Positive affirmations, which are simple statements that you repeat to yourself, can help you reframe the way you think and influence feelings and behavior.
While they are not magic bullets, repeating these affirmations for a few minutes daily may help redirect negative thought patterns and boost motivation and self-confidence.
Here are 4 positive affirmations to improve your well-being and deepen your connection with your body.
Be Well,
Anisa
1. I Am Healthy and Strong…
Culture tells us that bodies should look a particular way, and so, we can lose ourselves trying to achieve the unattainable.
But remember that the old adage holds true: Bodies come in all shapes and sizes. Instead of chasing an arbitrary ideal and a certain appearance, shift your thinking to focus on function. After all, the ideal body is your body at its healthiest state.
This affirmation makes use of your brain’s neuroplasticity, or its ability to change and adapt. In other words, by repeating this affirmation, your brain may begin to take it as fact.
Summary
Repeating the affirmation “I am healthy and strong” may encourage your brain to see it as fact. This can improve your relationship with your body.
2. I Appreciate What My Body Can Do…
Focusing on the many amazing things your body already does and can do helps to re-frame your relationship with it.
Rather than viewing your body as a thing to continually fix, this affirmation focuses on what it already achieves. In other words, it may help you realize that your body doesn’t need to be corrected by a diet.
Summary
This affirmation takes the focus off appearance and instead focuses on your body’s abilities. This is a healthier approach than focusing on the numbers on the scale.
3. I Move Every Day…
Maybe formal exercise doesn’t do it for you, and that’s OK. Reframe the idea of “working out” to simply mean “movement that feels good.”
If spin class feels like a drag, do activities that feel good to your body and mind. Maybe it’s gentle stretching, hiking a scenic trail, or dancing at home to fun music.
Re-framing how you think of exercise may encourage you to get some more movement in your day-to-day, which can improve your health and well-being (13Trusted Source, 14Trusted Source).
Summary
This affirmation helps re-frame how you perceive exercise. Find movement that feels joyful to your body.
4. I Am Kind To Myself…
Positive self-talk is worth exploring on your path to wellness. Self-talk is the inner monologue you carry, the way you speak to yourself inside your head.
Unfortunately, sometimes the way we speak to ourselves may be less generous than the way we would ever speak to another person.
While more research is needed, positive self-talk may be a boon to health (23).
If you are overtly and harshly self-critical, this affirmation can help foster compassion toward yourself.
Summary
This affirmation reminds you to practice compassion toward yourself, which may improve your well-being.
In Closing…
Positive affirmations can be a great start to improving your well-being and your relationship with your body.
The best affirmations are those that work for and make sense to you. Therefore, make them specific to your goals and situation.
They may work best when repeated daily for several minutes at a time.
Although positive affirmations are not magic bullets, they can at least provide a launching point for your path to wellness.