How to Use Positive Affirmations for Stress Relief

All of us have stress in our lives at some point every day. The paradox of being human is that we have both a need for certainty that everything is going to be all right, and a need for variety so that we don’t get bored when everything is going perfectly well at every moment of our lives.

Eleanor Roosevelt said, “Learn from the mistakes of others. You can’t live long enough to make them all yourself.”

Being humans we will make mistakes because perfection is reserved for the Divine. Sometimes those mistakes cause us stress beyond what we think we can bear. But there exists a simple tool that is free and available to everyone that can help alleviate the stress of daily life and help you find a bit of peace. This tool is affirmations.

Affirmations are short, positive statements that your repeat out loud or silently in your head like a mantra. The idea is that you keep repeating these positive statements so that they will eventually sneak past the defenses of your conscious mind and seep into your subconscious mind that takes any kind of direction it is given.

You can find lots of free affirmations in books. The Christian Bible is full of verses that can be used as affirmations such as:

• I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. [Philippians 4:13]
• I can trust the Lord with all of my heart, and I will not lean on my own understanding. [Proves 3:5,6]
• God has not given me a spirit of fear, but a spirit of love, power and a sound mind. [II Timothy 1:7]
• The Lord will be faithful to complete the good work He began in me. [Philippians 1:6]
• I will delight myself in You, oh Lord. You give me the desires of my heart. [Psalms 37:5]

You can create your own affirmations according to whatever challenges you might be facing. This is actually quite powerful because you are changing the way you respond to a stressful situation. For example, if something occurs in your life that you might at first perceive as a calamity, take a few breaths and step back before you react. Assess the situation from all available angles and see if there might be a different way of viewing the situation. Create a positive affirmation: “Everything is working out in my favor,” or you might say, “I always have everything I need,” or “I am filled with health, vigor and vitality.”

As you are reciting your positive affirmations, your conscious mind is striking them down as soon as you voice them. You might say, “I am full of confidence.” and your inner-critic will respond with, “You will never amount to anything.” Simply ignore that negative voice and keep repeating your affirmations. It can be helpful to listen to a recording of affirmations that you can play on an .mp3 player with headphones. You can set your affirmations to play on a continuous loop in the background while you do other tasks during the day or as your drift off to sleep at night.

If you’d like a recording of positive affirmations, sign up for our newsletter, the Stress Free Mind Journal and you can download a free .mp3 recording called, ‘Affirmations for Anxiety,’ a short, five minute program that you can listen to whenever you need to relax and de-stress quickly during the day.

The great thing about affirmations is that they are incredibly empowering. When you get into the habit of using them you quickly realize the power you have to transform your life. Try using affirmations today and see what happens for you.