So, you’ve come across positive affirmations and have decided you wanted to include them in your life, in your daily routine, and you want to see what kind of benefit they can have for you.
First of all, yeeeeew! Congratulations! (Insert little happy dance here).
We LOVE positive affirmations and love sharing them with you, ways to help you get the most out of them, and we even love sharing the science behind why and how they work (we are a little woo woo here, but we love science too!).
One of the big questions we get asked when it comes to including affirmations in your day is simply how to do it? How do you use affirmations? Do you say them out loud? Write them? Listen to them? Read them in your mind?
The simple answer is, all, or one, or a combination of any.
But, for this article, we are going to focus on writing your affirmations down, and more specifically, writing affirmations for 21 days.
Why Write Affirmations For 21 Days?
Honestly, 21 days is an arbitrary number that is short enough to feel like you can commit to it, but long enough to start to find some habit traits forming, and to feel like it is part of your routine.
Really, it doesn’t matter how many days you do this for, but what does matter is that you do this exercise and write your affirmations every single day.
Why?
Because scientific evidence supports the idea that for positive affirmations to be effective, we need to practice our affirmations each day.
This means, to get the most benefit and for your affirmations to be most effective, you need to create a habit around using affirmations so you can easily add them into your daily routine. This is why we will be writing affirmations for 21 days.
What Do I Need To Start Writing Affirmations For 21 Days?
Writing your affirmations is one of the easiest things to do and has a considerably low barrier to entry – that means you don’t need a lot in order to start doing it and what you do need, you most likely already have.
At the very least you need something to write on, something to write with, and something to write.
I personally like to take this opportunity to buy a new notebook (even though I already have a huge stash) and write my affirmations in the same notebook each day. I also like having a pen that feels great to write with. There’s just something really nice about a good pen.
Next, you’ll need affirmations to write, and we will explain this more a little further down.
What Are Affirmations?
Before you start writing your affirmations each day, you need to understand what affirmations are.
Simply put, affirmations are positive statements that work on our subconscious mind to highlight, encourage, or reinforce a positive aspect of our life.
They also help us reframe negative thoughts as positive thoughts, and are often used to assist with mental health and the use of psychotherapies like Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT).
The repetitive use of positive affirmations, such as in daily activity, helps to form new neural pathways that, rather than following a pathway of a negative thought, becomes a new ‘default’ pathway of a positive thought.
By doing this, we use the way the brain works, and the use of our own brain activity, to reform our own thoughts.
Scientific studies have also shown that the use of positive affirmations has other health benefits too including reduced stress, better sleep, a greater sense of self, and higher self-esteem to name a few.
Positive affirmations are also regularly used by professional athletes to help enhance their performance and achieve their goals.
While the power of affirmations is obvious in creating a healthy relationship with our mind, they are also used in the practice of the Law Of Attraction, which suggests that the energy we put out into the world is the same kind of energy that we attract back to us – like attracts like.
By this premise, positive thinking then attracts positive energy, and negative self-talk and holding a negative belief or thought about oneself then attracts negative energy back.
Positive affirmations are a powerful tool regardless of whether you’re using them for mental health benefits, for the Law of Attraction, for athletic performance, or simply because they make you feel good.
What Can Writing Positive Affirmations Each Day Do For Me?
We know the benefits of writing affirmations, but you may still be wondering what can writing positive affirmations each day do for you, how will it make you feel, and how will you know they are working?
When you include something like writing affirmations in your daily life, you’re taking a step to see changes in your life in positive ways.
This may be hard to notice at first, because the positive effect happens little by little.
This is why it’s important to take a moment to set your intetnions at the start of this 21 day affirmation writing challenge, and make note of how you feel.
Do you feel like you have low self-esteem? Do you have repeating negative thoughts or negative behaviors? Are there negative ideas you want to let go of or negative self-talk you want to overcome?
Understanding your starting point can help you measure the positive ways in which these powerful daily affirmations have made an impact on your life.
At the end of the 21 days, you can repeat the process of taking some time to make note of how you feel.
Do you feel you’ve had a boost in self-confidence or self-esteem? Did you notice any more effective ways positive affirmations have helped you or improved how you feel about yourself?
Or did they simply feel good to repeat each day?
Everyone is going to experience different changes and results from writing their affirmations each day, this is why it’s important to measure your results against yourself as this is the only measurement that actually matters.
When Should I Write My Affirmations?
There’s no ‘right’ time or wrong time to write your affirmations, however, it is generally recommended that you write them first thing in the morning.
This is because, as we start our day, our minds are relatively fresh and open and haven’t been filled with the noise and distractions of the world yet.
This means that, when we write our affirmations in the morning, they are more likely to be accepted and believed by our subconscious mind.
If you’re not a morning person, or if you simply can’t fit writing your affirmations in first thing in the morning, don’t worry!
