Affirmations, manifestations, intentions: they’re the talk of the town these days! In 2015, Annenberg School for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania joined forces with UCLA and the University of Michigan to perform a study on self-affirmation. Their findings concluded that acts of self-affirmation activated the same well-known reward centers of the brain as eating a cupcake or scoring well on a test. The study also determined that self-affirmation upped activity in the areas of the brain responsible for self-related processing. Sooo, if you think about it, affirmations are a way to get your brain working for you, not against you!

Another important finding from the aforementioned study is that future-oriented self-affirmations were more effective at targeting those positive reward centers of the brain than self-affirmations about one’s past self and accomplishments. Stating positive self-affirmations about your future self targets the feel-good centers of your brain, can alleviate pain, and act as an “emotional buffer” to any negative or stressful information that threatens your inner peace.

If you know me, you know that I love a good routine. I am obsessed with learning about habits. My mom likes to joke that I spent too much time watching my dad get ready when I was younger, because, like him, I adhere to the same, methodical daily routines. Right contact goes in first, left second. You could set a watch based off of my morning coffee, devotional, and skincare sequence. I’ve touched on the subject before, but routines save our brains so much energy! With the tens of thousands of thoughts that cross our minds each day, it’s easy to fall down a rabbit hole of doomscrolling and pondering the worst possible case scenarios life could throw at us.

Our cortisol levels, on average, are highest in the mornings. The release of cortisol is linked to our daily work patterns; that “up and at ‘em” wave of energy in the morning is more than likely a release of cortisol. Since we have this energetic hormone spike when we wake up, it is critical to decide what we’ll do with it. How do you want start your day?

THere’s a choice you must make each morning: do I want today to look like yesterday or do I want today to be the start of something new?

Affirmations target the parts of your brain that are connected to your sense of self and sense of accomplishment. I, therefore, dare to venture that affirmations can change your brain. Stating affirmations each morning can rewire your brain to embody them. Focusing your brain on the future you’re creating motivates you to actually work towards those goals because you’re already being rewarded with the feel-good emotions that you’re used to experiencing after a job well done.

So, now that you have a little background as to why affirmations are beneficial, how to you begin to implement them?

Well, you beautiful soul, that’s what I’m here for! After using affirmations religiously for the past two years, I have compiled a plethora of mantras that I like to pick my daily affirmations from. I like to write down some affirmations in my journal each morning (or in the afternoon, no shame to starting mid-day… each moment is a chance to choose again) because it centers me in purposeful presence and grounded intentions as I enter my day.

Alright, alright, I’ll cut to the chase! Below are some affirmations for you to add to your rotation or alter to your liking.

• I am now. I love now. I love me.

• I am abundant. everything i need is within me.

• my life is unfolding in divine timing.

• I am courageous.

• I am love; I am loveable; I am loving.

• I am compassionate towards myself.

• I am grateful.

• I am whole.

• I am more than enough.

• I am fierce.

• I am attracting the life i always dreamed of; i’m living the life i once dreamt of.

• I am not afraid of change. I am willing to be transformed.

• I am excited.

• I am radiant.

• I am light. energy. vibrations.

• I am so proud of the person I am becoming. I love who I am growing to be.

• I am grateful to be alive, living my soul’s purpose.

• I am returning to myself, to my god(dess) self.

• I am strong. Sexy. tenacious. authentic. fearless. well. ease. flow. ambitious. consistent. free. magic. peace. open.

• I am in alignment with the values, practices, and beliefs of my highest self!

• The only person I want to be better than is who I was yesterday. Today i am anew.

• I am responsible for my own happiness. I am in the driver’s seat of my own life. If I am unhappy, I choose to take the necessary steps, one-by-one, to re-discover alignment and greet the new version of myself that is getting ready to emerge.

• I am a work in progress. I am a masterpiece.

• I am a human being, not a human doing. My worth is not contingent on productivity.

• I am composed of itty bitty pieces of recycled stardust that combined perfectly to form me. My existence is a statistical miracle and not to be wasted by me being anything but who I was created to be.

  I hope that these affirmations brighten your morning… it really is amazing that you woke up this morning! You wiggled your toes and hopped out of bed. You’re a living, breathing human being. Cool stuff, my dude. NOW GO OUT N LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE, YOU WERE BORN FOR IT!

xoxoxoxoxo, Fi

Bibliography

Cortisol. (2019, January). Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.yourhormones.info/hormones/cortisol/

Study Reveals the Neural Mechanics of Self-Affirmation. (2015, November 20). Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.asc.upenn.edu/news-events/news/study-reveals-neural-mechanics-self-affirmation