Stress is a worldwide epidemic according to the World Health Organization. In the U.S. alone, about 80 % of individuals are “afflicted by stress,” stated Gallup.

And while some stress is essential to our functioning and survival, it is the chronic type of stress we are referring to that is detrimental to your health in the long run. Chronic stress affects a huge number of adults as well as adolescents and children. “It is a top health concern for U.S. teens between 9th and 12th grade. Psychologists say that if the youngsters don’t learn healthy ways to manage that stress now, it could have serious long-term health implications,” per the American Psychological Association.

Individuals around the world are counteracting the stress epidemic by deliberately becoming more mindful and balanced through positive visualizations and affirmations. Actually, we all visualize throughout the day. However, the problem is that we mostly apply visualizations to create the life and outcomes we do not want. We are often using visualizations to imagine the worst outcomes of various scenarios or worrying about the future. In other words, we fuel negativity, which clearly does not contribute to happiness. This adds to chronic stress which then largely prevents prolonged states of mindfulness, an inner space that effectively allows for mapping out the course of one’s moment, day, or life. And voila, a created vicious cycle is being perpetuated.

Why using visualization and affirmation?

Visualizations and affirmations are not some ‘fluffy new age tools’. They are rather powerful ways of positive reinforcement through applying words, phrases or ‘mantras’ according to your own preference. Affirmations may help to mitigate the effects of stress, as this study shows, where the problem-solving abilities of "chronically stressed" people were increased by a short affirmation exercise and brought to the same level as those that experienced levels of low stress.

Affirmations have been used to positively treat people with low self-esteem, depression, and other mental health conditions. Affirmation has been shown to stimulate the areas in our brains that make us more likely to effect positive changes in regard to our health. Another study suggests that a stronger sense of self-worth makes you more likely to improve your own well-being. That seems logical when you consider that by applying affirmations or visualizations regularly over time, you employ principles of neuroplasticity and positively change neurocircuitry in your brain. You literally rewire your brain and raise the degree of self-awareness. Same principle as working out your muscles, they become stronger.

Also known as tools to increase self-awareness, visualizations and affirmations are simple ways of harnessing positive thinking and can consist of a single word (i.e. gratitude, patience, action, empowered, motivated, love etc. ) or corresponding phrases, as you can see further below. Affirmations gain in strength when combined with imagery, that is visualizations, mental pictures of a desired outcome or scenario.

Who are they for?

People utilize visualizations and affirmations to bring about positive outcomes in their lives, among them athletes, musicians, artists, business people. Research has found that people who imagine themselves performing a task, improve their performance in that task without physically doing anything. That's what Guang Yue, an Exercise Psychologist at Cleveland Clinic Foundation in Ohio, found. He discovered that people who did a virtual workout over three months in their minds were able to increase their muscle strength by 13.5% versus 30% by the people who actually did work out. Imagine the same dynamic applied to your mind, you create new circuits in your brain that over time lead you to new horizons.

By practicing self awareness with affirmations and visualizations alike, you can powerfully raise your consciousness which can result in decreased stress because they help you to access your subconscious mind. The part of your brain that “runs the show”, whether you know it or not.

These practices can help you:  

1. Deeply relax, feel refreshed and recharged

2. Enhance immunity and tissue repair

3. Improve your relationships and reach your goals

4. Have a healthier cardiovascular system

5. Access your subconscious to make lasting behavioral changes, essential in creating a new personal reality

6. Maintain a consistently positive mood

7. Become more emotionally balanced, resilient, confident, and grateful

In the early ‘80s the late Louise L. Hay wrote the classic “You can Heal your Life” based on her own needs for consistent and empowering affirmations. The book has sold over 40 million copies worldwide…Aside from written affirmations, video and audio meditations are two learning mediums that help individuals engage daily in affirmation and visualization and reap the rewards of their regular practice of changing neural pathways.

Helpful steps to create your affirmation

As we had said earlier, affirmations act as positive reinforcement to overcome or eliminate a challenging situation or dynamic. Consider these:

1. What is the are you want to change? Is it related to your behaviours or habits? To your interactions with family or colleagues? Or related to material places or things?

2. Be ‘realistic’, let your affirmation be credible and achievable, even though sometimes, “pie in the sky” can become a reality as well…, set the bar somewhere in the middle

3. Identify consistent self-sabotaging behaviours or self-talk, the persistent negativity, fear or doubt that may keep you up at night. By becoming self-aware of those, and turning negatives into positives, empowerment is the next step. Replace them with actions or statements that empower you. Some empowering sample ideas follow below.

4. Be in the moment, that is, present tense. Formulating your affirmation as if it's already happening, gives it power in the moment and helps you to believe that your affirmation is true right now.

5. Feel it, bring emotional weight into it. Let it be meaningful to you, feel it in your heart.

While affirmations are very personal and specific to the desired outcome, here are a few examples that may inspire further thought:

1. I have plenty of resources

2. I live in a benevolent universe and it is aiding me in my outcome

3. I value truth and honesty as my guiding principles

4. I invite and embrace joy, happiness and well being in my life

5. Creativity is my birthright, I am an artist and life is my canvas of joyful expression

6. I strive for excellence and success

7. Motivation is my driving force

8. Gratitude and Love are powerful allies

Some people are more visual, and the image of the desired outcome, or the guided imagery of it, assists them better of ‘seeing’ the ideal case scenario. For those of you who belong into this group, here are some…

Guides to help you visualize

If you had a magic wand, and if nothing was holding you back, what would the ideal case scenario be like?

1. Have a good idea what you want - a clear idea of what you want to see in your life.

2. Either write down or create a vision board of what the outcome looks like.

3. When done with the first two steps, create the time and space within yourself to visualize the actual outcome. Meditate on it. Be as specific as you can, and imagine the colors, people, settings, sounds, tastes etc. FEEL it.

4. There is one important element in “The Law of AttrACTION”…Yep, it is the ACTION. Steadily work on the points that need to happen to make your vision a reality, daily, weekly, whatever it takes. Which brings us to…

5. Have motivation and perseverance. Do not give up, have grit. The empowerment of positive reinforcement and positive thinking can not be underestimated.

Amplify your own empowerment by creating your combination of affirmations and visualizations. You add a strong punch and extra horsepower using them alongside each other. Be creative and most of all, experiment and have fun with it.