There’s no ‘wrong’ time to write your affirmations.
While the morning may be the best time for some, for others it’s easier for them to write their affirmations at the end of the day, as a kind of ‘closing out’ of the day.
The important thing is that you write your positive morning affirmations as a regular practice, in the same way, and at the same time each day, to help form the new habit.
A great way to do this is to add your affirmations to a habit you already have.
For example, if you have a coffee every morning, then write your affirmations while you’re drinking your coffee.
Stacking onto another habit is a lot easier than creating a whole new habit of its own.
How Should I Write My Daily Affirmations?
There’s no ‘right’ way to write your affirmations, but there are definitely some effective ways to go about it.
When you’re first starting out, it’s important to keep your affirmations short, sweet, and simple.
This is because our brains can only really process a limited amount of information at any one time, and if we try to overload it with too much information, then it’s likely that none of it will be accepted or believed.
It’s also important to make sure that your affirmations are in the present tense.
This is because our subconscious mind doesn’t really understand the concept of time, so by using present tense affirmations, we’re effectively telling our subconscious mind that the desired outcome is already happening.
As for the physical act of writing your affirmations out, there are a whole heap of different ways you can go about this.
You can write your affirmations in a notebook (I recommend the same notebook each day), you can write them as part of your daily planner/journal, you can write them on post it notes and stick them up around your house, you can write them in the steam in the shower… you can get as creative as you’d like.
However, for the best results, choose the simplest way for you, a way that will be easiest to stick to, and do that for 21 days.
What Kind Of Affirmations Should I Write?
When you’re choosing what affirmations to write, you’ll want to choose ones that speak to your current emotional state.
That is, ones that you feel resonate with you the most right now, and are aligned with your desire to manifest positive change in a specific area of your life.
For example, if you’re wanting to achieve a specific financial goal, then focusing on an affirmation that is centered around love and relationships may not be the best choice.
It’s also a good idea to stick with shorter affirmations rather than long ones, especially as you’ll be writing them out.
How Many Times Do I Need To Write Affirmations Each Day?
Again, there is no specific answer to this that is a catch-all for everyone. It really does depend on what you’re wanting to achieve and how you feel about writing out your affirmations.
While some people swear by writing out their daily affirmations 100 times, others say simply writing them each day is enough.
The key things to keep in mind are that writing your affirmations forms part of your daily practice – that is you do it each and every day, and that regular repetition helps you see the greatest benefits. IIf writing your affirmations once a day feels like regular repetition to you, then that is great. If you want to write them out more, then absolutely, go ahead.
There is no right or wrong answer, you can try different amounts and see what fits best for you.
One way you can measure this is by writing the affirmation, saying it, and then repeating the process while paying attention to how you feel.
I sometimes notice I feel a sense of calm after repeating the affirmation a number of times, so pay attention to how you feel emotionally and in your own body.
What Are Some Examples Of Positive Affirmations?
To get you started, here are some examples of positive affirmations you can use and write out each day:
- I am abundant and prosperous.
- I am open to new and exciting opportunities.
- I am confident and fearless in any situation.
- My dreams and desires are coming true.
- I am healthy, happy, and whole.
- Every day, I get better and better at manifesting my desires.
- The more I believe in myself, the more I achieve.
- I always attract exactly what I need.
- I am grateful for everything I have.
- I love and approve of myself just the way I am.
These are just a few examples to get you started – remember that you can tailor your affirmations to whatever it is you’re wanting to achieve.
Can I Write My Own Positive Affirmations?
Absolutely! In fact, I recommend using a combination of affirmations you’ve found that speak to you, as well as ones you write yourself.
You can either use the examples above as a starting point and then edit them to better fit your needs, or you can start from scratch and write your own positive affirmations.
The key thing is that you make sure they resonate with you emotionally and that you keep them short, sweet, and to the point.
Your affirmations need to be simple statements that are in the present tense (‘I am’ rather than ‘I will’) and fill you with positive energy.
Your daily positive affirmations are designed to help promote positive self-talk, and adding your own personal touch to these positive phrases can help you feel more connected to them and help them to resonate with you more as self-affirmations rather than a general affirmation.
Writing your own affirmations can be a lot of fun so I challenge you to give it a try during these 21 days.
Should You Write Affirmations For 21 Days?
If you’re not convinced yet that you should be writing affirmations for 21 days and you’re looking for someone to tell you to do it, then here I am – do it.
There’s nothing to lose but a whole lot to gain from writing out your affirmations and creating your own daily affirmation practice.
The biggest thing is finding affirmations that resonate with you (there’s a whole range of affirmations on this site that can help with this) and then finding a way that you can include them in your day that makes you feel good and that you can stick to.
The best time to start is right now, so make today day 1 of your challenge of writing affirmations for 21 days and see just how different you feel with this new habit.
