. Our neural connections are already very established and therefore it is difficult to change it, but even so it is not impossible. By trying to change small things along with these positive decrees or positive phrases, you will end up being a completely different person in the end.
A good way to use positive affirmations It is precisely trying to motivate ourselves with the visualization of the goal or success that we want to achieve. Thinking that we are already that person or that we have already reached our goal will undoubtedly be an effective method to improve our lives.
Using positive affirmations is a good resource to change our way of seeing reality. Despite this, there are people who find it almost impossible change your negative thoughts for positives. In these cases it is necessary to consult with a professional psychologist. In your hands is the control of your attitude towards life.
