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How do you start and end your day? What small changes can you make to fill your mind with positive and truthful thoughts that carry through to your beliefs and behaviors?
No matter what you do, your mind is filled with thoughts. You can take control by deliberately thinking specific thoughts throughout the day. We put together affirmation exercises based on The Big Leap and Good Vibes, Good Life—and we included Christian affirmations from The Power of Positive Thinking.
Keep reading for several simple exercises that can change your thinking and, ultimately, change your life for good.
Exercise 1: Turn False Beliefs Into Positive Affirmations
This affirmation exercise is based on the concepts in The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks. Hendricks writes that, to work toward a state of fulfillment, we first need to understand why we have a happiness threshold limiting us in the first place. He says this threshold is set early in our lives by having false beliefs ingrained in us that cause feelings of fear, unworthiness, or guilt when we achieve success. He identifies some common false beliefs, contending that everyone holds at least one of these. The first step toward transcending your happiness threshold is doing some self-examination to identify which of these you hold and where it came from.
- False belief #1: “I am flawed at my core, so I can’t also be successful.”
- False belief #2: “My success would be a betrayal of my roots.”
- False belief #3: “My success would hurt someone else.”
- False belief #4: “Great success ends in great ruin.”
Follow the steps in this affirmation exercise to create positive affirmations out of your false beliefs about yourself.
- Which of the false beliefs Hendricks identifies do you recognize in yourself? Can you think of any other false or negative beliefs you might have about yourself that weren’t mentioned here? Write down any false or negative beliefs you can think of.
- Now, for each false belief you identified, rewrite that statement in a positive way. For example, “I am flawed so I can’t be successful” might become “I am resilient, and I can be successful.” Reword these in any way you like, appropriate to yourself, as long as you replace any negative words with positive ones.
- Now take the new sentences you created, and use them as positive affirmations. Write them down, tape them to a mirror, and each day, when you look into the mirror, repeat these affirmations to yourself. Try to do this at least a few times every day, until you really feel you believe them.
- Reflect here on how this feels for you the first time, and then notice how the feeling shifts over time. Do the statements become easier to believe the more you repeat them?
Exercise 2: Manifest Your Desire
In Good Vibes, Good Life, Vex King explains that one of the best ways to manifest your dream life is through visualization and affirmations. This affirmation exercise will help you vividly identify your goals so you can effectively visualize and affirm your desires.
- Consider something that you want to manifest into your life—for example, a partner or a new car. Now, list all the details you can come up with about this desire: If it’s a person, what do they smell like, how do they treat you, and what would you do together? If it’s an object, what does it look like, smell like, and feel like? Write every detail that comes to mind.
- Now, brainstorm three to five affirmations related to your desire and write them as if you’ve already achieved them—in the present tense and with emotion. For example “I have an empathetic partner who understands me on my worst days” or “My brand new bike is candy-apple red and the seat is as soft as a cloud.”
- King argues that visualizing your desires and repeating affirmations are most powerful when you practice them daily. How can you incorporate these practices into your existing routine? For example, you might repeat your affirmations out loud while you wait for your morning coffee to brew.
8 Christian Affirmation Exercises
If you’re a believer in God or have an openness to faith, you might benefit from these affirmation exercises that are based on the classic book The Power of Positive Thinking by Norman Vincent Peale and his experiences with God and counseling with others. He suggests that mornings set the stage for your daily happiness and recommends that you start each day with prayer and God-centered affirmations.
Exercise 1: “Every Day Is a Good Day if You Pray”
A young wife and mother was filled with anxiety, hate, and resentment. She was very unhappy and dissatisfied with her life. Peale encouraged her to pray. Though she was doubtful at first, she became an enthusiastic prayer practitioner. What resonated most was Peale telling her that “every day is a good day if you pray.” Every morning she affirmed this idea in her prayers. Though petty annoyances still existed in her life, she was unbothered by them. She began her prayers by listing what she was grateful for, and this habit helped her focus on the good and not the bad. She said she hadn’t had a single bad day since she started this exercise.
