“I’m good enough, I’m strong enough, and doggone it, people like me.” This line goes down in history as one of Saturday Night Live’s most classic and relatable sketches. Al Franken’s “Stuart Smalley '' sketch pokes fun at affirmations & toxic positivity.
It’s funny, and It’s true that affirmations can be a powerful tool for rewiring the brain and changing thought patterns. Yet, in today’s Western culture, affirmations have been bastardized and carry a stigma associated with spiritual bypassing. It’s just not that simple to change our minds, or is it?
The point of positive affirmations is to help shift focus from negative self-talk to positive self-talk. Time and time again, this has been shown to improve overall well-being. However, if not done properly, affirmations can sound and feel stupid, and we may not see the results we desire. Like a lot of things in our careers and life, it may not be difficult, but it takes repetition (aka practice).
As part of the Yoga For First Responders® (YFFR) training protocol, techniques for adjusting thought patterns are used in a way to make specific changes to the brain and delivered in a manner that is job-specific and culturally informed for first responders. But you can use these techniques in your off-duty life as well.
YFFR makes the implementation of affirmations more widely accepted by changing the name of this practice from “affirmations” to “cognitive declarations” or “CD” for short.
Sometimes we refer to these declarations as “anchor phrases.”
CDs should be short, positive statements spoken in the present tense. To be effective, choose a CD that resonates with you and makes sense for the outcome you desire. For example, if you want to improve your confidence in a high-stress situation, you could repeat to yourself,
"I am capable and prepared" or
"I am calm and in control."
These statements work great but may lack the intensity needed to switch your subconscious thinking. Try adding a curse word or speaking to yourself as if you were talking to a buddy,
“I fucking got this”,
“I am such a badass”,
“I’m killing it.”
Avoid phrases that are too long or posed in the future, such as, “I know I will do my best when faced with a difficult situation.” Think of CDs as commands that need to be concise and direct, like telling a puppy to “sit and stay.”
We incorporate CDs within a yoga practice for a purpose. It's important to choose phrases that make sense for each objective in that moment of your practice. For example, peak performance or challenging yoga drills could use phrases such as “I am a warrior”, whereas drills intended to regulate the nervous system and integrate the training might sound like “I am filled with calming breath” or “My work is complete.”
Once you have identified CDs that are working for you, it's important to use them consistently, repetitively, with conviction and emotional intensity in order to create new neural pathways in the brain. Neural pathways are our learned behaviors. Simply going through the motions of reciting a CD will not be as effective as truly committing to what you’re saying.
There have been several studies conducted on how affirmations can change the brain and create new neural pathways and connections. One study published in the journal Social Cognitive and Affective Neuroscience found that self-affirmation (repeating positive affirmations about oneself) activates the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, a part of the brain associated with positive valuation and self-related processing. The study also found that self-affirmation can reduce activity in the amygdala, a part of the brain associated with stress and negative emotions.
What this study and similar ones suggest is good news for first responders who are looking for longevity and sustainability in their careers because changes in thought patterns have been linked to improvement in responses to stress and trauma and overall performance.
What this study and similar ones suggest is good news for first responders who are looking for longevity and sustainability in their careers.
The use of CDs is a powerful addition to the already extremely effective YFFR training protocol, which is intended to train the brain and nervous system. Start your affirmation training today with this short and simple CD practice combined with breath control from the YFFR On-Demand app.
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