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Could repeating that you love yourself… actually make you love yourself?

That’s the main belief behind practicing affirmations.

Affirmations are positive short phrases you repeat as often as you’d like. The idea is that by saying something is true, you’ll program your mind to make it true.

On a more simple level, you may just become for familiar with a concept. For example, if you’re not used to loving yourself, repeating affirmations could help normalize it. While saying “I love myself” might be awkward at first, in time, it could help you grow more confident.

Although affirmations of self-love work for some people, they aren’t useful for everyone.

If you’re interested in trying affirmations on confidence and self-esteem, keep reading.

What Are Affirmations of Self Love?

Affirmations are short phrases used to inspire a positive change. People use affirmations for self-love, money, manifesting, and more. You can choose one affirmation or several.

Once you have your affirmation, you can repeat it with the goal of “programming” it into your mind. You can practice these statements in a number of ways:

Writing it repeatedly
Saying it out loud
Saying it in your head
Displaying it somewhere you pass by frequently, like a fridge, mirror, phone wallpaper, etc.

If the affirmation works, it should help you believe or achieve your goal. For example, when using affirmations of self-love, you may develop more self-esteem. If you’re using affirmations to attract money, hopefully, you will attract opportunities for some extra cash.

Some research has shown that affirmations can:

Change how the body physically responds to stress
Improve problem-solving skills in chronically stressed people
Impact stress, anxiety, and depression levels of cardiovascular patients

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Affirmations are used as a spiritual tool to help you “manifest” a goal. They’re recommended by some self-help writers as a psychological trick. However, they’re not a replacement for any expert advice or care, such as a psychologist. You should also know that the research on affirmations is mixed. As we’ll discuss below, affirmations on confidence work for some people, but not everyone.

Do Affirmations of Self Love Work?

Although many people use affirmations, they don’t work for everyone. If you want to try them, evaluate whether they work for you. If they don’t, that’s a normal experience too.

In A Liberated Mind, psychology professor Steven Hayes explains that affirmations don’t work when we’re most desperate for them. For example, if we’re feeling bad about ourselves, a positive statement could feel so fake that it makes us feel worse. For these people, affirmations would have the opposite effect they intended. On the other hand, if you’re already feeling good about yourself, affirmations could make you feel even better.

This was shown to be the case in a 2009 study. People with high self-esteem felt better after self-statements, but only to a limited degree. However, the statements backfired for those with low self-esteem.

The lesson we can learn from this research is this: Use affirmations of self-love when you’re already feeling good about yourself. If you want to try anyway, try to at least choose affirmations on confidence that feel right and relatable to you. And, positive statements don’t make you feel better, it’s okay to stop using them.

If you’re struggling with self-esteem, you should know that there’s evidence-based solutions to help you. To get started, you may consider seeing a therapist or counselor, who can develop a plan for you. Research has also shown that self-compassion exercises and targeting negative self-talk can help you feel better about yourself and your life.

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How to Use Affirmations on Confidence and Self Love

Before using affirmations, first decide if they’re even right for you. If you’re feeling really bad, it might be better to wait until you mood rises to use affirmations. As the research shows, affirmations can backfire when we’re already feeling bad about a topic. Instead, use these positive statements to amp up when you’re already feeling good.

Based on research, we also know that we should choose affirmations of self-love carefully. It’s better to choose statements that we believe in or at least somewhat believe in. If our positive statement seems too far out of reach, you might feel ridiculous saying it, and end up feeling worse.

Use the affirmations of self-love in the section below for ideas. You can also edit these affirmations so they suit you. You can choose one affirmation or a few.

Once you have your affirmations selected, repeat it as often as you’d like. That could be a few times a day or a few times a week. If you want to make it a habit, pair it with another activity. For example, perhaps you say your affirmations every day when you wake up.