Affirmations for Creativity

What are Affirmations?

Visualizing future goals and successes can be an effective way to overcome creative blockages and mental barriers. It can even be a powerful tool when you’re looking to boost your creativity.

An affirmation exercise is simple, and anyone can benefit from it. Whether you’re dealing with writer’s block, inspiration drain, or need a motivation boost, affirmations can help you achieve your goals.

A technique developed by American psychologist Emmet Velten Jr. is the basis for the affirmation exercise. He demonstrated that affirmations could influence our mood positively and negatively by reading several sentences describing different moods for 5-10 minutes.

The effect can get you in the right mood for an idea generation session, problem-solving, or even creating a beautiful work of art.

The Science of Affirmations for Creativity

Like many other positive psychology concepts, affirmation exercises are based on science. One of the best-established theories is the self-affirmation theory by Claude Steele from the 1980s.

We use the self-affirmation process to confront internal threatening information. It helps us to confront feelings of inadequacy or frustration.

The purpose of affirmations is to alter our self-perception as adequate, moral, competent, good, coherent, stable, capable, free, in control, etc. You achieve this through explanation, rationalization, and action.

Basically, positive affirmations are more about improving how we visualize ourselves and our lives. They help us strengthen our positive narratives about who we are and our inherent worth.

Affirmations can help us look at our roles in life and adjust how we think about our success within each one.

Scientific Conclusions

A 2014 review of research on positive affirmations demonstrated some important conclusions, including:

• Self-affirmations help maintain healthy beliefs about our integrity, performance, and personal growth
• Most often, they center around training ourselves to rethink our core personal values
• Timely affirmations can improve our educational performance, health, and relationships
• The results can last for the long term, from months to years
• By regularly practicing affirmation exercises, you can bolster your positive relationships with yourself and the world around you

If you’re still not sold on the power of affirmations, I can provide even more evidence.

In 2016, researchers worked to determine whether an underlying neural mechanism is associated with affirmations.

Researchers divided the study participants into two randomized groups and handed each one a task. After finishing it, one group received affirmations, and the other didn’t.

Researchers monitored the participants’ brain functions during the experiment through an fMRI machine. The results showed that several neural pathways experienced increased activation whenever the participants received affirmations.

These brain areas also process self-related data and values, solidifying that affirmations allow us to create concrete, positive identities.

The Benefits of Daily Affirmations

As you can see, positive affirmations and their effects are real. When using them, you can take advantage of several benefits daily.

Let’s summarize some of the most important benefits.

• Self-affirmations assist us with reducing stress and being less defensive by widening our perspectives of ourselves, our lives, and our world.
• They help us to be less psychologically vulnerable.
• They assist us with sustaining an optimistic outlook during difficult life situations, like being laid-off, ending a relationship, etc.
• They help us be physically healthier because they offer positive results when dealing with our weight and stress and promote other healthy behaviors like sticking with a new diet and exercise plan.
• Self-affirmations can help improve academic success for those who feel left out and cut off during their college years.
• They help us maintain a positive identity, an upbeat mood, and healthy relationships with friends and family.

Affirmations to Nurture the Creative Soul

So, let’s fan those flames of creativity (because they are in there) and start using the power of affirmations to help us ignite our creativity.

First, create a sacred space for your creative pursuits. Make that space all about creativity and your passions. Hang images or hand-written notes to showcase these affirmations, and then recite them each time you enter the space.

Give yourself at least 5-10 minutes to read the below statements. They’ll help you focus on how imaginative and creative you truly are. Absorb the words and let them sink in. Believe they’re true with all your heart, and remember to always say them in the present tense.

Your brain will believe what you tell it. So, tell it you are creative. Not that you want to be creative.

Your Positive Affirmations

1. I choose to create.
2. Art is alive inside me.
3. I attract incredible, powerful ideas.
4. I make time to create every day.
5. Divine inspiration surrounds me.
6. I see the world through sharp, creative eyes.
7. I am spontaneous.
8. I surprise myself with my incredible creativity.
9. My internal wellspring of creativity runs deep.
10. My artistic/creative self is always growing.
11. Today and every day, infinite, creative energy fills me up from within.
12. My creative self is coming out to play.
13. My creativity flows freely.
14. I share my authentic expression through my chosen medium.
15. I am open to a life of creativity and joy.
16. My creative energy is limitless.
17. I give myself room for expression.
18. For each day, I become more creative and inventive.
19. I find creative solutions to problems every day.
20. Brilliant ideas come to me all the time.
21. I use my imagination at each opportunity.
22. I love the freedom I get from my creative thinking.
23. Innovative ideas come to me daily.
24. I am a fantastic problem solver.
25. My innate creativity shines through everything I do and say.
26. My ingenuity inspires me and others.
27. I find innovative solutions for all the challenges in my life.
28. Incredible ideas come easy to me.
29. Today I let my imagination flow.
30. I practice new thinking at all times.
31. I can always count on my imagination for inspirational ideas.
32. I always go where my inspiration leads me.
33. Everything I do is imaginative and creative.
34. Creative energy flows through me all the time.
35. I am an unlimited creative person.
36. I have a fantastic imagination.
37. I am endlessly creative and imaginative.
38. Inventiveness lives within me at all times.
39. I have a constant wellspring of imagination.
40. I easily come up with new ideas.
41. I have innovative solutions to problems.
42. I always have several unique ideas to solve problems.
43. I am extremely ingenious and inventive.
44. I can get into a creative headspace whenever I want.
45. My creative problem-solving helps me in my relationships, work, and personal journey.
46. I have a neverending supply of creative energy.
47. I am a creative visionary.
48. I am incredibly creative and imaginative.
49. I am an endless source of inventiveness.
50. My imagination never falters.
51. I easily develop ideas, solutions, and stories to tell creatively.
52. The universe provides me with endless inspiration.
53. I’m always motivated to work and live my best, most creative life.
54. Every day, I grow my creativity and ingenuity.
55. Through my artistic expressions, I inspire those around me.
56. Every day, creative energy courses through my veins.
57. Limitless creative opportunities surround me each and every day.
58. Everything that surrounds me is a source of inspiration.
59. I’m in tune with my inner child.
60. I’m full of imagination and ideas.
61. I have neverending creative energy.
62. I am a creative pioneer.
63. I am a creative thinker.
64. I am a maker and a doer.
65. I have faith in myself and my abilities.
66. I believe in myself and my creativity.
67. Creativity is drawn to me.
68. I am an idea magnet.
69. In all my creative pursuits, I am self-assured and skillful.
70. I am a fountain of inventiveness.

You can use affirmations in any other context you might think of and connect the creative visualization to any selected affirmations that relate to what you’re trying to do. Use positive language to design your affirmations in the present tense, like you’ve already achieved your goal.

Short, concise affirmations are more effective than long, vague ones. Only use affirmations that speak to you and your desires.

Don’t contradict your feelings.

Even if you doubt how practical your affirmations are, it’s crucial to see those feelings for what they are and do your best to let them go. You want to begin living in the new reality you are actively making through these visualizations.