Advice & Information to Help you through the Healing Process
Self Affirmation
We all have a bad day, or feel down at times, and for some these times or days can be very difficult, and finding a way to face the world or to just get out of bed can be hard.
Something that can help us through is a 'self-affirmation', a statement that says something positive, good or happy about yourself, along with something encouraging. It does not need to be very long, it merely needs to be something that has meaning to you, and that you can believe.
When you are feeling strong, happy or positive, think about yourself and a positive thing you believe about yourself, then turn this into a statement that you can treasure and use when you are having a bad time. Some people like to ask a close friend to help them with this, as it can be hard to think of nice things about ourselves, but when we do it can be very healing and great fun!
Examples can be:
‘I am clever, I am strong and I am a survivor. I can face this and get through it.’
‘I am a good person and my friends believe in me too. I deserve to be happy.’
Sometimes people like to add in why the positive things are true, for example
‘I know I am clever because of everything I have achieved, and strong because of what I have lived through and survived. Therefore I know I can cope with this and I can be strong again.’
When you have decided what your own self-affirmation is, keeping it safe and treasuring it is important, so you can read it whenever you need to. There are many ways:
- writing it down & keeping it somewhere safe
- have a print shop print it on a little laminated card you can keep in your purse
- you could use one of those machines that are often in service stations and normally print business cards - print a few that you can keep in different places
- you could visit an arts & crafts shop and see what appeals to you - a badge making kit, a glass stencilling kit (you could put it on a glass plaque, or a pretty vase), cross-stitch or embroider a cushion to cuddle, print it on a teddy bears t-shirt - anything that you fancy
- make a poster to put up - in the kitchen maybe, or by the bed so you can read it when you wake up …
Then when you are having a bad time, read your self-affirmation, and keep saying it to yourself as often as you need to.