Did you know that you can use positive affirmations for happiness and feeling more joy? I’ve learned how to do it and I think you should too. And I’ve also added some other methods to evoking happiness and bliss.
Read also: Affirmations for Anxiety
How to use affirmations for happiness
To practice an affirmation for happiness, repeat the statement out loud. Make sure you feel it as the truth (in your gut). That’s how you can make your brain believe in it. It may feel weird in the beginning, but the more you practice, the easier it will become, and the more you will believe it.
You will probably start feeling results pretty soon (perhaps even right after, if you’re doing it effectively). But you will find it growing and improving for you each week and month, as long as you keep practicing your affirmations. You will both become better at doing it, but your brain will also have developed a stronger and stronger neural network for your statement.
The affirmations that will work for you will be different from the ones that work for me (because we are all different). Try out a few different ones and try to feel which ones resonate with you, and which one doesn’t. And then just focus on the ones that work for you. You can make up your own affirmations, or start by using ones that other people have already created.
Also, a helpful thing to do first is to figure out what it is that makes you unhappy. Unhappiness can come from so many different places. When you’ve figured out what the reason is for you, then you can choose the best affirmations for yourself.
Examples
Here are a few examples of positive affirmations for happiness:
- I am alive to the joys of living.
- I am grateful for being alive.
- It’s never too late to be the person you dreamed of being when you were little.
- I have the power to shape my own dream reality.
- My happiness comes from within.
- My heart is open. Love pours in and out.
What are positive affirmations?
Positive affirmations are statements that you want to turn into a reality. You do this by practicing saying them again and again until your brain believes it to be the truth.
What you think determines how you behave, which in turn affects how you feel (sad, happy, anxious or blissful) and how you live your life.
The science behind it is based on the fact that every single belief we have about ourselves and the world is taught to us. We were taught things growing up by either our parents, our teachers, friends, media, and etc. But who is to say that what we have been taught is the truth? Nothing! We don’t grow up being super conscious about what we’re learning about the entire world and ourselves. Our brains just absorb what is given to us.
The beliefs we have about ourselves or the world are never wrong, nor right. They just are. Beliefs and thoughts are simply neural patterns in our brains, which have been formed by the inputs we’ve received from the world. And they can be changed.
Our beliefs can change, and we can consciously decide to change them. Take ownership and responsibility for your own life and feelings. What we need to do is to recognize what beliefs we have right now about ourselves or the world that is making us unhappy. And then ask ourselves:
Is this belief serving me or not? If it isn’t serving me, then replace it with another belief. One of my own choosing; a positive affirmation.
For a more detailed explanation: What are words of affirmation? Positive Affirmations & Love Language
How can you make yourself feel happy right now?
If affirmations don’t work for you, or if you feel like you need to feel a sense of happiness and peace right now, then try these two methods. Both of these methods come from a place of being in the now. You can practice that ability by doing mindfulness and meditation exercises.
Be grateful for what you have. Write your gratitudes down, think about them, and be conscious of them.
We always have things to be grateful for. For example:
- Being alive, and getting to experience the world
- A body that is functional and healthy
- Good health
- A family
- Friends
- Love
- A roof over your head and protection
- That you are safe
- Food to fill your stomach and that tastes good
- Being able to see things and experience visual beauty
- Being able to hear things and listen to the sounds of this world
- Access to all the world’s beautiful music
- A brain to think with
- Books to read, and information to learn about
- Hands to write, work, create, feel, and interact with
- Internet and having devices that you can use
- Living in the best time yet in the history of mankind
Practice healthy deep breathing and letting go of thoughts.
Open a window or go outside. Then, take a deep breath in, filling your lungs entirely. And then when you breath out, let everything go. Just let any thoughts, worry, anxiousness, regrets and etc go. And do that for as long as you need.
After that, you can try filling up your rinsed mind with positive affirmations. I love using the affirmation “I am alive to the joys of living”.
Book recommendations for happiness
There are so many books about this topics. Here are some of my favourites.
Some of these books are spiritual, but I don’t believe one needs to be religious in any way to still get the benefits of these teachings. Humans have been thinking and philosophizing about the key to happiness for thousands of years (if not more). And so, the answer and knowledge to be learned can sometimes come from sources that you don’t 100% agree with. But as long as you know yourselves, you will be able to absorb the information that serves you and let go of what doesn’t resonates with you.
Note! These are Amazon affiliate links, which means that I get commission from each sale. But it comes at no extra cost to you.
1. The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
This is one of the best books I’ve read and it helped me stop overthinking and being so anxious about catastrophic thoughts. It’s all about learning how to be in the now, and not resisting what is, or being unhappy about things that are not real in the moment.
2. The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom
A book about understanding self-limiting beliefs that rob us of joy and that create needless suffering. As well as a few agreements to live buy. I really enjoyed this book, and it gave me a refreshing perspective of what I was feeling.
3. You Are a Badass: How to Stop Doubting Your Greatness and Start Living an Awesome Life
Okay, so this book may seem very cliché (and it is). But it helped me boost my appetite for life. It isn’t a revolutionary book though, so if you’re tight on money you could borrow it from a library.
4. The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
Discover & challenge your negative thoughts
What you need to do (if you haven’t done so already), is to do some self-discovery. Find out what it is that is making you unhappy. One way of doing this is by journaling and answer the following questions:
- What am I feeling and why?
- Am I anxious about something that hasn’t happened yet?
- Am I regretful and pained by something from the past?
- Is there a specific happening in this moment that makes me unhappy?
After recognition your own feelings, you can try to think like this:
- If it’s in the future: Don’t worry about it. It’s not even real yet, and it may not ever happen. Just accept the reality as it is, don’t try to fight against what is.
- If it’s from the past: Forgive yourself and people who you felt have wronged you. This is the only way to let go of what has happened. You aren’t forgiving anyone for their sake, but for your own peace.
- If it’s something happening right now: Either say something about it and try to change the situation, or remove yourself from the situation, or accept it as is. Chose one of them and do it fully.
By thinking in this way, you can learn to let go of intrusive, negative, or toxic thoughts. It’s not worth carrying those around.
And remember, it is worth it to seek professional help if you are depressed. There is no shame in that, but a very beautiful thing you can do for yourself.
Thank you for reading. I hope this was helpful.
