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How to Meditate
Meditation is something everyone can do. Practicing can help improve your health and wellbeing.
Explore MeditationPositive Affirmation Meditation
The words we tell ourselves are powerful. We become what we repeat to ourselves, whether we like it or not. Surprisingly, most of the thousands of thoughts each person has daily are negative. Overcoming these pessimistic thoughts and worries is hard. But with positive affirmation meditation, we can make things a little easier, learning to let go of negative thoughts and enhancing our overall well-being.
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What is a positive affirmation?
A positive affirmation is any word or phrase repeated aloud or in your head to challenge negative, subconsciously programmed thoughts. Effective affirmations are positive, personal, specific, and in the present tense. The aim is to focus your awareness on these affirmations to affect behavioral changes or manifest desires and goals.
Mantra or affirmation?
While the term, affirmation, is often used interchangeably with mantras, there are some key differences.
Stemming from Hindu and Buddhist practices, mantras are sacred sounds, words, or phrases thought to have spiritual or magical powers. And they don’t always have a literal meaning. A positive affirmation is specifically used to self-affirm and has a clear and direct meaning. Both are frequently used during meditation.
We’ll dive into the history and evolution of positive affirmations a bit later.
Insight Timer's free positive affirmation meditation app can help you harness the power of positive thinking with access to top global meditation teachers. Discover how positive affirmation meditation can enhance your daily life and take your mental health and wellness to a new level. Try one of our free guided meditation sessions from the app below.
Best guided affirmation meditations
Journey into your subconscious mind with Insight Timer’s various daily affirmations and meditations. With 200,000 free tracks and 80+ new guided meditations added daily, there’s something for everyone at any stage in life. Here are some positive affirmation meditations to get you started.
1. Mindfulness meditation with affirmations
Mindfulness meditations help you slow down and develop awareness in the present moment. Combined with positive affirmations, it can signal your nervous system to relax while rewiring your thought patterns.
2. Morning affirmations
Use affirmations in the morning to kickstart your day with positive thoughts. Positive morning affirmations have the power to influence how you approach your day and gently guide you toward your goals. This is ideal for those who may experience morning anxiety or stress.
3. Affirmations for success
Have your sights set on a new job? Or maybe you’re looking for a self-esteem boost on a big project? Affirmations for success can help you stay on the path toward your goals.
4. Self-love affirmations
Pour some positive energy and love into your heart. If you struggle with confidence and positive self-talk, self-love affirmations can help you move closer toward loving and appreciating yourself. Often, these affirmation meditations center around phases to help you feel like you’re enough exactly as you are. There are many self-love quotes from the Buddha to inspire you.
5. Affirmations for confidence
It’s ok not to feel confident all day, every day. In times when you do need a confidence boost, positive affirmation meditations can give you the extra kick and encouragement you’re looking for.
6. Affirmations for self-compassion
Compassion is one of the best gifts we can give to ourselves and to others. But practicing self-compassion isn’t always easy when our inner critic is active. Using affirmations to increase self-compassion can help you cultivate more loving-kindness toward yourself and challenge the critical narrative that holds you back.
7. Affirmations for prosperity & abundance
It’s no surprise that many wish to increase their wealth and abundance. Incorporating a guided meditation with affirmations for prosperity, abundance, and wealth complement intention setting to train your subconscious mind to attract just that.
8. Inner peace affirmations
Calming your mind and feeling more at peace is easier when you introduce inner peace affirmations into your regular meditation routine. These meditations promote a deep sense of tranquility, especially for those who struggle with emotional turmoil.
9. Sleep meditation with affirmations
If you’re looking for a more restful night while getting all the benefits of positive affirmations, sleep meditations can help change your life. Many tracks include relaxing meditation music with guided affirmations, helping you reprogram your subconscious mind while you sleep. Plus, sleep music can help you obtain a deep sleep so you wake up feeling truly restored.
10. Affirmations for stress relief
Regular meditation practice is one of the best antidotes for stress. Research shows that affirmation meditations, in particular, can lower anxiety and have stress-buffering effects.
11. Gratitude affirmations
Cultivating a sense of appreciation and thankfulness is associated with improved well-being. Gratitude affirmations can help you implement a regular gratitude practice that reaffirms positive neural pathways.
12. Affirmations for overcoming fear
Fear can stop us from accomplishing many of the things we want in life. Combat fear and muster up the courage you need to achieve your goals with powerful affirmations.
13. Affirmations for relationship building
Relationships enrich our lives and provide meaning and purpose. Consider using affirmations to help expand openness, understanding, and connection with your partner, family, or friends.
14. Mindful eating affirmations
Foster a healthy and balanced relationship with food through mindful eating affirmations. These can help enhance awareness around the food you eat and help you overcome unhelpful eating patterns.
15. Creativity affirmations
Creativity affirmations can help unlock your imagination and creative spirit if you're hitting a mental block.
16. Affirmations for letting go and forgiveness
Letting go of negative energy and forgiving past situations can create more room for positive energy and thoughts. Practicing these affirmations can aid in your personal growth and allow you to move past the things that previously held you back.
“I am” affirmations re-affirm your identity, values, and core beliefs. These can be wonderful additions to your morning meditation routine.
Benefits of affirmation meditation
- Lower psychological stress. Affirmation meditations significantly reduce stress throughout the body and mind by calming the nervous system and redirecting our thoughts. They can further help:
- Alleviate anxiety. Positive affirmation meditations help us focus less on the stressors and worries of the day.
- Reduce negative thoughts. By focusing on positive affirmations, you can replace negative thoughts and change your thought patterns over time.
- Improve mood. With decreased stress, anxiety, and negative thoughts, you’re likely to experience an elevated and lighter mood.