Exercise 2: “God Is With Me”
Know that God is with you and helping you. This is a simple, yet powerful belief that, when practiced, can boost your self-confidence. To practice this affirmation exercise, say, “God is with me; God is helping me; God is guiding me.” Repeat this affirmation, visualize God’s presence, and practice believing the words you’re saying.
Exercise 3: “God Is for Us”
Ten times a day, repeat Romans 8:31, which says, “If God is for us, who can be against us?”
Exercise 4: “Christ Gives Me Strength”
Ten times a day, repeat Phillippians 4:13, which says, “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
Exercise 5: “In God’s Hands”
Throughout the day, say and feel the words, “I am putting myself in God’s hands.”
Exercise 6: Go From Worry to Peace
Peale counseled many people who struggled with worrying. The good news, he says, is that worry is a habit. So, because you can change any habit, you can break the worry habit and live more freely and happily. His process entails three steps.
- Free your mind of worry. Fearful thoughts can clog your thinking. The five minutes right before you go to sleep are particularly important because your mind will deeply absorb the last ideas you’re thinking while you’re conscious. To get worry out of your mind, visualize yourself actually emptying your mind of your worries and anxieties. You can think of it as emptying a bathtub after removing the stopper, or you can imagine reaching into your mind and plucking out the worries one by one.
- Repeat the action affirmation. As you do this visualization, repeat an affirmation along the lines of, “I’m emptying my mind of all worry, fear, and anxiety with God’s help.” Repeat this slowly five times.
- Repeat the results affirmation. After you repeat the action affirmation five times, switch to a results affirmation such as this one: “My mind is now emptied of all fear, worry, and anxiety.” Repeat this affirmation five times while visualizing your mind as free of these negative thoughts.
- Fill your mind with peace. Replace your anxious thoughts with peaceful ones. Repeat a calming affirmation such as this: “God is filling my mind with peace and hope, protecting me and my family from harm. God will guide my decisions.” Do this six times a day. When you fill your mind with what God has for you, there won’t be any room left over for fear.
- Thank God for releasing your worries and giving you peace, and go to sleep.
Try this affirmation exercise in a different order to see whether it’s even more effective. Start with filling your mind with peace by meditating on scripture (perhaps a verse such as Isaiah 26:3, which says “You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you!”).
While this is a great bedtime practice, you also can use this affirmation exercise throughout the day—midmorning and midafternoon in addition to bedtime. This process works because visualizing yourself as free from worry will eventually lead to actually being free from worry.
Exercise 7: “I Believe”
Another anti-worry technique comes from a friend of the author, Dr. Daniel Poling. Poling starts his day every single morning by repeating the words, “I believe,” three times. This tactic conditions his mind to faith as he begins his day, giving him the positive attitude that he’ll be able to successfully overcome any difficulties the day throws at him. This shifts your mind from negative, fear-based thoughts to positive, faith-based thoughts and attitudes.
Peale shared the “I believe” technique on a radio show and heard from a woman who tried it. This woman had an unhappy marriage, frequently bickering with her unemployed, heavy-drinking husband. She also lived with a complaining mother-in-law, which added to the negative surroundings. She started the “I believe” affirmation, and, within 10 days, her husband got a job, the household was happier, and her mother-in-law even stopped complaining. She said her “worries disappeared.”
To make this affirmation exercise even more powerful and meaningful, finish the thought. Make claims such as “I believe that God loves me,” “I believe that I’m forgiven,” or “I believe that Jesus is coming back.”
Exercise 8: Healing Affirmations
Another friend of Peale’s who recovered from a heart attack with the help of medicine and faith developed a three-point healing formula. At first, when complete rest was called for, he was able to relax and leave himself to God’s care. He focused on Psalm 46:10, “Be still, and know that I am your God.”
Next, as the days went on, he used Psalm 27:14 as an affirmation: “Wait on the Lord; be strong, and may your heart be stout; wait on the Lord.”
Finally, as he gained strength he felt new assurance and confidence. He used Phillippians 4:13 as an affirmation: “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”
The medical team was able to put his body in a state where healing could be stimulated. Then his recovery was aided by faith. These two God-given therapies joined forces: the power of the human body to recuperate and the restorative power of a mind that’s strengthened by faith.
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