Brain Health Expert Reveals A Simple Trick To Make Affirmations Work When You're Struggling To Believe Them
We might not believe we're worth it, but we are.
Rido | Shutterstock Many people rely on affirmations to boost their self-confidence and their belief that they can do hard things. Using affirmations can be as simple as telling yourself that you’re capable of achieving your goals, like saying, “I’m worthy of love” or “I deserve success.”
Yet if we’re feeling low, believing those affirmations can feel difficult, which negates the process.
A brain health expert revealed a simple trick to make affirmations work, even when you’re struggling to believe in them.
Brean health expert and content creator Jericha Szlo shows how neuroscience can support people along their journeys toward self-love and self-acceptance.
She acknowledged both the power and limitations of using affirmations, saying, “Sometimes, training your brain using ‘I am’ affirmations can be really difficult, especially because the number one rule is, you can’t lie to your brain.”
While using “I am” statements in affirmations is scientifically proven to be “an incredible tool to reprogram your subconscious mind and to shift your identity, sometimes, your subconscious can put up a wall if it doesn’t find any emotional connection.”
Szlo shared a relatable challenge that comes with practicing affirmations, which is the dissonance between what you’re saying about yourself versus what you believe to be true.
“Something people really struggle with when they use ‘I am’ affirmations is [that] they don’t feel it,” she said. “They don’t actually believe it.”
If our self-confidence is in a low place, it might be hard for us to believe that our lives are on their way to changing for the better.
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Even if we don’t necessarily believe the words we’re saying, there are definite benefits to sticking with our affirmations because “The consistency of saying something over and over and over again is going to build a new neural pathway.”
Still, affirmations become “100 times more efficient when there is emotion behind what you’re saying.”
“The brain actually wires in stronger neural connections when emotion is involved,” Szlo explained. “So, sometimes when your belief system is so far away from the ‘I am’ affirmation and statement you’re trying to retrain your brain with, it’s really hard to tap into that emotion.”
“Your subconscious and your conscious mind start arguing with each other,” she continued, noting that after making an affirmation you don’t yet believe, your second immediate thought is “No, I’m not.”
She shared her simple trick for making affirmations more efficient: Changing the sentence structure.
“Instead of saying, ‘I am abundant,’ or ‘I am whatever,’ I want you to say, ‘I choose to believe that I am abundant,’ or ‘I choose to believe XYZ,’” Szlo declared.
“Your brain is designed to act on its own commands,” she said. “Especially doing this first thing in the morning when your subconscious mind is easily susceptible, you’re basically waking up and telling your brain how it’s going to think, what it’s going to believe, how it’s going to act.”
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“It’s easier to get behind the emotion of choosing something than it is to just pretend and fake that you feel a certain way when you can’t tap into it,” she concluded.
A 2020 study that was published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience reported various benefits of telling ourselves self-affirmations, which was defined as “The process of reflecting on important personal values or attributes.”
According to the study, repeating affirmations increases activity in the reward-related neural regions of the brain. Affirmations can also reduce stress, improve academic and professional performance, and generally enhance well-being.
While it might be difficult to always believe that we deserve good things, practicing affirmations can rewire our brains, helping us believe that we’re worthy because we are.
Alexandra Blogier is a writer on YourTango's news and entertainment team. She covers social issues, pop culture, and all things to do with the entertainment industry.