Did you know that the first hour of your day sets the tone for your entire day?
You all know by now that I am a big fan my joyful morning routine and notice a huge difference in my entire day (aka the next 14-16 hours) when I implement this routine.
When I was pregnant, I struggled with intense fear—fear my body would fail me, fear my blood sugar and disease would negatively impact our sweet baby, and fear that I would lose our baby.
I had heard of affirmations before and honestly thought the concept was a little strange. But when I was pregnant, so sick and endlessly miserable, I was willing to give anything a try! I started repeating short, positive phrases to myself all day long and it really helped!
Our physical health and body is so interconnected to our mindset and our heart—God made this connection so intricate and designed our bodies beautifully. Making affirmations a part of my daily routine has visibly shown me the connection between our emotions and our health. It really is a beautiful process!
< Get my Positive Joy-filled Morning Routine >
So what are affirmations?
- Affirmations are short statements or declarations we say out-loud to ourselves or think in our brain.
- Affirmations automatically affect the subconscious mind and can affect our mood, energy, health and actions.
- Affirmations should be positive (or else you will put your body into a negative state) and should be in the present tense.
Examples of positive affirmations:
*I prefer to do do affirmations in categories…as well as loop in some gratitude, so my way might not be “typical” but it works for me!*
Health
- I am strong and well-designed—God has beautifully designed my body to work perfectly.
- My health struggles make my body individual and unique.
- I am uniquely and wonderfully made.
Family
- I am thankful for a loving, supportive husband who even when he is away, cherishes us from afar.
- I am thankful for a healthy, happy baby girl who brings joy to our day.
- I am thankful for the gift of life.
Work
- I am choosing to be intentional with my work hours.
- I am thankful God placed this passion on my heart and that I get to live it out each day.
- I am thankful for an incredible team to help make my dreams happen.
- I am choosing to follow my systems rather than be overwhelmed.
- I am focusing on quality impact.
Life
- I am disciplined & focused.
- I am thankful for this beautiful day and a fresh start to do life.
- I am grateful for __________ today.
- I am choosing joy for _________ today.
- Each little step adds up to paint a beautiful picture.
- I am thankful for the difficult moments so I can learn from them and become stronger.
- I will persevere through this situation.
A simple plan for doing morning affirmations:
- Keep it simple—you don’t have to say a bunch to be successful. Just start by saying 1-3 affirmations!
- Plan a time of day that you can realistically set aside 3-5 minutes to do your affirmations. This could be as you apply your makeup, drive to work, eat your breakfast or walk the dog.
- Make your affirmations apart of your morning routine—do them before the day gets hectic so you can have a positive start to your day.
- Write them down—if you are a visual person like me, make a sticky note on your mirror or computer, write a weekly affirmation in your planner or choose artwork that reflects your affirmations.
- If you have children or a spouse, do them together! Make it fun!
I typically do affirmations on my walks with Remington. We chat about our day, say what we are thankful for and say a few affirmations. See it’s that simple!
Here’s the great news—you don’t have to believe these statements 100% of the time, because let’s be honest, that is not reality! We all have bad days, we all feel down about ourselves and we all get frustrated. That is life and that is ok! But, when you continue to say these statements over and over to yourself (even on the bad days), they are imprinted in your mind and become apart of your subconscious without you even realizing it!
And…just because you started your day with the affirmation “today is going to be a good day” doesn’t mean that is what is going to happen. But when your day starts going downhill, you can repeat that phrase in your mind to help bring you back to a positive state! Life gets messy and we all have days when we want to throw something or punch a wall (maybe thats just me), but that is ok!
The goal of practicing affirmations and gratitude is not to have a perfect day, it is to help you refocus your mindset and reaction to your situation.
Research shows that it takes about 3 weeks-30 days for something to be “programed” in your mind—so perseverance pays off and little by little you won’t even have to make an effort to do this, it will just become apart of your natural routine!
If you want to learn more, I highly recommend the book, The Healing Code. It is fascinating and so interesting to look up your health struggle and see the emotional & physical connection!
Tell me, what are your thoughts on affirmations? Leave a comment below!
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