177 Positive Affirmations For Women + How To Use Them Effectively

Positive affirmations are a powerful tool for tapping into your subconscious and rewiring your thoughts. Whether you want to feel more confident or more peaceful, you can choose any affirmation(s) you want, making them a great positive thinking tool for anyone.

Positive affirmations are phrases that are meant to uplift and inspire you to be your best. While the idea that saying a few sentences can magically make you feel amazing may sound too good to be true, that's not exactly how affirmations work.

As psychiatrist Anna Yusim, M.D., explains, affirmations involve repeating a self-selected phrase (or series of phrases) "that embody who we would like to become" (i.e., I am peaceful).

Positive thinking creates self-improvement, Yusim previously told mindbodygreen, and repeating your affirmations throughout the day can transform your thought patterns and mental attitudes on a subconscious level.

Affirmations work by creating fresh and uplifting thought patterns that slowly but surely change our attitude over time.

Namely, research has shown positive affirmations help people cope with difficult emotions1. It is worth noting, however, that affirmations need to be paired with action in order to experience the most benefit.

"[Affirmations] work primarily at the conscious level, whereas many of our conflicts about ourselves and our sense of adequacy are within our subconscious or unconscious mind," Yusim explains, adding, "They work even better when accompanied by some honest internal reflection and some deeper internal work that gets to the subconscious or unconscious level."

From there, you would take concrete steps to create the changes you're affirming.