You’ve probably seen affirmations in books or online and perhaps even tried repeating them for a few days without seeing much in the way of improvements in your life. Wouldn’t it be great if you could experience more positive personal changes from affirmations?

Affirmations are everywhere, and they have the strong ability to lift your spirits to get through hard times. This is because we’re all highly suggestible, even if we think we’re not! 

Affirmations help us to keep a positive attitude about life.

It’s only natural that we’ll get more out of these positive sayings if we formulate them ourselves. Writing our own affirmations makes them personal to us, which can then help us to get through our own individual situations. 

Making affirmations work for you starts with a clear understanding of what they are:

An affirmation is a positive statement written as if you are saying it, and addresses a personal characteristic you may have, wish to have, or want more of. Many affirmations also include content that prompts your mind to ponder the characteristic in self-reflection.

This process will help you experience the greatest benefits from reading affirmations:

1. Make an effort to clear your mind before reading an affirmation. Ensure you have enough time, like 15 minutes or so, to read, process, and reflect on the affirmation. Then, read through the affirmation.
   
2. Are you familiar with all the words used in the affirmation? If not, look up any questionable words. Think about how these words relate to the topic.
   
3. Re-state the affirmation in your own words. This step increases your understanding and retention of the content as your mind mulls over the concepts.
   

• You could say something like, “I think this affirmation is describing the best ways to talk about your feelings with another person. It focuses on being honest and not being afraid to share how you really feel.”
  

4. Endeavor to apply the affirmation to yourself. Do you behave, think, or feel as the affirmation suggests?

• If you identify that you already handle the subject matter as it’s portrayed in the affirmation, then the affirmation confirms this quality in your mind and helps boost your self-confidence.
  

• If you believe you respond in less than positive ways to the situations described, what can you learn from the affirmation?
  
• Reflect on the positive methods in the affirmation to help develop those methods in your own life. Strive to apply the information in similar situations in the future.
  

5. Recognize that an important function of an affirmation is to encourage you to look within yourself. Effective affirmations usually state you’re skilled at something or can emotionally deal with situations in healthy ways.
   
6. Achieve self-improvement with affirmations. For people like you, who seek to live the most fulfilling life possible, affirmations can provide an endless array of self-improvement topics upon which you can reflect.

• Affirmations confirm the great qualities you already have and help you develop and strengthen the characteristics you want to add to your repertoire.
  
• The combination of self-reflection and repetition enables the affirmation to reach your sub-conscious mind and changes your beliefs and actions, one thought at a time.
  

7. Discover new and exciting qualities about yourself. Because life is often a rocky pathway, engaging in ongoing self-discovery can help you better navigate the bumpy parts of your journey by figuring out things about your personal qualities and ways of relating.
   

When you use these strategies, you’ll not only discover new knowledge while reading affirmations, but you’ll also learn to apply the new information in your own life in ways that strengthen and benefit you.

How to Write Your Own Affirmations

When you start writing your own affirmations, keep these tips in mind: 

1. Make them personal. When you write affirmations, it’s important to remember to use “I” in them. They are personal to you after all. 

• Example: “I am having an exceptional day today!”

2. Use the present tense. Affirmations are built in order to change our feelings now, which is why you want to stay positive and strong in this moment. When you use the past tense, you get nostalgic. When you use the future tense, you get hopeful. The present tense helps you feel the difference right now. 

Example: “I am feeling relaxed.”

3. Be down to earth. This just means to use your own style and try not to make your affirmations too formal or wishy-washy. You want to capture your own voice.

• Bad Example: “Presently I feel the urge to enjoy my existence.”
• Good Example: “I enjoy my life.”

4. Be short. Affirmations are meant to be short, simple and sweet. Stay on target and make your affirmation a one-liner. If it’s too wordy, try breaking it up into a few affirmations. The trick is to stick with one simple idea at a time. 

• Example: “I am in perfect health.”

5. Make it positive. Affirmations are positive statements, so avoid negative words like “not.” You’re using affirmations to make a life improvement and positive statements motivate you to make this improvement. 

• Example: “I am at peace with my mind.”

6. Make it believable. You don’t want your affirmation to sound like something out of this world. If it’s not believable, you won’t take it seriously and your subconscious will just dismiss it. 

• Example: “I am choosing to be happy today.”

Believe in the Power of Affirmations

When you say your affirmations, believe them to be true. Affirmations are truly powerful sets of words as long as you believe what you’re telling yourself. 

Affirmations alone have been known to help people cure addictions. Women even use them during childbirth to help them stay calm and collected during natural delivery. 

First, set your eyes on your goal…

And then write your affirmations to get yourself there.

Write Them Down

Practice always makes perfect. Write down the affirmations you’re feeling. Then go over the list above and make sure that your affirmations follow the rules. Once they do, start using your affirmations and feel the difference. Say your affirmations to yourself daily. Take deep breaths and keep your eyes on your goal.

Also if need be, tweak your affirmations. These positive sayings aren’t written in stone, so as you change, your affirmations can change, too. 

