One of the tenets of Chinese medicine is that our thoughts and our body are one–each affects the other, and thinking negatively about our physical or emotional state can actually worsen the conditions we are suffering from. Relatedly, thinking positively can lead to improvements.
Affirmations, used regularly, can help our emotional and physical body heal and stay healthy. There are many ways to use affirmations:
- Repeat your affirmation aloud 10-15 times throughout the day while holding in one’s mind the feeling of a healthy body and mind.
- Write them in a journal while evoking the feeling of wellness and health. Do NOT write mindlessly. As you’re writing your affirmations out slowly, think about your body as healthy, painfree and strong.
- Use an app into which you can personally record your favorite affirmations, and listen to it throughout the day. I use an app called My Affirmations Live Positive which can be found on Google Play store and (I believe) the Apple app store.
- Remember, do not think about what you DON’T want. Think and speak about that which you DO want. So instead of saying “I want this pain to go away” or “I want to get rid of this anxiety” instead use phrases such as “My body is strong and able to do anything I ask of it with joy” or “I am emotionally strong and stable, and am worthy of love and peace.”
It’s important to frame your affirmations positively–because lingering on what you don’t want, even in the context of wishing it away, will only bring more of it to you. This seems odd, but our inner being only hears the word “pain” or “anxiety” and brings more of that into our experience. So use words like “worthy”, “freedom”, “flexibility”, and “joy” when describing what you’d like to experience. Create in your mind and body the very sensation you seek–believe that what you desire is attainable, even if only for that brief period of time when you are writing or saying your affirmations. Your body and mind are one, and our thoughts affect our body.
