10 Self Affirmations to Boost Your Attitude

We all have those days – those days where nothing seems to go right or maybe everything goes right and then out of the blue, bam! You get bad news or have to deal with a snotty retail clerk or your boss takes his own bad mood out on you. However it happens, your typically sunny attitude takes a turn for the dark and stormy.

It’s okay to have dark and stormy moods. In fact, allowing yourself to feel the negative feelings is one of the best ways to actively work through them. At some point, though, you need to pick yourself up and get back to work and life.

Of course knowing that and being able to do that are two completely different things. Sometimes transitioning back into positivity and productivity is really hard.

A lot of people have found that having a mantra or an affirmation that they can repeat to themselves helps them calm down, refocus, and improve their moods and attitudes.

Here are some of the most popular affirmations that people have used:

1. I will stumble, but I will not fall.

2. My attitude determines my altitude.

3. I choose to find a hopeful and optimistic way to look at this.

4. Success is a journey, not a destination. The doing is more important than the outcome

5. There are no such things as problems, only opportunities.

6. I inhale confidence and exhale fear.

7. I have integrity. I am reliable. I do what I say.

8. A stressful situation is just a challenge. I can handle a challenge.

9. I can accomplish anything I put my mind to.

10. I am doing my very best.

When you first start trying to use affirmations, you might feel a little bit silly. That’s okay. It takes time to get used to using affirmations, and it might take a while before your affirmation actually helps you calm down and feel better.

You can make the impossible possible!

The trick is to keep working at it. When you feel stressed out, take a minute to close your eyes and repeat the affirmation to yourself. Take a deep breath, think through your affirmation, let the breath out, and open your eyes. Keep doing this until you feel better. Between the repetition of positive thought and the deep, relaxing breathing, you will feel your attitude improve.

NOTE: It might take you a while to find the affirmation that works best for you. The affirmations listed here are just the beginning. You might even find that making up your own is more helpful than using one that has already been published somewhere.

If you’ve used affirmations before, which affirmations have worked best for you? How have you used them? Where have you found them to be the most helpful or successful?

Erin Steiner writes full time from her home in Portland, Oregon, and uses affirmations on a daily basis. Her favorite is “Just keep swimming” (which, yes, is from Finding Nemo). Erin writes about a wide variety of topics including how to find the ideal roofing contractor .