How to Write Affirmations and Coping Statements for Self-Improvement
By Licensed Therapist Diana Ruiz, MA, LCPC
How to Write Affirmations and Coping Statements for Self-Improvement
“Over time, these affirmations become deeply ingrained in your psyche, influencing your thoughts, feelings, and actions”
Writing effective affirmations and personalized coping statements will be a game-changer in helping you achieve your goals for self-improvement. Negative thoughts and mindset challenges can take a toll on us, making us feel down, stressed, anxious, and cause self-sabotage. We have all been there. Negative thoughts may have caused you to feel distressed and stopped you from having what you want.
In this blog, we will go over the following:
Understanding the power of affirmations
How to create daily affirmations
Understanding the power of coping statements
Two ways to develop coping statements
Evaluating your thoughts
Balancing and reframing negative thoughts
If you are tired of struggling with negative thoughts and want to create personal affirmations and coping statements to feel better, manage your mindset, and stop self-sabotage, you are in the right place.
Understanding the Power of Affirmations
Struggling with negative thoughts and overthinking can impact your mood, emotions, and feelings about yourself. Overthinking and worry feel overwhelming, creating stress and thoughts about how it can all go wrong. It is not easy to live with constant negative thoughts because sometimes they affect your confidence and self-esteem. Addressing negative thoughts about yourself and your situation will be life-changing. It's all about being aware of your negative thoughts and having the appropriate techniques to change them.
Affirmations are not just empty words; they are declarations of intention that have the power to shape your reality. When you consistently repeat positive affirmations, you send signals to your subconscious mind, reinforcing beliefs and attitudes that align with your goals and aspirations. Over time, these affirmations become deeply ingrained in your psyche, influencing your thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Here is how to do it:
Be Positive: Affirmations should always be framed in a positive light. Instead of focusing on what you lack or want to change, concentrate on what you already possess and wish to manifest. For example, replace "I am not afraid of failure" with "I embrace challenges and grow stronger with each experience."
Use Present Tense: Phrase your affirmations as if they are already true. This helps create a sense of immediacy and reinforces the belief that your desired outcomes are within reach. For instance, say, "I am confident and capable," rather than, "I will become confident and capable."
Keep Them Specific: Identify areas where you want to experience positive change and tailor your affirmations accordingly. If you wish to improve your self-esteem, cultivate gratitude, or attract abundance, be specific about what you want to affirm.
Make Them Believable: While stretching your comfort zone is important, ensure your affirmations are believable and realistic. Choose statements that resonate with you on a deep level and feel authentic. This will enhance their effectiveness and make it easier for you to internalize them.
Understanding the Power of Coping Statements
Coping statements, versus affirmations, are specifically created to cope with stressful situations, overthinking, and negative thoughts. They can be powerful in managing our inner critic, self-love, overthinking, or worry. They are composed of a few sentences to remind you of rational thoughts and evidence about a situation. Coping statements are excellent in managing self-esteem, anxiety, and distress.
Two Ways to Create Coping Statements
If you are experiencing frequent negative thoughts or overthinking, coping statements will be helpful. Not only will a coping statement help negative thoughts, but it will also help reduce or prevent anxiety. Take some time to practice identifying your negative thoughts and keeping a record. You want to focus on thoughts such as worry, overthinking, catastrophizing, stressful thoughts about the unknown, or self-doubt. Find a journal or a space to record your thoughts and automatic thoughts.
Once you have identified your negative thoughts, it's time to evaluate them. There is a good chance that your negative thoughts are not rational, accurate, or true; therefore, it is necessary to evaluate them. Here is how to do it:
Write one of your negative thoughts at the top of the page.
Draw a line down the middle.
On the left side of the line, make an exhaustive list of evidence and facts that tell you your negative thought is true.
On the right side of the line, make an exhaustive list of facts and evidence that tells you your negative thought is not true or not entirely true.
Read the left and right sides and conclude which side has more facts or what side is valid.
If you have concluded that your negative thought is not valid, it's time to write a coping statement. (If you conclude that your negative thought has more evidence, you may need to engage in other techniques such as problem-solving, coping, planning, etc., which are not covered in this blog.
In your coping statement, write a few sentences about the facts and what you want to remind yourself. It may look like this:
When I think about my business not working, I have gathered more evidence that it will work. I have knowledge and skills and have successfully gained a few clients. I will plan, learn, solve, or troubleshoot if something is not working.
Finally, keep this statement somewhere you can see it daily. Read it daily. Reading it daily will help your mind rewire and reduce the negative thoughts around the situation.
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You will get all the techniques I use in my therapy office to get rid of negative thoughts and build the life you want.
Let's move on to the second way to write a coping statement. This method may be easier to use at any moment in your day, even if you don't have a pen and paper. Let's get started!
1. Grab some negative thoughts from your record or journal.
2. Draw a line down the middle of the page. Write down your negative thoughts on the left side of the page.
3. On the right side of the line, balance and reframe each thought in a positive, rational, factual, or hopeful manner. For example, let's say your negative thought is: My goal won't happen, so why try? On the right side, we would reframe it to: I will develop a plan and make it happen! I will cope with feeling discouraged by finding solutions and different strategies until I accomplish my goal. My goal is important to me.
4. Final step: once you have developed balanced or reframed thoughts, keep them somewhere you can read them daily. Remember that reading coping statements and affirmations is imperative; it helps rewire your mind.
Once you develop the right affirmations and coping statements, it will be life-changing. Daily affirmations and coping statements are so helpful to our mindset, satisfaction with life, and self-improvement. You are on your way to feeling good using the above techniques. The right affirmations can boost your confidence, reduce anxiety, stop self-sabotage, and feel content.