5 Positive Mantras to Inspire

Making the time and space in your life to reflect upon positive affirmations can bring a great deal of relief. Anything from thought-altering mantras to value-based reflections can help you overcome anxiety, negativity, guilt, fear and improve your mental health.

Self-affirmations

The efficacy of self-affirmation has been widely addressed in the field of psychology for now half a century at least, though the psychological theory had yet to be coined until Claude Steele popularized the term in the late 80s, and yet to be tested in the realm of neuroscience until recent years. Essentially, it is now widely agreed upon that the act of self-affirming itself ultimately depends on a person’s intentional declaration of self-worth and value in a positive way.

While many approaches exist, one recent study approached self-affirmation in two ways: writing about a highly ranked personal value for x-amount of time and responding to questionnaires that pertain to one’s own highly ranked personal value. The values chosen for this study included: money, creativity, independence, politics, friends & family, religion, humor and spontaneity. Additionally, the researchers demonstrated that there did indeed exist a connection between self-affirmation and the reward and valuation pathways of the brain. On top of this, they suggest that there is an association to be made between self-affirmation and the anticipation of one’s future self.[1]

Then, are values important to self-affirmation and self-development? Heck yeah.

Create self-affirmation mantras that connect with your top values

You’ve now set out on the quest to utilize the neuroplasticity of the brain, so you’re ready to make changes up there to make real change out around yourself. Fantastic! Let’s look at a handful of inspiring mantras anybody can pick up today to initiate that change.

1. I believe I can provide for myself without giving up

2. My health is important enough for me to keep up with one exercise every day

3. I am happy and grateful for spending time with family, even when balancing a demanding job

4. Keeping up with my finances now will help me in the future

5. Working on my artwork makes me feel so peaceful

No matter which value(s) you choose to reaffirm, sticking to any mantras like these listed above might just function as that foremost reminder to keep you on track towards reaching your future goals.

Conclusions

For how many days, how many times a day, or how long ought I repeat these affirmations, you ask? Some sources recommend to spend between 5-15 minutes per session repeating select mantras, and to do this between one and three times a day.[2] Generally, this is a healthy dose of self-affirmation that everyone can generally incorporate into their day without getting excessive with it. Pick at least one mantra and stick to that for a solid amount of time, like when you begin to notice a change in the way you feel, your reactions to triggering situations or routine habits.

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Sources: 

[1] Cascio, Christopher N., et al. “Self-Affirmation Activates Brain Systems Associated with Self-Related Processing and Reward and Is Reinforced by Future Orientation.” Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience, vol. 11, no. 4, 5 Nov. 2015, pp. 621–629., doi:10.1093/scan/nsv136. 

[2] “1,132 Positive Affirmations: Your Daily List of Simple Mantras.” Develop Good Habits, Oldtown Publishing LLC, 5 Jan. 2021, www.developgoodhabits.com/positive-affirmations/.