50 Powerful Morning Affirmations for a Positive Mindset

My first-grader told me yesterday that his teacher has the class start every day at school with positive affirmations like “I am a good friend”, “I am kind”, “I can do great things today”.  Powerful morning affirmations set the tone for a more positive day and I was delighted to hear how my little guy was learning to do this at a young age.  

It got me thinking about self-affirmations and how the benefits of affirmations are highly regarded in the wellness space, but I’m not sure the average person truly understands what they’re all about.  

We’ve all heard about affirmations for self-love, affirmations for self-confidence, affirmations for self-worth, and so on and so forth, but what do they really do for us?  How do we actually use affirmations and do they work?

50 Powerful Morning Affirmations for a Positive Mindset

In this post, I’m sharing what I’ve learned about self-affirmations, including how to use them, and the benefits of affirmations, plus a comprehensive list of affirmations to get you started each morning with a positive mindset.

What are affirmations?

Affirmations are brief statements, repeated frequently, which are designed to encourage happy feelings, as well as positive thoughts and attitudes. They can be used to encourage and motivate yourself or others.

When you use “self-affirmations”, you are repeating positive statements about yourself specifically. If done consistently, self-affirmations have the ability to reprogram how you think and thus improve your mental outlook.

If you think that sounds too easy to actually work, look at this way.   A lot of us exercise, right?  We believe that we can do repetitive physical exercises to improve our physical health.  So why can’t we do repetitive mental exercises to improve our mental health?  Repetitive mental exercises – that’s what reciting affirmations is in a nutshell.

This ability to change our mindset is important because our minds naturally go to negative thoughts about ourselves each day.  We are all our own worst critics.   Thinking self-sabotaging thoughts or limiting beliefs like these below comes from fear and is our brain’s way of protecting us.

“I can’t do this.”

“I’m not smart enough.”

“I’m never going to get ahead.”

The problem is that these negative thoughts can become self-fulfilling prophecies because they hurt our confidence and bring negativity to our mental outlook.  We actually start to believe these things about ourselves and as a result, they have the potential to drag down many aspects of our lives. 

But, you can combat this by using positive self-affirmations. According to a psychology concept called “the survival of the busiest”, the thoughts we think the most are the ones that take root in our brains. Therefore, by deliberately and consistently repeating positive statements about yourself, you can start believing the positive instead.

Related: “The Truth About Why You’re Not Going After What You Want In Life”

Benefits of affirmations

Reciting an affirmation at the beginning of your day can lead to more productive thoughts that improve your mindset and can ultimately change the way you approach daily challenges.

Using affirmations can help to:

• Combat negative thought patterns and foster a more positive outlook
• Boost your feelings of self-confidence, self-esteem, and self-worth
• Improve your ability to handle criticism and reduce your need for outside validation
• Increase your motivation to act and help you achieve your goals by keeping them in focus
• Lower your stress levels
• Enhance your compassion for yourself

Related: “Why You Should NOT Focus On Your Goals (but these 3 things instead)”

How to use self-affirmations

Using self-affirmations doesn’t mean you walk around telling yourself “I’m wonderful” all day long.  This probably feels silly and inauthentic.  

According to Lisa Legault, assistant professor of psychology at Clarkson University, “self-affirmation is the process of reminding yourself of the values and interests ‘that constitute your true or core self’ […] It’s taking stock of who you are and what you care about.” (source).

Self-affirmation encourages you to think positively about the important aspects of your life.  In order to do so, it’s important to come up with some statements that resonate with you. They should speak to your reality, the difficulties you may be dealing with, and create motivation for you to rely on your innate qualities and abilities to create positivity in your life.  

Once you choose a few affirmations to recite each day, you can use them in different ways, depending on your personality and comfort level.

• Write them down in a journal as part of your morning routine or ritual
• Say them out loud to yourself as you get dressed or take a shower
• Repeat them during a morning meditation
• Pair them with a vision board that you prominently display in your home
• Write them on post-it notes or notecards
• Put them as a reminder in your phone and set a timer to go off each morning
• Use affirmation cards and leave them on your nightstand so you will see them when you wake up in the morning
• Record yourself reciting your affirmations and listen to them each morning

I’ve compiled some affirmations below that you can use to start with, however there is no “one-size-fits-all” so if none of these feel right to you, you may want to come up with some of your own.

Related:  “How to Establish a Morning Routine That Will Make You Love Waking Up”

50 Powerful Morning Affirmations

Affirmations for Self-love

1. I accept and love myself, just the way I am
2. I am not a perfect person and that is ok
3. I allow myself to feel my emotions, all of them
4. I am exactly who I need to be at this moment
5. I am thankful and grateful for the good in my life
6. I create my happiness
7. I have everything I need already within
8. I learn from and forgive my mistakes
9. I love the person I am and continue to grow into
10. I love my people and they love me
11. I will be kind and gentle to myself
12. My life is filled with love and joy
13. My self-care is not selfish
14. Today, I choose love
15. I love my body and everything it does for me
16. I show up for me everyday

Affirmations for Self-confidence

1. I am confident and strong
2. I am in control of my life
3. I believe in myself and my abilities
4. I can do hard things
5. I will reach my goals
6. Everyday is an opportunity for growth
7. I do not need validation from others
8. I have inner strength and resilience
9. I have accomplished things of which I’m proud
10. I have the power to change
11. I try my best everyday and my best is good enough
12. I can achieve what I want in life
13. If I set my mind to it, I can achieve anything
14. My fears don’t control me
15. Taking action begets confidence
16. I invest in me
17. I am capable of great things
18. I am always becoming the next truer version of myself

Affirmations for Self-worth

1. I am enough
2. I am grateful for the life I’m living
3. I am worthy of all the good things in my life
4. I can let go of things that no longer serve me
5. I am worthy of the life I want
6. I deserve a peaceful and loving life
7. I am a good person
8. I am smart and capable
9. I make good decisions
10. I honor my boundaries
11. I respect myself and am deserving of respect from others
12. Others accept and love me for who I am
13. I do what is right for me
14. I am worthy of living life on my terms
15. My thoughts and feelings have value
16. I deserve happiness

50 Powerful Morning Affirmations for a Positive Mindset

Hopefully, you are able to find 2-3 affirmations from the list above that feel meaningful to you.

From there, decide if you will speak them aloud to yourself, write them in a journal, recite them in your head, use them during meditation, or another method of your choosing.  Be consistent and try to do this every morning.

Using these powerful morning affirmations will lead you to develop a more positive mindset and help you more easily navigate difficult phases in your life. I hope you’ll give affirmations a try!

Do you already have some affirmations that you love to use?  Let me know how it’s going in the comments below.

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