- Increase positivity. Bringing awareness to positive thoughts can help strengthen the neural networks associated with positive thinking.
- Enhance well-being. Experiencing less stress and anxiety can enhance your well-being overall.
- Change your mindset. Affirmations can guide us toward new perspectives and viewpoints, giving way to greater mental flexibility.
- Strengthen your sense of self. Affirmation meditations strengthen our identity through re-affirming our values and who we are.
- Better cardiovascular health. With decreased mental stress and anxiety, your body will feel the positive impacts just as much as your mind. In studies, increased rates of stress have been associated with cardiovascular disease, so lowering your stress response is a great way to improve your cardiovascular health.
- Improve productivity. Affirmations may enhance our ability to focus and concentrate. When we perform affirmations regularly, we practice redirecting our thoughts, making it easier to focus over time.
- Strengthen relationships. Including positive affirmations as a regular part of your day can improve the connectedness of your relationships. This positivity can help foster openness, compassion, and empathy — all ingredients of a healthy relationship. It also encourages self-love, which can help us learn to love others better.
Science and research behind affirmation meditation
If you haven’t practiced positive affirmations before, it might be hard to understand exactly how they work. Fortunately, affirmations have some serious scientific evidence behind them.
- For instance, a 2015 study indicated that self-affirmation activated certain pathways in the brain associated with core values and self-view.
- Furthermore, self-affirmation was also associated with objectively measured changes in behavior.
- Another 2015 study also confirmed that affirmations guide individuals toward positive behavioral changes.
While more research is still in the works, initial studies demonstrate a clear link between affirmations, neural pathways, and behavior.
History of affirmations
The origins of affirmations aren't entirely cut and dry. Some experts believe these practices date back to Ancient Egypt, with many artifacts containing inscribed affirmations. Meanwhile, others firmly believe the root of affirmations arose from Buddhist and Hindu traditions.
If there’s anything we can all agree on, it’s that people have used positive affirmations to affect change in some way for thousands of years.
Today, positive thinking practices have taken off, claiming their rightful place in self-care routines and the mental health space. The benefits associated with these types of affirmations are further echoed across various social media channels, podcasts, and, most importantly, scientific studies.
Positive affirmation meditations are commonly used for:
- letting go
- building self-esteem
- improving overall well-being
How to craft your own personal affirmations
Think about what behavior or thought pattern you desire to influence or change. Start by answering questions like these to gain clarity.
- Do you want greater confidence in how you show up in your relationships?
- Are you looking to make a significant career change?
- Do you want to decrease negative thoughts about yourself?
From here, you can craft an affirmation. The affirmation should be in the present tense and include positive and specific wording. For example, “I don’t want to feel stressed” is negative wording, and it isn’t very specific. Instead, try saying, “I feel relaxed and at ease in my relationships.” The key is for the affirmation to resonate with you and the changes you’re seeking to make.
Resources and tools for affirmation meditation
Insight Timer’s free meditation app
If you wish to deepen your affirmation meditation further, Insight Timer’s free meditation app has thousands of meditations from top mindfulness teachers across the globe. In addition to affirmation meditations, you can access all types of meditations and guided yoga practices to incorporate into your wellness routine.
Online resources and communities
Looking to join a like-minded community that can provide support and connection throughout your personal growth journey? The Insight Timer platform offers plenty of affirmation groups to choose from. Here are a few to get you started
Premium meditation courses
If you want a higher level of guidance and instruction, these premium Insight Timer courses can help you discover and learn new affirmations and techniques. Take a look:
Positive affirmation meditation frequently asked questions (FAQs)
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References
Arquiza, L. (n.d.). The effect of positive affirmations on Self-Esteem and Well-Being in College students. Dominican Scholar. https://scholar.dominican.edu/psychology-senior-theses/10
Cascio, C. N., O'Donnell, M. B., Tinney, F. J., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. E., Strecher, V. J., & Falk, E. B. (2016). Self-affirmation activates brain systems associated with self-related processing and reward and is reinforced by future orientation. Social cognitive and affective neuroscience, 11(4), 621–629. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsv136
Dutcher, J. M., Eisenberger, N. I., Woo, H., Klein, W. M. P., Harris, P. R., Levine, J. M., & Creswell, J. D. (2020). Neural mechanisms of self-affirmation’s stress buffering effects. Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience (Print), 15(10), 1086–1096. https://doi.org/10.1093/scan/nsaa042
Falk, E. B., O'Donnell, M. B., Cascio, C. N., Tinney, F., Kang, Y., Lieberman, M. D., Taylor, S. E., An, L., Resnicow, K., & Strecher, V. J. (2015). Self-affirmation alters the brain's response to health messages and subsequent behavior change. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 112(7), 1977–1982. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1500247112
Goyal, M., Singh, S., Sibinga, E. M., Gould, N. F., Rowland-Seymour, A., Sharma, R., Berger, Z., Sleicher, D., Maron, D. D., Shihab, H. M., Ranasinghe, P. D., Linn, S., Saha, S., Bass, E. B., & Haythornthwaite, J. A. (2014). Meditation programs for psychological stress and well-being: a systematic review and meta-analysis. JAMA internal medicine, 174(3), 357–368. https://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2013.13018
Satyjeet, F., Naz, S., Kumar, V., Aung, N. H., Bansari, K., Irfan, S., & Rizwan, A. (2020). Psychological Stress as a Risk Factor for Cardiovascular Disease: A Case-Control Study. Cureus, 12(10), e10757. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.10757
Tseng, J., & Poppenk, J. (2020). Brain meta-state transitions demarcate thoughts across task contexts exposing the mental noise of trait neuroticism. Nature Communications, 11(1). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-17255-9
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