Positive self-affirmations can conquer anxiety

Affirmations can help to rewire your brain in the same way as undertaking physical exercise. They can increase the level of feel-good hormones, such as dopamine, serotonin and oxytocin and can motivate your brain to form new clusters of “positive thought” neurons.

It is important to find affirmations that you particularly resonate with and which really speak to you.

Consider the following:

• I am enough.
• I am capable of giving and receiving love.
• I am capable and can add value to organisations.
• I am kind and humble and can enrich the life of another person.
• I deserve the best.
• I am creative and expressive.
• I am talented and can overcome negative thoughts.
• I deserve to be happy and have fulfilling relationships.
• I have courage and can overcome challenges.
• My sense of self is becoming stronger, deeper, and more stable each day.
• My life is merely starting and is full of endless potential.

Anxiety and low self-esteem can be core difficulties that can prevent you from believing that you can have strong and healthy relationships in all areas of your life. A negative mind-set can compound feelings of anxiety and can lead to avoidance of situations you feel threatened by. Avoidance can lead to social isolation and loneliness which can reinforce a core belief that you are not worthy of fulfilling relationships.

Anxiety is a physical manifestation of a signal from the brain that something is wrong and it can produce physical symptoms in the body, such as heart palpitations, dry mouth and clamminess. These feelings can lead to a cycle of negative thinking that you are somehow not enough. Anxiety can be seen as an inner bully, or critic. Positive self-affirmations help overcome an inner bully. You can effectively tell your brain that everything is actually okay and that it can relax and stop sending the distress signals. Positive self-affirmations, coupled with slow deep breathing, conquer anxiety by resetting the brain and telling it that everything is fine and that there is no need to worry.

Therapy can help you to explore your sense of self. When you perceive the essence of who you are as a block to communicating with others this may create anxiety. In order to have someone love you, you first need to be able to do that for yourself. Your longest relationship, and most rewarding, is the one with your very own self. Once you learn to love yourself you will have more meaningful relationships in all areas of your life.