It’s best to keep your affirmations in a place where you can see them. You can simply keep a list in your pocket or you can post them around the house. Paste them on the bathroom mirror, on your computer, or wherever you know you’ll see them each day.

Affirmations can make ALL the difference in reaching your goals. 

Here’s 40 powerful affirmations to get you started. Give them a try and enjoy the benefits these positive statements can make in your life.

• I have a rich spiritual life. I have everything that I need to be happy. 

• I know there is more to life than the physical trappings of this earth. I understand that there is a greater purpose for my life. 

• My spirituality is just one part of my wealth. My wealth also includes my experiences, knowledge, and love. My talents and skills are gifts. My family and friends make me rich. 

• I meditate and reflect on my experiences. I look for moments of peace and quiet. I find solace in writing, reading, and other calm activities. 

• I connect to the universe to maintain my spirituality. I nourish my spiritual side with daily devotions. These devotions help me to clarify my values, set priorities, and focus on what’s most important to me. 

• I remove the obstacles to my faith. I eliminate negative thoughts and ideas. I focus on the positive aspects of my faith. 

• I derive great strength from my spirituality. It props me up during difficult times. It gives me the courage to keep going. It allows me to overcome obstacles and challenges in my path. 

• Today, I focus on my spiritual side. My spirituality brings me gifts that make life easy, meaningful, and fulfilling. I see that I am spiritually rich. 

• I welcome abundance in my life. I am happy to receive all the things the universe has in store for me. Abundance is a mindset.

• I am open to getting an abundance of love, health, money, and whatever else I desire. 

• The universe sends me everything I need.  

• My mind vibrates on a level that attracts abundance. I avoid focusing on thoughts of lack, need, or scarcity. Instead, I send out clear intentions of the abundance I desire to the universe. It understands what I want and moves accordingly.

• I avoid struggling to get what I need. Everything comes to me easily. I enjoy ease and comfort. 

• I acknowledge there is an unlimited amount of things in this universe, so abundance is normal. I welcome great things in my life and look forward to receiving them. I know the well remains full for others to also enjoy these things. 

• Abundance is infinite. It is available to everyone. I simply open my heart to receive it. 

• Today, I am open to abundance. I feel joy and gratitude as the universe provides whatever I need and fulfills my greatest desires.

• I am connected to the source of abundance, security, and well-being.

• I experience great abundance in my life and feel like I am connected to the universal source. I have financial abundance that makes me feel secure. I also have many friends that support me, especially in times of need. I have a safe and secure place to live.

• I enjoy a sense of general well-being. My life is easy and successful. I reach my goals easily. I have good health, both physically and emotionally.

• I am connected to the source of everything good in the world. I respect it, and it provides for me. The universe brings everything I desire.

• I simply need to believe in myself and maintain habits that support my goals. Suitable actions combined with persistence always bring about desirable results. I experience this fact on a daily basis. It is the universal law.

• Today, I feel especially connected to the source of abundance, security, and well-being. I can feel greater prosperity entering my life. I expect success and look forward to enjoying my life even more.

• Being grateful for where I am forges the path to where I want to be.

• I make a conscious effort to give thanks for all good things in my life. The more I show my gratitude, the more good things I receive to be thankful for!

• When I awake in the morning, I give thanks for the new day. The good feelings I generate start my day in a perfect way, and I find that one good thing leads to another. This positive boost helps me fly through my daily tasks with energy and momentum.

• I thank my spouse for the things they do for me. This makes them feel loved and appreciated and they go out of their way to do even more good things for me. It’s a never-ending cycle of love!

• I find things to thank my children for every day. When they do a good job on anything, I thank them for their effort, motivating them to continue. My happiness is even greater when I see them, too, discovering the joys of gratitude and telling others, “Thank you.”

• As my day goes on, I thank my co-workers for their efforts and my clients for their business. In return, I receive their loyalty and friendship.

• I thank my friends for being there for me. They’re always there to lend a helping hand and cheer me on.

• I realize that even the challenges of my day arise for good reason and I’m grateful for the lessons I learn from these obstacles. Invariably, my challenges bring me closer to my goals, in one way or another, as I seek solutions.

• Today, I strive to feel gratitude, enjoy it, and let it show in how I treat others.

• Exciting opportunities abundantly appear in my life.

• New opportunities surround me every day. All I need to do is recognize them and take the leap of faith. I have an abundance mindset that keeps my mind open to these new opportunities.

• Each morning I greet the new day with excitement and anticipation. I give thanks for my blessings and wonder what good this day will bring. When I search for the good in my day, I often find beautiful, hidden gems.

• Living in the moment helps me recognize new opportunities. 

• When I focus on the present,regrets of the past and worries of the future simply cannot exist. 

• I explore all options of the moment in my mind and take decisive action to seize those opportunities that can benefit me.

• My abundance mindset includes a healthy optimism that brings me confidence and helps me get over any hurdles in my path. 

• When challenges arise, I expect that there is a solution and I seek it out. I inevitably find it and continue happily toward my goal.

• Today, “Seize the day!” is my mantra. My plan is to keep an eye out for those opportunities that I know, without a doubt, will appear and then go for them with all the gusto I’ve got!