Positive Affirmations

Our emotional state can lead to negative thinking, and negative thinking affects our emotions. Just think of a negative thought you have quite often and notice how it makes
you feel, then do the same with a positive thought. When we feel anxious, negative thinking can take hold and feed this cycle.

So part of my self-care routine involves mantras, or positive affirmations. Here are a few
suggestions but if this is something you’re interested in, try to find affirmations that resonate with you. Then:

• ground your feet
• relax your shoulders and jaw
• slow down your breathing
• say YOUR affirmations to yourself
• Feel the effects in your body.

This is not about ignoring how you feel. Please give time to that too. Let this be a separate practice, because negative thinking proliferates but so does positive thinking. The more we do it, the more we get into that positive thought/emotion cycle, and the more it changes the structure and function of the brain so that it just happens naturally.

Engaging in positive affirmations regularly and from a relaxed place, helps the ideas to become more deeply embedded in our sub-conscious, and become belief, and that’s where the real transformation lies. Who wouldn’t want to believe these things about themselves? (I need to keep up my practice!)

Positive affirmations in pregnancy deserve special mention here. This practice can be so powerful in helping pregnant people to feel calm, confident and capable throughout
pregnancy and empowered through their labour, helping people to have positive birth experiences. Maybe I’ll share my birth story someday to illustrate the point but for now, I’ll
just say it works!

So give it a go. Be your own inner champion.

Top tip: Write down your positive affirmation and put them somewhere like your mirror where you’ll see them every day. Practising regularly makes a huge difference.