Your Emotional Eating Toolkit: Affirmations

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

Affirmations tend to divide people into two camps: either you love ‘em or hate ‘em! But take a read through and hear us out; affirmations can not only be effective in creating a positive outlook, they are also a convenient tool you can rely on whenever you need it (and you don’t have to have space for it in your purse!).

We’ve all heard how powerful one negative thought can be, but what if we switched just that one thought for a positive one?

An affirmation is essentially a sentence that you identify with that is positive in tone (so make sure you are using “I” or “my” when coming up with your affirmation). For example, “the right job for me will not pass me by” or “I deserve to be paid what my skills are worth.” See how these are written in the present tense? This adds to the power of using an affirmation since it implies that you are already living in this positive state. You can use affirmations for big or small events, like when faced with a meeting to ask for a raise or deciding end a relationship. Whatever you choose as your affirmation, make it personal so it sounds like you.

It is ok if you don’t fully believe your affirmations at first. You’ll likely be suspicious since you’re so used to thinking a certain way and you are challenging that. Our brains like to work in a way that is familiar, it makes for automatic thoughts, feelings, and reactions.

How to add affirmations to your day-to-day life

Writing down your affirmation can be very powerful! To see something in writing makes it feel more real and ‘out’ in the world. Here are a few ways you can put pen to paper and make it powerful:

• Start your journal entry with your personal affirmation. Maybe it is the same every day or you change it up depending on how you’re feeling or what you’re facing on that specific day.
• Buy your favourite colour of sticky notes and write your affirmations on one (or more than one!). Stick it on your computer screen, use it as a bookmark, tuck it into you packed lunch—anywhere you can think of that you’ll see it regularly. This can be a nice reminder that perks you up when your eyes happen to see your own handwriting.

Giving voice to your affirmations is another great way to challenge some of your critical thoughts.

• When you find your inner dialogue spiralling, telling yourself negative things as if they were true, try and stop and repeat your affirmation. You can do this in your own mind or out loud, it is up to you!
• Begin and end the day with your affirmation! Again, this can be out loud or not, but it can be helpful to set the tone for your day or be your last comforting thought in bed at night.

Affirmations can be a way to challenge your limiting beliefs, your inner critic, negative self-talk, and self-sabotage—how powerful! Once you start changing how you speak to yourself you can begin to reframe how you see and experience events too. Think of it kind of like using a muscle, you work your way up from lifting 10 lb dumbbells to 35 lb. The more you repeat your affirmations the more they become your regular way of thinking—supporting you from the inside out!

💛Your peace awaits.