Using Affirmations to Help Shift a Setback

My energy has been way below baseline for several weeks now.  Even though I’m very good at not giving that kind of a setback a worrying meaning, as usual, I’ve found that my brain chemistry was knocked about and my mood took a serious hit. With the kind of low mood that accompanies a crash, I don’t expect myself to try to look positively at things. Instead, I accept myself with compassion and just make myself as comfortable as possible with pleasant distraction while I wait for it to pass. However, this time, as it dragged on and on, I found my mood dipping even further and I decided I needed to take some action. I knew forcing myself to be positive wasn’t the answer; that’s just a kind of bullying. But I did think that I needed to find some way of paying a bit more attention to positive things without pushing myself to be or feel something I wasn’t. Affirmations seemed to be the answer.

For me affirmations can serve up to 3 purposes. They can be a way of strengthening a neural pathway, a way of paying attention to something I am hoping to attractor a way of giving my biochemistry a command*, letting it know what I expect my body to be working on.

On a day when I wasn’t feeling quite so miserable as I had been, I sat myself down and wrote a list of all the things that I needed to believe in order to feel less miserable, all the things I wanted to attract to me and all the commands my biochemistry needed in order to work towards healing. One of the ways I did this was to think about what life would be like if I wasn’t miserable and feeling stuck. What would I be doing to make life happier and healthier?

I’ve been reading these, every morning when I get up, and last thing at night before I switch my light out. At first I just read them with no pressure or expectation. I wasn’t able to connect to good feelings at the time and I accepted that. Then gradually my mood started to lighten a little and I’m now able to connect with a sense of what it would feel like when I read them, which I believe adds to their power. When I started these affirmations all but my most basic self-care had fallen by the wayside, but now I’ve been able to build back up to all of my supportive self-help routines and I’m once again able to connect with a feeling of joy.

These are just a few of the affirmations that were on that list. Some of these affirmations serve more than one of the above purposes.

  • I am loved and cherished and special
  • I am overflowing with love for others
  • I pay attention how I can share my love
  • My heart is filled with joy
  • I find beauty and wonder in the little things that are all around me
  • I pay attention to how I can share my joy
  • I silently wish each person I encounter happiness, joy and laughter
  • My body knows health and vitality
  • My immune system is healthy and strong
  • Each breath I take brings healing and energy
  • I have all I need for health and vitality
  • My energy flows freely and in balance
  • I am safe, relaxed and peaceful
  • I enjoy the food that nourishes me
  • My energy and well-being increases every day
  • My health and vitality support my purpose
  • The things that feed my spirit support my purpose
  • I am open and receptive to good things happening
  • Everything is achieved with ease and flow

*For more about how affirmations can be seen as commands and why they need to be expressed in the present tense see this post.

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2 thoughts on “Using Affirmations to Help Shift a Setback”

  1. Well done, Julie, those are beautiful affirmations. May you continue to attract all good things into your life, and be well, happy and healthy xx

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