Affirmations Have the Power to Biologically Rewire Your Brain: Here’s How

By definition, affirmations are empowering, positive statements that assert one’s own value and worth.

The science behind positive affirmations

Humans have always been at the core, emotional beings. Feelings run us; we do what you do based on how we feel — what I call emotionally driven, mostly by the desire to feel good about ourselves.

Yet at some point, all individuals face threats that shake their sense of personal security, resulting in stress that may hinder their wellbeing and performance (Steele & Aronson, 1995). And what really soothes us in the midst of hardships is positive affirmations, uplifting thoughts, that affirm and remind us of our value and worth.

Research found how the practice of positive affirmations can increase well being,  decrease stress, improve academic performance and make people more open to behavior change, allowing individuals to move beyond threats and hardships to self-integrity and self-competence (Cohen & Sherman, 2014) (Steele, 1988).

From a neuroscientific point of view, affirmations have the power to activate reward pathways in the brain by creating actual physical connections within our biology as a result of those practices, which ultimately reprograms our thinking to have a more positive, healthier self-image (Lee et al., 2017). Eventually, strengthening these pathways makes it easier for the mind to naturally return to positive thinking patterns rather than falling back into negative thinking, which can lead to positive mental and physical outcomes such as enhanced self-esteem and confidence.

Hence it is through the disciplined practice of those affirmations that we have the power to reprogram our brains to begin to consider the very small possibility that these new thoughts hold even the tiniest bit of truth (LePera, 2021).

What’s also interesting about self-affirmations is that they allow us to strengthen our self-identity and our internal narrative, which allows us to adapt to difficult circumstances and threats, building our resilience and increasing our sense of self (Cohen & Sherman, 2014).

But why is this crucial to our wellbeing? Because when we suddenly find ourselves in the midst of hardships, we can look around and realize that we have something solid to rely on: ourselves, which ultimately increases our sense of internal security*.* Instead of relying on outside factors to reaffirm our worth and security, which are often unsteady and temporary, we can develop a stronger, more positive outlook about ourselves that we can always go back to when life inevitably gets hard, allowing us to be morally equipped to handle difficult circumstances and the emotions that come along. And by consistently reaffirming our self worth, we will subconsciously wire our brains to act in ways that are consistent with that personal value, maintaining our self-integrity (Moore, 2021).

Final Thoughts

The act of practicing positive affirmations for yourself without having done the essential work of releasing negative thoughts and emotions from your body will fail to work, or probably work for a short period of time, simply because your mind is convincing itself of thoughts that your body simply does not believe as true. It is not until you have released all kinds of negative energies from your body and processed the emotional baggage of the past, that these affirmations will manifest into your reality.

To make the most of the power of affirmations, you have to truly create a coherence between what your mind and body believe. A great representation of repeating affirmations without doing the essential work is similar to putting a band-aid on a wound that needs stitching. You think that you’re healing the wound, but in fact, you are solely treating the tip of the iceberg, rather than treating what has caused you to get wounded in the first place.

Now that you have done the deep work, released the residues of the past and gained better clarity on who you are and what you want, you are mentally and emotionally equipped to practice daily affirmations that serve your highest self, contrarily to stating affirmations while you deep down, believe otherwise.

Through the power of the written word, and by the constant repetition of positive affirmations for yourself, you will be able to manifest them into your reality, creating a positive outlook on yourself, on other people, and ultimately on your life.