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Positive Affirmations- its magic effect through the eyes of an eighth grader
- 3m guru
- Jul 29, 2022
- 0 comment(s)
Hello everyone,
My name is Varsha, from the eighth grade of a popular chain school in India. I am a happy go lucky girl who is an average student in class and I would like to share my experiences before and after practising affirmations with you. Six months back I was the same girl, but a lot more stressed and confused about myself. Both my parents are working professionals and they have given me the freedom to do things my way. Hence, I was going to school getting 65-70% marks in all subjects except maths.
I am also good in gymnastics and vocal singing and still practice them. My parents, in a teachers meeting had requested the school management to help me with maths as I was weak in it. Hence, I was asked to attend special classes for maths, wherein more time was spent on focussing in maths. My teacher kept pushing me saying that that I was weak and not able to cope up. This slowly started to get into my mind and all my thoughts and actions were influenced by my negative thinking that I was weak and incapable.
Though the teacher was pushing me with good intentions, I was focusing on my weakness all the time that my performance in other subjects and extracurricular activities started decreasing. My parents and I did not realize for quite some time that constantly thinking about my weakness and problems was pulling me down until one day when a family friend of ours discussed about affirmations with us.
Affirmations is a practice of positive thinking and self-empowerment—fostering a belief that "a positive mental attitude supported by affirmations will achieve success in anything. Children like me, can easily use more positive thinking in our lives. By beginning to think more positively, I started to believe in myself and work towards my individual potential. My uncle advised me to reflect on the following affirmations on a daily basis
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1. I am a quick, capable learner
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2. I believe in myself as a person and I believe in all my capabilities
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3. If a few people don’t accept me, I’m fine with that
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4. I set high standards for my academic achievement. By putting in time and effort, I can accomplish what I set out to achieve
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5. When I get a bad grade, I am motivated to do better
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6. I am unique
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7. Even on days when I don’t make much progress, I am constantly learning. On other days, I make amazing progress toward my goals
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Practising affirmations was also not difficult for me. Everyday, after waking up, I used to sit in a calm place, relax and focus on each affirmation by repeating it mentally 10 times with utmost concentration. Simultaneously I would also visualize a situation wherein the affirmation has come true and I reacting accordingly.
For ex. I would visualize myself getting good grades in maths or showing my uniqueness in singing competition/managing group activities with friends etc. Sometimes in the evening, I write down each affirmation 10 times, which also helps in registering them in the inner mind faster than visualising.
My mom also helped me by making these affirmations into cards and we used to discuss on each of them like a game wherein we try to get evidence available to support the affirmations written on the cards.
For ex. If I draw the card which says I am a quick learner, my mom used to remind me how fast and quick I was to learn gymnastics and music. Infact, I picked up the basics pretty quickly in those fields, that I have won a couple of prizes within a year of learning them in a few inter school competitions.
In another case, when I drew the card which talked about bad grades, my mom reminded me that though I failed in maths in 2 to 3 tests continuously, my marks were constantly improving in each one of them.
Whenever my mother was not able to find any evidence to support, she used to create a situation where I can share the experience of practising the affirmation. For instance, on the affirmation on constantly learning, I revealed to her that though I don’t score great in maths, I have started remembering most of the formulas and steps in problem solving and I would reach my goal of excelling in due course of time.
These activities made me believe more in affirmations that I started following them rigorously. The more I practised it, the better I became and now I have started getting pass marks in few class tests for maths and I’m sure that I will be getting good grades soon.
I would not say that I only believed positive things about myself and never experienced negative emotions. To me, affirmations are not about eliminating negative thoughts or beliefs. Rather, they are about helping me to remember the positive things and not dwell too much on the negatives.
My uncle has also advised me to practice more affirmations which would help me get better in life and I would like to share it with all of you.
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1. I am creative
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2. I am brave
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3. I am a responsible person
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4. Whatever difficulties come my way, I have the power to overcome them
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5. I will always do my best
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6. When I set out to do something, I am capable of doing it
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7. I appreciate my school, teachers, and classmates because they all play a role in helping me grow to be a better person
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8. I am determined and I aim for the stars
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9. I am working every day on the best me that I can be.
There are a lot of resources available online for children like me to practise affirmations and I’m sure you will be able to find them and get benefitted just like as I did. Wishing success and happiness to all….
These are excerpts from experience shared by Varsha on practicing positive affirmations and how it helped her. We will share more on affirmations and the science behind it in the next article.