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Itzel Soto

ENGL 1302-480

Dr. Hanan Saadi

13 July 2023

Daily Affirmations: Impact on Mental Health

Introduction

The majority of society are skeptical by how a mind can be so powerful to where

manifesting certain intentions can come to reality. There have been several studies to determine

whether implementing affirmations to a daily routine can positively impact one’s mental health

and help work the mind. For instance, many individual’s decide to apply affirmations to their

daily routine in order to help concentrate on achieving the goals that are set in mind and feel

positively ready for any challenges to come. It is clear in understanding how implementing

affirmations on a daily routine can increase positive behaviors. (Falk, et al.) There have been

plentiful of studies proving how self-affirmations can promote positive mental health behaviors.

(Falk, et al.) Researcher Falk et al., highlights the way individuals exercising their mind with

affirmations daily influences their mental health behaviors, how one handle’s stress, and can

manifest intentions desired. Hence, the goal of this experiment is to determine whether enforcing

affirmations on a daily actually has an essential impact on one’s mental health positively.

The Experiment

The methods of this experiment include gathering data from a student who goes to a

university. The data was gathered based on the volunteer’s attitude of the week without daily

affirmations (Monday-Sunday, Week1) and the following week (Monday-Sunday, Week 2) with

affirmations implemented to a daily routine. It’s important to note that the participant woke up
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every day at the same time 8 AM and on the same routine. The routine was waking up to eat

breakfast. Then at 11AM head to the gym to workout on their daily gym routine trying to

accomplish a gym goal.

Week 1 (without daily affirmations) Week 2 (with daily affirmations)

8am: Woke up tired and not read to seize the 8am: Woke up tired, however with the
day DAY 1 self-affirmations they felt ready to seize the day
DAY 1

11am: Headed to the gym but felt like they 11am: Headed to the gym and didn’t accomplish
weren’t accomplishing anything DAY 1 their goal, however they know they can crush
their goal Day 1

8am: woke up drained and not mentally ready 8am: woke up energized and happy that they
Day 2 can and will accomplish their goal DAY 2

11am: Felt like they are wasting time and not 11am: Felt like they were capable of trying and
doing anything at the gym DAY 2 doing anything and crushed their goal! DAY 2

8am: Didn’t want to wake up DAY 3 8am: Woke up amazing! And wanted to make
new goals DAY 3

11am: Felt like their gym goal was impossible 11am: Had a positive mindset and able to
to do. DAY 3 alleviate stress. DAY 3

Mental Health Behaviors

There were notable results from the experiment that helps support whether affirmations

actually influences the mind positively and impact one’s mental health. On the first week, the

participant reported that they felt stressed and felt like they weren’t accomplishing things they

wanted to achieve. Therefore, their mental health was being negatively impacted. However, on

the second week the participant reported that with the daily affirmations they felt less stressed

and happily ready for the day. They stated that they felt that no negative energy could have

impacted their day. Falak, et al., mentions have self-affirmations have the power to motivate
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one’s self. Falk’s findings state that self-affirmation influence’s one’s mind to be positive and

happy. Daily affirmations

Alleviates Stress

Stress was another factor in this experiment. In week 1, the participant had reported that

they felt overwhelmed. Whereas, in week 2 the participant felt stress free. Falk, et al, mentioned

that daily affirmations reduces negative thoughts, therefore, not carrying a lot of weight in the

mind. Knowing that you can take and mange stress with any other difficulties going on. This

helps boost confidence and can make an individual have self-empowerment.

Manifest Intentions

Falk, et al, states that practicing positive affirmations daily can help find motivation and

enthusiasm for any task. For instance, in the experiment the participant stated that in Week 2

with the affirmations they were motivated to crush their gym goals. Implementing the

affirmations helped achieve their goal with the faith provided in themselves daily. They

manifested their intentions and this proves to show that the mind is so powerful with what one

can tell themselves. In this experiment we see that in week 1 the individual felt drained and

overwhelmed. They couldn’t accomplish their goal with that mindset. However, in week 2 the

individual felt motivated and ready for the day. Therefore, the individual was able to crush their

goal. This proves to show how daily affirmations can help one self overcome self-doubt or

negative thinking. (Szpitalak, Malwina, et al.)

Conclusion

All in all, the data gathered from the experiment helps show that practicing positive

affirmations can be essential to one’s mental health, alleviate stress, and manifest one’s

intentions. The mind is so powerful that one’s attitude can determine whether they are going to
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seize the day with motivation or not seize the day being demotivated. Implementing daily

self-affirmations to a daily routine can impact one’s mental health in a positive way where one

can feel relieved and able to do what they want to do. Positive thinking can change one’s mindset

from thinking their goals are impossible to them crushing their goals. This experiment overall is

essential because daily positive affirmations can turn around negative thoughts and help motivate

one self. lll

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Works Cited

Falk, Emily B., et al. “Self-Affirmation Alters the Brain’s Response to Health Messages and

Subsequent Behavior Change.” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the

United States of America, vol. 112, no. 7, 2015, pp. 1977–82. JSTOR,

https://www.jstor.org/stable/26461573. Accessed 14 July 2023.

Peter R. Harris, Alice Richards & Rod Bond (2023) Individual differences in spontaneous

self-affirmation and mental health: relationships with self-esteem, dispositional optimism

and coping, Self and Identity, 22:3, 351-378, DOI: 10.1080/15298868.2022.2099455

Szpitalak, Malwina, and Romuald Polczyk. “Reducing Interrogative Suggestibility: The Role of

Self-Affirmation and Positive Feedback.” PloS one 15.7 (2020): e0236088–e0236088.

Web.

Taylor, Shelley, and David Sherman. Self-Enhancement and Self-Affirmation. The consequences

of positive self-thoughts for motivation and health. Ch.4