How to Effectively Practice Self-Affirmations

Affirmations are a hot topic in the wellness space, with professionals in different branches of the field hyping up the benefits of the use of daily affirmations on self-esteem. Honestly, I had a tough time buying-in initially. Something about it seemed off. It seemed robotic, lacking in authenticity, and made me feel like a fraud whether I was practicing them myself or assisting clients.

Apparently I wasn’t alone. A lot of research out there has shown that people who say positive statements like “I am lovable” when they don’t believe it in the moment can actually make them feel worse.

So what’s the move then? A spin on the typical positive affirmations is something called “self-affirmations”. Sounds the same but there’s an important distinction.

Self-affirmation theory is a psychological theory that holds that if individuals reflect on values that are personally relevant to their core selfs and take stock of who they are and what they care about then they are less likely to experience distress and react defensively when confronted with information that contradicts or threatens their sense of self.

Rather than trying to convince yourself that you’re beautiful, crushing it at work, or thriving romantically when you don’t feel that way, self-affirmation encourages you to think positively about the important things in your life, like your character strengths, interests, or hobbies. Using self-affirmations means centering yourself with things that you believe are positive about yourself and your life. These core beliefs exist no matter what phase you’re in and can be accessed as a way to revamp a sense of identity when you’re feeling disconnected from yourself.