How to Create Your Personalized Affirmation
- AJ Merlin
- Sep 15, 2022
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 5, 2022
What if you knew what to tell yourself to push you forward, make the most of your journey, and dare to live the life you want?
By doing mindset work, you can improve your motivation, gain some self-love and confidence, and face any obstacles. It will help reduce your stress and anxiety levels too.
One way to do this is to use affirmations, which means you think of an uplifting thought instead of having some negative thought or belief holding you down.
By AJ Merlin
I didn’t believe affirmations worked at first. I would say one repeatedly, not really feeling it and seeing absolutely no change after. But that’s because by then I didn’t have one that worked for me. So let me show you in 5 steps how you can create your affirmation to reframe your limiting beliefs and embrace your travels.
1. Choose your topic and find out what you want to work on
Be as specific as possible for maximum impact. Why do you need an affirmation now? Choose one topic at a time so you don’t feel overwhelmed, and you can reframe your thoughts deeply on that matter. Choosing different issues at once will distract you and offer a superficial change.
So, what’s your priority now? Here are a few suggestions to get you started:
1. Is it for your confidence?
2. Your courage?
3. Your money mindset?
4, Your body image?
5. Your self-love?
2. Choose a verb that works for you
Traditionally, affirmations start with the word “I am”, for example, “I am abundant”. But maybe if you say that affirmation, your critical mind will shout: “No, you’re not!”, so it won’t help you. Instead, choose a verb that offers the least resistance to your inner critic, for example, “I choose to be abundant”. That’s why finding something you believe in from the first words is essential.
What works best for you? Here are my top 3 favorites:
1. I am
2. I choose to
3. I get to
3. Build your affirmation
Bring Steps 1 and 2 together to have your own personalized affirmation. For example:
1. Today I choose to have an adventurous day
2. I get to meet new people
3. I am confident
4. Journal about any resistance
Your affirmation needs to resonate with you. It won’t work if you don’t believe in it, so journal about it if you feel some resistance. Why don’t you believe in those words? What are you telling yourself? The more you understand yourself, the more you can reframe your thoughts and create affirmations that work for you.
Once it’s clearer, rephrase your affirmation. For example, you don’t believe in “I am confident”. As if every time you say it, you feel even less confident. When journaling about it, you may realize it’s putting extra pressure on your shoulders, and maybe it brings back some negative memories from the past.
After journaling, you can decide to rephrase your affirmation to: “Today, I get to speak my truth without any fears of consequences. It is safe for me to express myself. Today, I show my true self, and I’m excited about it.”
Your affirmation can be as long as you want. What matters is that you can remember and repeat it confidently whenever you need it.
5. Stick to it
Reframing your mindset and thoughts take time. So, stick to your personalized affirmation for a few days, weeks or even months! You will know it’s time to move on to another when you find it irrelevant or grow bored of it.
Now that you have your affirmation, use it whenever you face an obstacle or need an uplifting boost. It might feel tedious at first, so don’t hesitate to set some reminders; for example, set the alarm on your phone, or build a daily ritual, like saying your affirmation out loud when you wake up. The more you practice, the more it will become automatic until you reframe your thoughts on that topic.
And if you want to reframe your inner critic, join my free 21 days journaling challenge. More information here: https://www.ajmerlin.com/challenge.
