“Today I'm going to have a good day”, “I can do everything” or “everything will be fine” are phrases that some people could classify as toxic positivity, while others label them within self-affirmations. Affirmations are a current that has nothing new, but for some time now it has not stopped gaining followers.
The origin of conscious autosuggestion is attributed to the French psychologist Émile Coué, who developed this practice at the beginning of the 20th century. His method consisted of participants reciting 20 times, at the beginning and end of each day, the phrase “every day, in every way, I am getting better and better.” The foundations were thus laid for what the statements are today.
Psychologist David J Bredehoft delves into what affirmations are, what their origin is, and how they influence us in an article published in Psychology Today. He explains that affirmations are short statements that are said out loud or to yourself confidently, although they can also be written down and placed where they are commonly seen. “Daily affirmations are used in therapy to treat depression, negative thoughts, low self-esteem and self-doubt, and have been shown to improve life satisfaction and well-being,” supports the psychologist.
He notes that social psychologists have been academically researching affirmations since the 1980s, within self-affirmation theory, which addresses how people adapt to information or experiences that threaten their self-concept. In this regard, Dr. Bredehoft emphasizes that such research has shown that affirmations can “protect us against stress, reduce defensiveness, improve academic performance and improve health.”
There are people who practice affirmations out loud, reciting their maxims to themselves anywhere or in front of a mirror, with the aim of reinforcing their message. However, others favor the use of affirmation journals. Although these can be purchased already designed for this purpose in bookstores and specialized stores, any notebook or diary can be used to put the affirmations into practice.
Affirmation journals are records in which each person records their own mantras to improve their self-concept. From “I am going to do my best at work”, to “I am a good person”, to “this year I will manage to run a marathon”, as examples. Some affirmation journals even pose questions to answer and reflect on.
It should be emphasized that these maxims by themselves do not work magic, but it has been shown that they can reformulate our mind to have a greater predisposition when it comes to improving our confidence, motivation, concentration, performance and well-being.
