We strive to become more confident. And one of the most popular ways is positive self-hypnosis with the help of statements (affirmations). By repeating them to ourselves, we learn to displace gloomy thoughts with joyful ones. But often we ourselves do not believe in what we convince ourselves of …
Try to consciously pay attention to spontaneously arising thoughts. Roughly estimate how many times you scold yourself during the day? 5? Or maybe 500?
Some studies show that we have more than 15 thoughts every day and at least 000% of them are self-critical. It turns out that we have over 75 negative thoughts every day!
We know that thoughts (conscious and unconscious) affect our mood. Mental self-criticism causes a feeling of powerlessness, deprives of hope, and can even affect physical health.
Affirmations help us take care of our mental well-being. They cheer us up, add optimism and remind us to be kinder to ourselves. But there’s a problem. Positive affirmations often sound completely unrealistic and even absurd. They don’t inspire confidence!
“I attract positive to me!”, “I am successful in everything!”, “I am overwhelmed with joy!”
If we know that all this is not true, we begin to annoy people who call for the repetition of such phrases. And sometimes we begin to be ashamed of the fact that affirmations do not work in our lives.
Neutral affirmations are not dreams of castles in the air, not false optimism, they are realistic
If you have already practiced positive self-suggestion, and these attempts only caused you irritation, bewilderment, or shame, try an alternative: neutral affirmations.
These statements cannot be called either positive or negative, but the main thing is that they do not contain self-deception. They help you stop criticizing and judging yourself.
Here are examples of neutral affirmations:
- Today is just a hard day, but I did my best.
- I am learning to accept myself for who I am.
- My feelings are not facts.
- I can «pull myself together» and get back to business.
- Even professionals ask for help and support.
- I am working on myself, and over time it will become easier for me.
- I’m smart enough and able to handle everything.
- I can handle.
- I won’t give up.
- I know who is on my side. First of all, it’s me.
- Maybe not always, but at least today I …
- I will try again.
- I’ll think about it tomorrow.
- I will not judge myself by stereotypes.
- I can do what needs to be done despite the fear.
- I try to make my life better.
- I have noticed that I get better when I get rid of limiting misconceptions.
- Today I am not very confident in myself, but I will still try to do my best.
Neutral affirmations are not dreams of castles in the air, not false optimism. They are realistic and logical, it is easy for us to believe in them. They will help stop the flow of negative thoughts, go beyond black and white thinking, reflect on erroneous beliefs that we usually do not realize. If we have thousands of thoughts every day, why not try to clear this mental stream of unnecessary self-criticism and pessimism?