An affirmation is an action, and process or statement to regulate your emotions. Positive affirmations for anxiety are commonly used to retrain your thinking from negative, and intentionally replacing the thought with a positive one.
It’s important to first recognise your negative talk or ‘trigger’, and then use an affirmation that resonates with you.
This post will guide you on how to use affirmations to help anxiety, depending on your situation, and how to apply the method.
Positive affirmations for anxiety – To centre yourself
- “This feeling is temporary, and it shall pass”
- “I will get through today”
- “I am okay in this present moment”
- “I am in control”
- “I trust myself”
- “I am strong, powerful and capable”
- “I am safe, no longer can harm me”
Positive affirmations for anxiety – To boost confidence
- ‘I forgive myself’
- ‘I am enough and capable’
- ‘I am strong’
- ‘Take small steps in the right direction’
- ‘I’ve done this before, I can do it again’
Affirmations for anxiety – forgive and love you
- ‘It’s only a thought, and that can change’
- ‘I deserve to be respected’
- ‘I don’t need to justify myself to anyone, I always act with good intention’
- ‘The past is the past’
- ‘I forgive myself’
Affirmation for anxiety – Gratitude
- ‘I am grateful for…’
- ‘ I am in control of my direction’
- ‘I am capable of making change’
It’s important here to not focus on your end goal, and focus on the controllable. For example; you’re just about to hike a mountain, if you focus only on the top, you miss the present journey on the trial. Then you might focus more on the pain and your not getting there quick enough. However, by focusing on the trial, you enjoy all the values in life, the small setbacks are inevitable, but we get stronger, knowledgeable and more confident when we overcome and celebrate the small wins in life.
Affirmations for fear of rejection, abandonment or failure
- ‘I am in control’
- ‘Should I fail, I know how to pick myself up’
- ‘I need setbacks to gain experience and learn’
- ‘I believe in myself’
- ‘This is one moment in time, I’ve got many more moments to live for’
- ‘Everything happens for a reason’
- ‘My ‘failures’ are simply redirecting me to my purpose’
- ‘I trust the purpose of life’
5 steps to apply positive affirmations for anxiety
It’s important to sit with your feelings, and not to use affirmations to hide away or mask the emotion. To apply this method follow these steps:
- Take a deep breath
- Take the time to hear yourself
- Is the concern based on fact or fictional
- Tell yourself, thank you but you no longer need protection and have got this under control
- Follow with your affirmation
Overall, using positive affirmations can help you regulate your emotions by:
- Focusing on solutions rather than problems
- Recognising negative thoughts and challenging them
- Boost confidence
- Regulate mood patterns
- Encouraging optimism
- Reducing fear
Affirmations are just great for anxiety. They can also help with losing weight and confidence.